Download or read book The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences MITECS written by Robert A. Wilson and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2001-09-04 with total page 1106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the 1970s the cognitive sciences have offered multidisciplinary ways of understanding the mind and cognition. The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (MITECS) is a landmark, comprehensive reference work that represents the methodological and theoretical diversity of this changing field. At the core of the encyclopedia are 471 concise entries, from Acquisition and Adaptationism to Wundt and X-bar Theory. Each article, written by a leading researcher in the field, provides an accessible introduction to an important concept in the cognitive sciences, as well as references or further readings. Six extended essays, which collectively serve as a roadmap to the articles, provide overviews of each of six major areas of cognitive science: Philosophy; Psychology; Neurosciences; Computational Intelligence; Linguistics and Language; and Culture, Cognition, and Evolution. For both students and researchers, MITECS will be an indispensable guide to the current state of the cognitive sciences.

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science Similarity written by Lynn Nadel and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 910 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the core of this encyclopedia are approximately 700 original signed articles, written and peer-reviewed by the world's leading experts in their various specialized areas of the cognitive sciences.

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science written by Lynn Nadel and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 1214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reviews the themes: information, information processing, representation, and computation, psychology, philosophy, linguistics, computer science, neuroscience, education, economics, evolutionary biology, anthropology.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning written by Keith J. Holyoak and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2013-05-23 with total page 865 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning brings together the contributions of many of the leading researchers in thinking and reasoning to create the most comprehensive overview of research on thinking and reasoning that has ever been available.

Download or read book Towards a Theory of Thinking written by Britt Glatzeder and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-03-20 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is Thinking? – Trying to Define an Equally Fascinating and Elusive Phenomenon Human thinking is probably the most complex phenomenon that evolution has come up with until now. There exists a broad spectrum of definitions, from subs- ing almost all processes of cognition to limiting it to language-based, sometimes even only to formalizable reasoning processes. We work with a “medium sized” definition according to which thinking encompasses all operations by which cog- tive agents link mental content in order to gain new insights or perspectives. Mental content is, thus, a prerequisite for and the substrate on which thinking operations are executed. The largely unconscious acts of perceptual object stabilization, ca- gorization, emotional evaluation – and retrieving all the above from memory inscriptions – are the processes by which mental content is generated, and are, therefore, seen as prerequisites for thinking operations. In terms of a differentia specifica, the notion of “thinking” is seen as narrower than the notion of “cognition” and as wider than the notion of “reasoning”. Thinking is, thus, seen as a subset of cognition processes; and reasoning processes are seen as a subset of thinking. Besides reasoning, the notion of thinking includes also nonexplicit, intuitive, and associative processes of linking mental content. According to this definition, thinking is not dependant on language, i. e. also many animals and certainly all mammals show early forms of thinking.

Download or read book The Making of Human Concepts written by Denis Mareschal and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human adults appear different from other animals in their ability to form abstract mental representations that go beyond perceptual similarity. In short, they can conceptualize the world. This apparent uniqueness leads to an immediate puzzle: WHEN and HOW does this abstract system come into being? To answer this question we need to explore the origins of adult concepts, both developmentally and phylogenetically; When does the developing child acquire the ability to use abstract concepts?; does the transition occur around 2 years, with the onset of symbolic representation and language? Or, is it independent of the emergence of language?; when in evolutionary history did an abstract representational system emerge?; is there something unique about the human brain? How would a computational system operating on the basis of perceptual associations develop into a system operating on the basis of abstract relations?; is this ability present in other species, but masked by their inability to verbalise abstractions? Perhaps the very notion of concepts is empty and should be done away with altogether. This book tackles the age-old puzzle of what might be unique about human concepts. Intuitively, we have a sense that our thoughts are somehow different from those of animals and young children such as infants. Yet, if true, this raises the question of where and how this uniqueness arises. What are the factors that have played out during the life course of the individual and over the evolution of humans that have contributed to the emergence of this apparently unique ability? This volume brings together a collection of world specialists who have grappled with these questions from different perspectives to try to resolve the issue. It includes contributions from leading psychologists, neuroscientists, child and infant specialists, and animal cognition specialists. Taken together, this story leads to the idea that there is no unique ingredient in the emergence of human concepts, but rather a powerful and potentially unique mix of biological abilities and personal and social history that has led to where the human mind now stands. A 'must-read' for students and researchers in the cognitive sciences.

Download or read book The Cambridge Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning written by Keith J. Holyoak and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-04-18 with total page 880 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cambridge Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning is the first comprehensive and authoritative handbook covering all the core topics of the field of thinking and reasoning. Written by the foremost experts from cognitive psychology, cognitive science, and cognitive neuroscience, individual chapters summarize basic concepts and findings for a major topic, sketch its history, and give a sense of the directions in which research is currently heading. The volume also includes work related to developmental, social and clinical psychology, philosophy, economics, artificial intelligence, linguistics, education, law, and medicine. Scholars and students in all these fields and others will find this to be a valuable collection.

Download or read book Handbook of Categorization in Cognitive Science written by Henri Cohen and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2017-06-03 with total page 1277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Handbook of Categorization in Cognitive Science, Second Edition presents the study of categories and the process of categorization as viewed through the lens of the founding disciplines of the cognitive sciences, and how the study of categorization has long been at the core of each of these disciplines. The literature on categorization reveals there is a plethora of definitions, theories, models and methods to apprehend this central object of study. The contributions in this handbook reflect this diversity. For example, the notion of category is not uniform across these contributions, and there are multiple definitions of the notion of concept. Furthermore, the study of category and categorization is approached differently within each discipline. For some authors, the categories themselves constitute the object of study, whereas for others, it is the process of categorization, and for others still, it is the technical manipulation of large chunks of information. Finally, yet another contrast has to do with the biological versus artificial nature of agents or categorizers. - Defines notions of category and categorization - Discusses the nature of categories: discrete, vague, or other - Explores the modality effects on categories - Bridges the category divide - calling attention to the bridges that have already been built, and avenues for further cross-fertilization between disciplines

Download or read book Proceedings of the Twenty Third Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society written by Johanna D. Moore and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 1204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vol. includes all papers and posters presented at 2001 Cog Sci Mtg & summaries of symposia & invited addresses. Deals w/ issues of repres & model'g cog processes. Appeals to scholars in subdisciplines that comprise Cog Sci: Psych, Computr Sci, Neuro, Lin

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Psychology written by Daniel Reisberg and published by . This book was released on 2013-04-04 with total page 1106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook is an essential, comprehensive resource for students and academics interested in topics in cognitive psychology, including perceptual issues, attention, memory, knowledge representation, language, emotional influences, judgment, problem solving, and the study of individual differences in cognition.

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science 4 Volume Set written by L. Nadel and published by Wiley. This book was released on 2005-09-23 with total page 912 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exciting reference work which captures current thinking about the workings of the mind and brain, focusing on problems that are as old as recorded history, but reflecting new approaches and techniques that have emerged since the 1980's. The Encyclopedia contains 696 articles covering in depth the entire spectrum of the cognitive sciences. Reviewing the common themes of information and information processing, representation and computation, it also covers in depth the core areas of psychology, philosophy, linguistics, computer science, and neuroscience. Ancillary topics such as education, economics, evolutionary biology and anthropology are also covered. The articles have been written to provide multiple levels of information so that readers from various levels can benefit from this set – from undergraduate and postgraduate students to university lecturers. With extensive cross-referencing, a glossary and subject index to further aid the reader through the book, the Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science is an essential addition to any library or office shelf. The Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science (ECS) includes: 4 Volumes 4000 pages 696 articles Contributions from the world's leading experts 1,500 illustrations Detailed indexes and appendices Extensive cross-referencing

Download or read book Embodied Social Cognition written by Jessica Lindblom and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-07-03 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book clarifies the role and relevance of the body in social interaction and cognition from an embodied cognitive science perspective. Theories of embodied cognition have during the last decades offered a radical shift in explanations of the human mind, from traditional computationalism, to emphasizing the way cognition is shaped by the body and its sensorimotor interaction with the surrounding social and material world. This book presents a theoretical framework for the relational nature of embodied social cognition, which is based on an interdisciplinary approach that ranges historically in time and across different disciplines. It includes work in cognitive science, artificial intelligence, phenomenology, ethology, developmental psychology, neuroscience, social psychology, linguistics, communication and gesture studies. The theoretical framework is illustrated by empirical work that provides some detailed observational fieldwork on embodied actions captured in three different episodes of spontaneous social interaction and cognition in situ. Furthermore, the theoretical contributions and implications of the study of embodied social cognition are discussed and summed up. Finally, the issue what it would take for an artificial system to be socially embodied is addressed and discussed, as well as the practical relevance for applications to artificial intelligence (AI) and socially interactive technology.

Download or read book Perceiving Complex Objects written by Nina Gaißert and published by Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH. This book was released on 2011 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Das wichtigste Werkzeug des Menschen sind seine Hande. Obwohl dieses Sprichwort schon sehr alt ist, ist nur wenig daruber bekannt, wie und was der Mensch wahrnimmt, wenn er Objekte in die Hand nimmt und betastet. Wie wird die ertastete Form eines Objektes im Gehirn abgespeichert? Ist die haptische Reprasentation ahnlich zu der, der visuellen Wahrnehmung? Entsteht sogar eine multisensorische, und somit gemeinsame, Reprasentation? Diese fundamentalen Fragen bilden den Hintergrund der vorliegenden Dissertation. Die hier dargestellten Experimente zeigen, dass der Mensch sehr ahnliche perzeptuelle Raume generiert, wenn komplexe Formen eines parametrisch definierten Objektraumes visuell oder haptisch exploriert werden. Um dies zu zeigen, wurde zuerst ein dreidimensionaler Objektraum muschelahnlicher Objekte generiert, welche in drei Formparametern variieren. Versuchspersonen wurden in den visuellen Versuchen Fotos oder virtuelle Rekonstruktionen der Objekte gezeigt, wahrend in den haptischen Versuchen 3D Plastikmodelle der Objekte, generiert mit einem 3D Drucker, mit verbundenen Augen betastet wurden. In einer ersten Reihe von Experimenten bewerteten die Versuchspersonen die Ahnlichkeit zweier, nacheinander gezeigter, Objekte. Mit diesen Ahnlichkeitsbewertungen und mit Hilfe des Verfahrens der multidimensionalen Skalierung wurden die perzeptuellen Raume beider Modalitaten visualisiert. Uberraschenderweise konnten die Versuchspersonen die Topologie des Objektraumes korrekt nachbilden, unabhangig davon, ob sie die Objekte gesehen oder betastet hatten. Weiterhin zeigten die Ergebnisse, dass der visuelle und der haptische perzeptuelle Raum fast identisch waren. Als nachstes wurden drei Kategorisierungsexperimente durchgefuhrt. Obwohl Kategorisierung allein durch den Tastsinn eher eine ungewohnliche Aufgabe ist, konnte sie genauso gut gelost werden, wie wenn die Versuchspersonen die Objekte sehen konnten. Anschliessend wurden die perzeptuellen Raume beider Modalitaten mit den Ergebnissen der Kategorisierungsexperimente verglichen. Fur alle Kategorisierungsexperimente und fur beide Modalitaten war die wahrgenommene Ahnlichkeit zwischen Objekten einer Kategorie hoher, als die Ahnlichkeit zweier Objekte aus unterschiedlichen Kategorien. Das heisst, dass, sowohl visuell als auch haptisch, Objekte in einer Kategorie zusammengruppiert wurden, die als sehr ahnlich wahrgenommen wurden.Um zu untersuchen, inwieweit die auf den computergenerierten Objekten basierenden Ergebnisse auf naturliche Objekte ubertragbar sind, wurde eine Sammlung von Muscheln und Salzwasserschnecken erstellt. Mit diesen wurden, wie oben beschrieben, Ahnlichkeitsbewertungen durchgefuhrt und mittels multidimensionaler Skalierung die perzeptuellen Raume visualisiert. Wiederum waren der visuelle und der haptische perzeptuelle Raum fast identisch. Interessanterweise konnte man in beiden Raumen eine Gruppenbildung erkennen, weshalb auch hier drei Kategorisierungsexperimente durchgefuhrt wurden. Obwohl die Muscheln in einer Vielzahl an Objektmerkmalen variierten, z.B. Form, Farbe, Muster etc., konnten die Versuchspersonen diese Aufgabe ohne Muhe losen, auch wenn sie die Objekte nur betasten durften. Zusatzlich konnte die Gruppenbildung, die schon in den perzeptuellen Raumen erkennbar war, die Kategorisierungsergebnisse richtig vorhersagen.Zusammengenommen weisen diese Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass die visuelle und die haptische Reprasentation von Objekten sehr eng miteinander verknupft sein mussen. Zusatzlich liefern die Experimente Hinweise darauf, dass die gleichen Prozesse genutzt werden, wenn Ahnlichkeiten zwischen Objekten wahrgenommen werden, oder Objekte kategorisiert werden, egal ob die Objekte visuell oder haptisch exploriert werden.

Download or read book Context and Appropriateness written by Anita Fetzer and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2007 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book departs from the premise that context and appropriateness represent complex relational configurations which can no longer be conceived as analytic primes but rather require the accommodation of micro and macro perspectives to capture their inherent dynamism. The edited volume presents a collection of papers which examine the connectedness between context and appropriateness from interdisciplinary perspectives. The papers use different theoretical frameworks, such as situation theory, speech act theory, cognitive pragmatics, sociopragmatics, discourse analysis, argumentation theory and functional linguistics. They reflect current moves in pragmatics and discourse analysis to cross disciplinary and methodological boundaries by integrating relevant premises and insights, in particular cognition, negotiation of meaning, sequentiality, recipient design and genre.

Download or read book Relational Psychophysics in Humans and Animals written by Viktor Sarris and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2007-09-12 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Relational Psychophysics in Humans and Animals offers a comprehensive and integrated overview of the often fragmented field of psychophysics. It introduces key concepts in psychophysics and clearly summarises and illustrates the central issues through telling examples. It combines empirical research and theoretical approaches from general psychophysics, animal psychophysics and human-infant psychophysics, to create a systematic comparison of these three key areas. Through out, Viktor Sarris makes a strong case for more comparative psychophysical research across different species and across different stages of development. He presents original research and examines frame-of-reference models, behavioural psychophysics, developmental psychophysics, perceptual-cognitive psychophysics and evolutionary perspectives, to create an integrated framework for the direction of new research. The book will be an invaluable aid for researchers in the fields of perception and psychophysics.

Download or read book Advances in Cartography and GIScience written by Michael P. Peterson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-05-30 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a selection of manuscripts submitted to the 2017 International Cartographic Conference held in Washington, DC at the beginning of July and made available at the conference. These manuscripts have been selected by the Scientific Program Committee and represent the wide-range of research that is done in the discipline. It also forms an important international collection representing research from at least 30-40 countries.

Download or read book Preference Belief and Similarity written by Amos Tversky and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2003-11-21 with total page 1046 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Amos Tversky (1937–1996), a towering figure in cognitive and mathematical psychology, devoted his professional life to the study of similarity, judgment, and decision making. He had a unique ability to master the technicalities of normative ideals and then to intuit and demonstrate experimentally their systematic violation due to the vagaries and consequences of human information processing. He created new areas of study and helped transform disciplines as varied as economics, law, medicine, political science, philosophy, and statistics. This book collects forty of Tversky's articles, selected by him in collaboration with the editor during the last months of Tversky's life. It is divided into three sections: Similarity, Judgment, and Preferences. The Preferences section is subdivided into Probabilistic Models of Choice, Choice under Risk and Uncertainty, and Contingent Preferences. Included are several articles written with his frequent collaborator, Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman.