INTRODUCTION
Prior knowledge plays a pivotal role in every aspect of human life. Knowledge can be stored in various formats like images, features, statistical patterns, all these formats help in making sense of the environment. Using prior knowledge humans can perform various activities including, but not limited to: focusing attention, organizing information in to groups, categorizing objects around, hypothesizing, understanding language, and generating inferences(Smith & Kosslyn, 2007). Processing of information is influenced by prior knowledge during the top down processing. Once signal has been detected by the biological visual system, we try to infer meaning using the prior related knowledge which has been stored in the long term memory based on category, association and similarity in features and statistical patterns(Wickens, Lee, Liu, & Becker, 2004). Prior knowledge has no boundaries and it keeps on changing based on experience with the environment making it easier for us humans to understand our surrounding better and quicker as time passes.
Anderson proposed a model ACT (Adaptive Control of Thought) which explains how human behavior is formed based on prior knowledge. According to this model, knowledge is divided in to two types: declarative and procedural knowledge and spreading activation occurs when there is a match in active part of the declarative knowledge. Time taken for the activation to spread to the prior related knowledge in order to match the signal detected and generate a human behavior is called the reaction time (RT)(John R. Anderson & Pirolli, 1984). This factor plays a crucial role is verifying how easy the product is to use based on users prior knowledge.
Semantic memory is part of the declarative m...
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The term ‘analogy’ is very vague in nature, but when used in this context, we assume that the behavior of other people is in many ways analogous in reference to causes. These causes being behavior directed from sensation or thought. It is apparent and observable that people or beings other then I behave in ways in which we behave when placed in different situations. For example sadness or the nature of anger or happiness can be seen in others. Others then can and do react to different causes similar to the way in which I do as well. Another consideration is that of shared experience. Russell uses the example of two friends having a conversation in which memoirs are explored. These two individuals have shared experiences together. They eventually discover that each other’s memories aid each other in recalling information forgotten with time. (Russell 89)
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Human memory is flexible and prone to suggestion. “Human memory, while remarkable in many ways, does not operate like a video camera” (Walker, 2013). In fact, human memory is quite the opposite of a video camera; it can be greatly influenced and even often distorted by interactions with its surroundings (Walker, 2013). Memory is separated into three different phases. The first phase is acquisition, which is when information is first entered into memory or the perception of an event (Samaha, 2011). The next phase is retention. Retention is the process of storing information during the period of time between the event and the recollection of a piece of information from that event (Samaha, 2011). The last stage is retrieval. Retrieval is recalling stored information about an event with the purpose of making an identification of a person in that event (Samaha, 2011).
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People tend to be attracted to others who are alike in perspective attributes (“Effects” n.d.). This similarity contains a match between our interests, attitudes, values, background, or personalities within another person. Research done by social psychologists has proven that the more alike the opinions within people that the more that said relationship will bloom. Within the aspects of similarity, people tend to bond with people who seem to have similar interests and experiences. Sean Mackinnon, Christian Jordan, and Anne Wilson, conducted a study, where they studied physical similarity throughout a classroom setting. With this study they were handed a seat and told to sit beside someone who had already been seated. The research team then secretly measured how close the person had sat down their chair. Once the study was conducted they continued to study the pairs. The research team concluded that the pairs who looked more similar sat closer together than those who didn’t outwardly seem similar. This study proved how similarity influences behavior within
Edited by Raymond J. Corsini. Encyclopedia of Psychology, Second Edition, Volume 1. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.