• Cognition: all the mental actions performed by an organism– Includes the way we create concepts, solve

problems, make decisions, and form judgments

Human Cognition

Examples of Cognition

• If I say the phrase “gold digger,” what attributes come to mind? (creating concepts)

• How would you deal with a friend who borrowed $100 and refuses to pay you back? (solving problems)

• Would you work a potentially hazardous job if it paid $100k per year? (making decisions) J.M. in the Mid. East

• What was the first thing you thought when you saw your new fellow employees – a new teacher on the first day? (forming judgments)

• Concept: a mental categorization of similar entities– Enables us to chunk large amounts of information– Similar to the “schemas” categories from the

development unit

These animals all look different, but they fall

under our concept of “cat”.

Human Cognition

All of these likely fit in your concept for “ball”.

??? Vehicles

• Prototype: ideal example of a concept– Basically, what one image best represents each

concept in your mind?

What comes to mind when you think of “bird”?

Human Cognition

What’s your prototype for “professional athlet

e”?

Teacher prototype???

Robins are probably better examples than penguins

even though both are technically birds.

Could think of LeBron James ..or maybe

Brady, Rogers, Big Ben.

• Imagine you need to buy spaghetti for dinner. How would you locate it in the grocery store? You could use the following problem solving techniques:

• Heuristic: a best guess method that often allows us to make decisions and solve problems (speedier but error-prone)– You could take a guess based on the signs

in each aisle, but you may guess wrong.

Human Cognition

• Algorithm: a systematic, step-by-step procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem– You could literally go down every aisle

inthe store and eventually you will find it, but it may take a long time.

Computers usealgorithms to work

Would you use an algorithm or a heuristic to unscramble thefollowing word?:

E A S P P O Y C L A

(if you used an algorithm, there are 907,200 possible letter combinations)

• Insight: an abrupt and original realization of the answer to a problem

• Often known as the “aha! moment” or the “light bulb going off in your head”

Human Cognition

Think of another word that could form a compound word or phrase with each of the following words:

• PINE• CRAB• SAUCE

APPLE

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are going camping. They pitch their tent under the stars and go to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night Holmes wakes Watson up.

Holmes: “Watson, look up at the stars, and tell me what you deduce.”

Watson: “I see millions of stars and even if a few of those have planets, it’s quite likely there are some planets like Earth out there, there might also be life. What does it tell you, Holmes?”

Holmes: “Watson, you idiot, somebody has stolen our tent!”

A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woodswhen one of them falls to the ground. He doesn’t seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: “My friend is dead! What can I do?” The operator, in a calm, soothing voice says: “Just take it easy. I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.” There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy’s voice comes back on the line: “OK, now what?” ….Oh!!!!!

• Artificial Intelligence: the science of creating computers to perform processes that imitate human cognition

• What are computers worse at than humans? – Computers cannot fear, desire, have beliefs or

other subjective mental states – YET – Computers do everything one at a time (serially)

whereas human brains do many things at once

Computer Cognition

• What can computers do better than humans? – Manipulate huge amounts of data– Retrieve detailed information from memory– Make decisions using specified rules

(algorithms)• Example: Password hacking programs

• Has computer cognition surpassed humancognition?– No real way to qualify it, but in 1996 and 1997

the world’s greatest chess player, Russian Garry Kasparov, played the world’s smartest computer, codenamed “Deep Blue” in a series of chess matches

• Results – WHO WON? – Kasparov won the first match in 1996, 4 games to 2 games– Deep Blue won the rematch in 1997, 3.5 games to 2.5 games

Computer Cognition

• Artificial Intelligence Accomplishments– Search engines and the internet have

combined to create virtual libraries with unlimited knowledge at your fingertips

– Watson, a computer contestant on Jeopardy, dominated Ken Jennings, the longest-reigned human trivia contestant

– Self-driving cars that can obey traffic signs and adjust to different traffic conditions already exist

– Computer programming has now essentially replicated human imagination via video games and movie special effects

Computer Cognition

• Do animals think?

– Chimps (as well as some other animals) will eventually recognize themselves in front of a mirror and prove it by performing grooming techniques while watching their reflection.

– Chimps display insight when they learn to use new tools they find in the wild (create sponges, fishing mechanism).

– Cats and dogs can be trained to perform behaviors via operant (rewards) or classical (association) conditioning.

Animal CognitionYES.

• Can animals become culturally diverse?

– During Jane Goodall’s research, she found one group of chimps would slurp ants directly from the stick while another group would pluck each ant off individually.

– Some chimps used stone hammers while others used wood hammers.

Animal CognitionYES

• Do animals exhibit language?

– Monkeys have different alarm cries for predators• “Barks” for leopards• “Coughs” for eagles• “Chattering” for snakes

– Honeybees perform dances that inform other bees of the distance and direction of nearby food

– Apes can learn limited sign language, although experts disagree on the validity of these findings

• The vocabulary they gain takes great difficulty to learn and is very limited

• They lack any form of syntax (order of words) in their phrases

– The equivalent mental age of a human forthe world’s smartest animals is 3 years old.

Animal CognitionYES.