Cognitive Psychology Final

Front 1

What is the primary difference between a well-defined and an ill-defined problem?

Back 1

Ill-defined: unclear how to get from our initial state to our goal state
Well-defined: clear path from our initial state to goal state

Front 2

Each of the following is a technique that is used to approach problem solving. Be sure that you can define each: generate-and-rest,
means-ends analysis, reasoning by analogy, working backwards, & incubation.

Back 2

Generate and test: Brainstorm as many solutions as possible and then test them to see which are
feasible and require the least amount of resources (time, money, energy, etc.) Becomes unappealing when there are many possible solutions It takes lots of planning! (i.e., you must use a lot of time to save other resources).
Means-end analysis: Process by which we compare an initial stat with a goal state and then think of how we use our available resources to get there Often encourages us to break problem down into steps (subgoals)
Reasoning by analogy: Digging into our memory of past strategies that successfully worked for other problems to see if anything might be related/helpful

Front 3

Gick & Holyoak (1980) conducted a study examining participants’ ability to solve Duncker’s tumor problem using reasoning by
analogy. Under what three conditions were participants asked to consider Duncker’s tumor problem? Based on the performance of the participants, which one condition led to the best performance and why? Which one condition led to the worst performance and why?
Finally, what role does activation of our semantic network play in the success of solving problems like Duncker’s tumor problem
when given an analogy to also work with?

Back 3

1. Do not read general story
2. Read general story but not explicitly told to use it to solve problem
3. Read story and explicitly told to use it to solve problem

Front 4

Smith & Blankenship (1989) conducted a study examining the potential benefit of incubation on participant problem solving ability.
Describe the problems that participants were asked to solve, the independent variable manipulated by the experimenters, the key
component of the critical test of incubation, and the outcome of the experiment.

Back 4

Participants resolve problems but after first pass through problems may have second chance to answer skipped or incorrectly resolved problems. Author intentionally introduce misleading cues (i) Increased likelihood everyone has at least one mistake (ii) Independent variable-Group A- second chance immediately follows first. Group B-second chance follows after five-fifteen minute break, making misleading cue removed. (e) Dependent variable: proportion of originally incorrect responses that were responding.

Front 5

What is found in a problem space? How is it expanded?

Back 5

Problem space: We can create a visual graph of interconnected nodes to represent each stage
of the problem
Through incubation.

Front 6

Reasoning involves drawing conclusions from premises. When reasoning, how can you tell if you are using inductive or deductive reasoning? In other words, what is inductive reasoning? Deductive reasoning? Which type of reasoning is prone to error? Which type of reasoning leads to conclusions that one can be 100% confident in? When given two statements and a conclusion, can you identify if you are using inductive/deductive reasoning?

Back 6

Inductive reasoning is when you use specific observations to create a general rule for those observations (bottom up)
Deductive reasoning is when you use a general rule to draw conclusions from a set of observations (top down)
Can screw up with inductive.

Front 7

With respect to propositional deductive reasoning, what do these symbols mean: &, ∨, ¬, and →. When applying these logical connectives to a set of premises, when does each of them infer that a given conclusion is valid?

Back 7

& (ampersand) = and…both assertions are true
˅ = or… at least one assertion is true
¬ = not…one assertion is not true (is false)
→ = if… then… (If condition A, then condition B)

Front 8

Given a deductive rule “ p
q”, can you test this rule’s validity using modus ponens and modus tollens. For the rule, what would
one have to do to deny the antecedent and affirm the consequent?

Back 8

Modus ponens: p → q… give p, uncover q…
Modus tollens: p → q… given ¬ q, ¬ p follows…

Front 9

What is the Wason Selection Task & why do participants have trouble successfully completing (deducing in) this task? If asked to complete this task, would you choose the correct cards? Why does the content of the cards matter?

Back 9

Four cards, is rule true?

Front 10

If given syllogisms from a deductive reasoning task, what types of quantifiers (or qualifying descriptors) make it impossible to draw conclusions? When is it safe to draw conclusions?

Back 10

One has to be a definite (all, none.)

Front 11

Define analogical reasoning and hypothesis testing, the two techniques are used to examine a person’s ability to perform inductive reasoning. In general how are these two techniques different?

Back 11

Analogical Reasoning: Identify relationship between two stimuli in order to predict future relationship
Hypthesis Testing: Identify relationship between stimuli by asking questions to
narrow down rules.

Front 12

In the Wason 2-4-6 task, what are participants asked to do? How is inductive reasoning involved in this task? In Wason’s original study, why did so many people have difficulty with this task? What is likely to happen to the rules that a person generates as they spend more and more time considering the rule that holds 2-4-6 together?

Back 12

Confirmation bias, no counter examples.

Front 13

What’s the difference between an algorithm & a heuristic? Under what 3 conditions do people tend to use heuristics?

Back 13

Algorithm: Series of steps specifically designed for a problem and will lead you to the
solution
Heuristic: rule of thumb, gut response (cheap, emotional, ignorant)

Front 14

According to Antonio Damasio’s somatic marker hypothesis, how do we learn to make decisions over time? What role does our
physiological reaction to stimuli play in influencing our risky choices under uncertainty? What is a person asked to do in the Iowa Gambling Task? How do normal young adults behave during this task? How do patients with VMPFC damage behave during this task? How do impaired and unimpaired older adults behave? What do the differences in young and older adults’ skin conductance say about age differences in factors that underlie motivation in decision making?

Back 14

Answer