• The manipulation of mental representations of the world.
• Concepts, propositions, and images

• Clearly defined by a set of rules or properties
• i.e. Registered voter

• No set of defining features, but has characteristic features instead
• Members must have at least some of the characteristics
• i.e. Bird (many different kinds, but easily identifiable bykey characteristics)

• Sentences that relate one concept to another and can stand as separate statements/assertations
• i.e. snowflakes are made of frozen water 

• Clusteres of proposition/knowledge that guide our interaction with the world
• Schemas

• Mental representations of things that are not physically present
• Analog code: a representation that closely resembles a physical object, i.e. a drawing of a mouse
• Propositions: Abstract descriptions used to create images i.e.the word "mouse"
• People make judgments about mental images in the same way that they make judgments about an actual picture (larger ones take more time)

• Mental activity used when we want to reach a goal that is not readily available
• Four major elements involved:

1. understanding the problem
2. Planning a solutioin
3. Carrying out solution
4. Evualuating results

• Every possible solution is explored
• Guarantees that it will be solvedeventually
• Very time consuming
• i.e. Finding your rental car in a parking lot by trying your key in every lock

• "Rules of Thumb"
• Mental shortcuts that  help solve problems
• Often work, but there is no guarantee
• i.e. Finding your rental car in the parking lot by looking at the key to see the make of the lot

• Intermediate steps for solving a problem
• Part of problem is solved with each subgoal
• Often not obvious how to divide the problem into subgoals
• i.e. Find the rental agency counter, find the employee, ask for the make and model of your rental car, etc.

• A solution to an earlier problem is used to help to solve the current problem
• Often difficult to recognize similarities between problems

• One solution after another is tried in no particular order until a solution is found
• Can be very time consuming
• Like an algorithm but less organized

• The inability to solve a problem because the function we assign to objects tends to refrain fixed and stable
• We tend to see objects only in terms of their usual functions

• The tendency to pay attention mostly to information that confirms existing beliefs
• People often ignore info that is inconsistant with views

• Produces one correct anser to a problem or a question
• i.e. What is the capital of Illinois?

• Producses many different answers to the same problem/question
• Creative thinking
• i.e. Use the word "apple" in a sentence

• Process of chosing between various courses of action/anternatives
• Often lack clear rules about how to make the best decision
• Heuristics relied on heavily

• When you decide whether the sample you are judging matches the prototype for that concept/category
• Most used
• i.e. Porsche Boxster = sports car
• Note Base rates (Probablility/numbers)

When you estimate an event's probability of happening and then make adjustments based on additional information

• Transferring info to reach a conclusion
• Includes evaluating and generating arguments to reach a conclusion

• Specific to general
• Drawing conclusions about all members of a category based on only some of their members
• Those that the conclusions are drawn from must not be unique or original, but must be representative
• i.e. A black widow has 8 legs, so all spiders must have 8 legs

• General to specific
• Making a prediction on a theory
• i.e. A black widow is a spider, and spiders have 8 legs, so black widows must have 8 legs

• Mental procedures that yield valid conclusions
• Formal tasks such as analogies and syllogisms monitor logical reasoning

• Two propositions/premises and a conclusion based on these premises
• Deductive reasoning
• ex: All men are mortal
  Socrates is a man
  Socrates is mortal

• Made up of 4 parts
• Relationship between the first two parts is the same as the last two
• Requires inductive reasoning
• i.e. Light : dark :: summer : winter

•  A systsem of symbols with rules for combining them to communicate information
• i.e. Spoken language, math, music, etc. 

• The smallest unit of sound that affects the meaning of speech
• English has 53 phonemes
• Hat --> cat

• The smallest unit of language that has meaning
• i.e. Adding "s" to the word "bat" makes it plural
• Prefix, Root, suffix
• Words usually sequences of morphemes
• A morpheme can be an entire word

• A psychologist who distinguished between a sentence's surface structure (the words actually spoken) and its deep structure (underlying meaning)
• Different surface structures can have similar deep structure. i.e. "The dog bit the boy; the boy was bitten by the dog."
• The same surface structurecan have more than one deep structure. i.e. "Visiting relatives can be boring"
• When we hear a spoken sentence we do not retain the surface structure but instead transform it into its deeper structure

• 4 months old
• Repeating syllables i.e. "mamamamama"
• By 6 months the infant is much more likely to babble when being spoken to by an adult
• Babbling appears to be innate because even deaf infants do it

• 10-12 months
• Child can only use one word at a time
• First words tend to be concrete nouns/verbs
• i.e. cat, dog run, hit, etc.

• 18-20 months
• Child can make short two-word sentences
• i.e."more milk," "where ball," etc.
• May learn several new words a day at this stage

• Follows soon after the Two word stage
• Child makes sentences that only contain the content words necessary to convey meaning
• i.e. "Doggie kiss Jeff"
• Sentences follow the subject-verb-object sequence
• Gradually add verb tense, pronouns, adjectives, etc.
• By 4 or 5 children have acquired most of the syntax of their native language

• Learned a system of symbols used to create simple sentences
• have no grammatical consequences
• Don't think in the manner of language; the symbols don't enter into a mental language

• A system using hand and arm signlas to express meaning.
• Subtle variatiions in movement distinguish between related nounds, verbs, etc.
• Languagecenter is still in the lef hemisphere
• Right hemisphere processes movement, spatial abilities