Download or read book Meaning and cognition The development of categorisation concepts and prototypes written by Nadine Richters and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2008-08-18 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,3, University of Hamburg (IAA), course: Seminar Linguistik: Semantics: Understanding the meaning of words and their combinations, language: English, abstract: This term paper deals with the development of categorisation, concepts and prototypes in terms of cognitive psychology. In recent decades, prototype semantics has begun to gain an important role in linguistics and led to a pardigm shift. This is proved by research in cognitive psychology. People have a command of categorising, all times. Without the process of categorisation, our brain would be overstrained because the flood of information, the brain receives, has to be memorised and, thus, categorised, in a certain way. First of all, I will explain the importance of categorisation and concepts in everyday life, then I will introduce some forms of categorisations (Artistotle’s traditional view and the prototype theory), explain them by giving examples, analyse and criticise them, insofar as I consider them critisisable. In section three I will describe the development of categorisation, concepts and prototypes with regard to childhood. One important question in this context will be whether prototypes are changeable in the course of life? The process of categorisation by having some concepts in mind, is an important factor in human existence. Human beings categorise what they perceive by comparing the perceived object with their mentally represented concept. All people think categorically because it helps them to establish a certainty and order. People need certainty and order, for not drowning in chaos. Without categorising, human beings would have to store the information of each single element which encounters him. Categories and concepts help us to understand the world, its elements and we establish a form of cohesive network by building up concepts and categories and having prototypical exemplars in mind. If we see people, we categorise them, whether it is their outward appearance or how they talk or how they behave towards us. By doing this, we sometimes practise a form of pigeonholing other people. This pigeonholing, though, is human, as we cannot cease to categorise what we perceive. “Categorization provides the gateway between perception and cognition. After a perceptual system acquires information about an entity in the environment, the cognitive system places the entity into a category”.
Download or read book Concepts and Conceptual Development written by Ulric Neisser and published by CUP Archive. This book was released on 1989-03-31 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Concepts and Conceptual Development draws together a wide range of theorists to consider many different aspects of 'the psychology of concepts'.
Download or read book The Origin of Concepts written by Susan Carey and published by Oxford Series in Cognitive Dev. This book was released on 2011 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carey begins by characterizing the innate starting point for conceptual development, namely systems of core cognition. Representations of core cognition are the output of dedicated input analyzers, as with perceptual representations, but these core representations differ from perceptual representations in having more abstract contents and richer functional roles. Carey argues that the key to understanding cognitive development lies in recognizing conceptual discontinuities in which new representational systems emerge that have more expressive power than core cognition and are also incommensurate with core cognition and other earlier representational systems. Finally, Carey fleshes out Quinian bootstrapping, a learning mechanism that has been repeatedly sketched in the literature on the history and philosophy of science. She demonstrates that Quinian bootstrapping is a major mechanism in the construction of new representational resources over the course of children's cognitive development.
Download or read book Cognition and Categorization written by Eleanor Rosch and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-03-08 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1978, the papers in this book derive from a 1976 meeting sponsored by the Social Science Research Council to discuss the nature and principles of category formation. It is organized in three sections: real-world categories, the cognitive processes underlying categorization, and the nature of representation. Part I examines different structural aspects of real-world categories: folk biological taxonomies, within and between category structures for material objects, and some categories in a language that codes the world in a visual–gestural mode. All three chapters in Part I assume category processors who are able to perform at least three cognitive functions: They can judge similarity between stimuli; they can perceive and process the attributes of a stimulus; and they can learn. Part II presents analyses of these three cognitive functions. All discussion of psychological structures and processes lead eventually to the issue of representation, and Part III examines representational assumptions underlying the earlier discussions. Today it can be read and enjoyed in its historical context.
Download or read book The Big Book of Concepts written by Gregory Murphy and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2004-01-30 with total page 564 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Concepts embody our knowledge of the kinds of things there are in the world. Tying our past experiences to our present interactions with the environment, they enable us to recognize and understand new objects and events. Concepts are also relevant to understanding domains such as social situations, personality types, and even artistic styles. Yet like other phenomenologically simple cognitive processes such as walking or understanding speech, concept formation and use are maddeningly complex. Research since the 1970s and the decline of the "classical view" of concepts have greatly illuminated the psychology of concepts. But persistent theoretical disputes have sometimes obscured this progress. The Big Book of Concepts goes beyond those disputes to reveal the advances that have been made, focusing on the major empirical discoveries. By reviewing and evaluating research on diverse topics such as category learning, word meaning, conceptual development in infants and children, and the basic level of categorization, the book develops a much broader range of criteria than is usual for evaluating theories of concepts.
Download or read book Categories and Concepts written by Iven van Mechelen and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A book aimed at advanced undergraduates and graduates in cognitive science and artificial intelligence, linguistics, applied mathematics and data analysis.
Download or read book Cognitive Development and Acquisition of Language written by Timothy E. Moore and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2014-06-28 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cognitive Development and Acquisition of Language
Download or read book The Cambridge Handbook of Psycholinguistics written by Michael Spivey and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-08-20 with total page 1297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our ability to speak, write, understand speech and read is critical to our ability to function in today's society. As such, psycholinguistics, or the study of how humans learn and use language, is a central topic in cognitive science. This comprehensive handbook is a collection of chapters written not by practitioners in the field, who can summarize the work going on around them, but by trailblazers from a wide array of subfields, who have been shaping the field of psycholinguistics over the last decade. Some topics discussed include how children learn language, how average adults understand and produce language, how language is represented in the brain, how brain-damaged individuals perform in terms of their language abilities and computer-based models of language and meaning. This is required reading for advanced researchers, graduate students and upper-level undergraduates who are interested in the recent developments and the future of psycholinguistics.
Download or read book The Origin of Concepts written by Susan Carey and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-05-06 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Only human beings have a rich conceptual repertoire with concepts like tort, entropy, Abelian group, mannerism, icon and deconstruction. How have humans constructed these concepts? And once they have been constructed by adults, how do children acquire them? While primarily focusing on the second question, in The Origin of Concepts , Susan Carey shows that the answers to both overlap substantially. Carey begins by characterizing the innate starting point for conceptual development, namely systems of core cognition. Representations of core cognition are the output of dedicated input analyzers, as with perceptual representations, but these core representations differ from perceptual representations in having more abstract contents and richer functional roles. Carey argues that the key to understanding cognitive development lies in recognizing conceptual discontinuities in which new representational systems emerge that have more expressive power than core cognition and are also incommensurate with core cognition and other earlier representational systems. Finally, Carey fleshes out Quinian bootstrapping, a learning mechanism that has been repeatedly sketched in the literature on the history and philosophy of science. She demonstrates that Quinian bootstrapping is a major mechanism in the construction of new representational resources over the course of childrens cognitive development. Carey shows how developmental cognitive science resolves aspects of long-standing philosophical debates about the existence, nature, content, and format of innate knowledge. She also shows that understanding the processes of conceptual development in children illuminates the historical process by which concepts are constructed, and transforms the way we think about philosophical problems about the nature of concepts and the relations between language and thought.
Download or read book Meanings and Prototypes RLE Linguistics B Grammar written by S.L. Tsohatzidis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-02-03 with total page 631 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are fewer distinctions in any language than there are distinct things in the universe. If, therefore, languages are ways of representing the universe, a primary function of their elements must be to allow the much more varied kinds of elements out of which the universe is made to be categorized in specific ways. A prototype approach to linguistic categories is a particular way of answering the question of how this categorization operates. It involves two claims. First, that linguistic categorization exploits principles that are not specific to language but characterize most, if not all, processes of cognition. Secondly, that a basic principle by which cognitive and linguistic categories are organized is the prototype principle, which assigns elements to a category not because they exemplify properties that are absolutely required of each one of its members, but because they exhibit, in varying degrees, certain types of similarity with a particular category member which has been established as the best example (or: prototype) of its kind. The development of the prototype approach into a satisfactory body of theory obviously requires both that its empirical base be enriched, and that its conceptual foundations be clarified. These are the areas where this volume, in its 26 essays, makes original contributions. The first two parts contain discussions in which various kinds of linguistic phenomena are analysed in ways that make essential use of prototype notions. The last two parts contain discussions in which prototype notions themselves become the object, rather than the instrument, of analytical scrutiny.
Download or read book Categories and Concepts written by Edward E. Smith and published by . This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Formal Approaches in Categorization written by Emmanuel M. Pothos and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-27 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The process of constructing concepts underpins our capacity to encode information in an efficient and competent manner and also, ultimately, our ability to think in terms of abstract ideas such as justice, love and happiness. But what are the mechanisms which correspond to psychological categorization processes? This book unites many prominent approaches in modelling categorization. Each chapter focuses on a particular formal approach to categorization, presented by the proponent(s) or advocate(s) of that approach, and the authors consider the relation of this approach to other models and the ultimate objectives in their research programmes. The volume evaluates progress that has been made in the field and potential future developments. This is an essential companion to any scientist interested in the formal description of categorization and, more generally, in formal approaches to cognition. It will be the definitive guide to formal approaches in categorization research for years to come.
Download or read book Concept Development and the Development of Word Meaning written by T. B. Seiler and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume owes its existance to many different sources and influ ences. It is based on a meeting that took place from April 30 to May 2, 1982 at the University of Technology in Darmstadt. The idea for that meeting came while we were elaborating a research program on concept development and the development of word meaning; we were inspired by Werner Deutsch of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen (The Netherlands) and by the Volkswagen Foundation in Hannover (Federal Republic of Germany) to organize an international conference on the same topic. We set out to invite a long list of colleagues, and we only regret that not all of them were able to attend. This volume should not be viewed as the proceedings of that conference. On the one hand, it does not include all of the papers presented there, and on the other hand, some of our colleagues who were unable to attend were nevertheless willing to write contributions. Furthermore, some who did pre sent papers at the conference revised and reformulated them or even submitted completely new ones for this book. We feel, however, that in the end we have arranged a valuable collection of work in the theory and research of a field that has occupied not only psychologists and linguists, but also philosophers, anthropologists, and many others for a long time.
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 Concepts Kinds and Cognitive Development written by Frank C. Keil and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1992-01-30 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Concepts, Kinds, and Cognitive Development, Frank C. Keil provides a coherent account of how concepts and word meanings develop in children, adding to our understanding of the representational nature of concepts and word meanings at all ages. Keil argues that it is impossible to adequately understand the nature of conceptual representation without also considering the issue of learning. Weaving together issues in cognitive development, philosophy, and cognitive psychology, he reconciles numerous theories, backed by empirical evidence from nominal kinds studies, natural-kinds studies, and studies of fundamental categorical distinctions. He shows that all this evidence, when put together, leads to a better understanding of semantic and conceptual development. The book opens with an analysis of the problems of modeling qualitative changes in conceptual development, investigating how concepts of natural kinds, nominal kinds, and artifacts evolve. The studies on nominal kinds document a powerful and unambiguous developmental pattern indicating a shift from a reliance on global tabulations of characteristic features to what appears to be a small set of defining ones. The studies on natural kinds document an analogous shift toward a core theory instead of simple definition. Both sets of studies are strongly supported by cross cultural data. While these patterns seem to suggest that the young child organizes concepts according to characteristic features, Keil argues that there is a framework of conceptual categories and causal beliefs that enables even very young children to understand kinds at a deeper, theoretically guided, level. This account suggests a new way of understanding qualitative change and carries strong implications for how concepts are represented at any point in development. A Bradford Book
Download or read book The Psychology of Learning and Motivation written by and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2006-05-24 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Psychology of Learning and Motivation publishes empirical and theoretical contributions in cognitive and experimental psychology, ranging from classical and instrumental conditioning to complex learning and problem solving. Volume 46 contains chapters on category learning, prototypes, prospective memory, event memory, memory models, and musical prosody. Discusses the concepts of category learning, prototypes, prospective memory, event memory, memory models, and musical prosody Volume 46 of the highly regarded Psychology of Learning and Motivation series An essential reference for researchers and academics in cognitive science
Download or read book Linguistic Categorization written by John R. Taylor and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1989 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first accessible introduction to the "cognitive paradigm" in linguistics. Constrasting cognitive linguistics with the assumptions of Chomskyan linguistics, and drawing examples mainly from English, the book explores the potential of the study of word meaning, syntax, and phonology.
