Reading Activity Week #15 (Due Monday)

1. Chapter 9 Reading activity

a. I am interested in declarative memory.

b. I like how it is about the knowledge that we possess about the world. It has ties to episodic and sematic information. It has several ways to explain retrieval. Like the computer memory, that is common in recall processing system ideas. It is a temporary system that can pull memory from parts of your memory like a computer pulls documents form a file. It also refers to the string theory of memory or special memory. It works with working memory in pulling information from permanent memory. I like to learn the parts of memory and how they affect the things that we do every day. Our everyday lives are very important because it makes our memories and having the ability to remember what we need to and that of what we don’t.

2.

a. I liked how they explained knowledge in the book.

b. I liked that they broke down what knowledge is and what each part is for. It is part storage, which is very important to store information that we need for later use. It is part integration of information of what there is to learn and recall. Also it is part of organization of the information that we have. Knowledge is very important to having a life in this age and being able to use that knowledge to communicate with other people. Knowledge is power in this age and to have knowledge you have to be able to use your memory to create your knowledge that gives you the opportunity to strive in this world.

3.

a. I like the working memory and how it works.

b. The working memory is part of short-term memory, and it can also get to the long-term memory processing systems. Working memory is your active memory system of the memory. It also has an effect on the declarative memory system. So it can link some of the memory systems together to help them work better. Working memory is a very interesting system to look at.

4.

a. I didn’t really like the models that were being explained in this chapter.

b. The models were kind of boring to read about in this chapter. I thought that they were just something that was to be read that was not all that interesting and it made me want to not read that part of the chapter. Although there were things that were interesting about this chapter that were fun to learn about.

5. I was thinking that the most useful thing from the chapter would be the three memory systems working, declarative, productive memories that would be working with your main memory systems to help you remember and pull things from your memory.

6. This chapter relates to the past chapters because it deals with memory, also it deals with semantic and episodic information that is part of the memory systems.

7.

a. I want to learn more about the declarative memory, which works with the working and productive memory systems in the brain to help process knowledge and pull information from your long term memory.

b. I want to learn more about how these systems affect your memory, and how they affect the life that you live every day. Also how these systems affect the lives of the people that you have around you.

8. I was thinking of the parts of memory that we use every day and how they are broken down into smaller parts in this chapter by showing more parts of memory.

9. Declarative memory, semantic information, episodic information, working memory, productive memory, long term memory, knowledge, short-term memory

1) One thing that I found interesting was the section on Gestalt psychology and problem solving. Gestalt is particularly known for its theories of perpetual organization, but it is also known for its insight into problem solving. According to Gestalt problems especially perceptual problems, exist when tension or stress occurs as a result of some interaction between perception and memory. Functional fixedness is to have considerable impact on problem solving research held that there is a tendency to perceive things in terms of their familiar uses and that tendency often makes it difficult to use them in an unfamiliar way. I found this interesting because we often here about Gestalt in many other classes but this is the first time I have heard it being talked about through problem solving.
2) The next section that I found interesting was the section on representation of the problem. In this section I thought that the stereotypical sequence of problem solving as suggested by Hayes was interesting in the sense of looking at the cognitive actions. 1. Identifying the problem 2. Representation of the problem. 3. Planning the solution. 4. Executing the plan. 5. Evaluating the plan. 6. Evaluating the solution. This is something that we do regularly and often time we don’t even realize that we are going through the steps. We often come to a problem and we just complete the task by forming the plan and then executing the plan. We often don’t know that we are really doing this at the time we are doing it.
3) The third thing that I found interesting was the section on judging creativity looking at the rat dyads of triad’s task. This section was looking at the way Americans judge people and there is really no possible way to measure ones creativeness. Psychologist measure how well people see novel connections between seemingly unrelated words and this is said to measure at least one if not many components of creativity. The RAT test to see have to pick a common word but additionally test to see if they are coherent or incoherent as well. I think this is interesting because we always see that people in America are judging and we often pick words based on this.
4) The section on H.O was something that I didn’t find interesting as they put H.O. who was a famous artist who was put in an fMRI and was told to draw they found different neurological differences in his brain compared to there and they did eye tracking and motor movement observations too. This study was really boring to me and I didn’t find it interesting to read about.
5) I think understanding how one problem solves is something that is very important because we problem solve every day throughout life and we often don’t really know how we do it. Problem solving is really a complex thing that we should understand. It also brought up some familiar psychologists that I have herd of in other classes and helped to make that connection.
6) This chapter builds off of the other chapter because it is again showing us more about the human intelligence, memory, and functions. It went farther into problem solving and how our brain functions was talked about in earlier chapters and with this we are able to move forward and expand our knowledge even further.
7) Declarative memory is something that I would be interested in learning more about. Declarative memory works with productive memory in the brain and helps process knowledge. I would like to know more about how the system affects memory and how it affects people’s life that they live every day.
8) I was thinking about memory and how our brain breaks down every little thing we do into many little pieces to process the information. Over and over again.
9) Declarative memory, working memory, productive memory, knowledge, dyads of triads, judging creativity, stereotypical problems, problem solving.

I chose chapter 14 because creativity sounds like an interesting topic to study.

1a) What did you find interesting?
1b) Why was it interesting to you?

I found the adaptive function of creativity interesting. I learned in my anthropology class that creativity is what makes who we are today. Our close relatives Neanderthals existed for a couple hundred thousand years, why did we survive and thrive in shorter periods of time and they did not? Anthropologists found no evidence that the Neanderthals invented new tools and artifacts despite existing for such a long time; generations to generations, the Neanderthals survived the world with the same basic tools and way of life. On the other hand, ancient humans’ remains are found alongside of many different tools and artifacts; the ancient us was inventing new things rapidly and effectively; we made necklaces and statues, drew painting on cave walls. We were not just surviving. A huge part of the ancient humans have remained and we call it creativity in the modern days.

2a) What did you find interesting?
2b) Why was it interesting to you?

The case study of H.O. the artist. Not quite an artist myself, I am always amazed at the ability f a few friends of mine, to produce realistic portraits. A few art classes in middle school has taught me early in life that paintbrush is not going to earn me a penny in life, and that art annoys me (although I still wish I could draw some simple portraits, just to show off). However, I realized that artists belong to a different species when compared to the ordinary, no-paintbrush people. I sensed that there is something to them that are different to others, especially when they pick up their paintbrush. This case study suggests that I am right, the way H.O. looked that things were different, his brain functioned differently as well.

3a) What did you find interesting?
3b) Why was it interesting to you?

I found problem solving an interesting topic. As far as I know, all animals can identify the problems, and solve it, on different levels of course. However, what makes us, humans, special? I am guessing that the internal representation is a crucial part that contributes to as why we can solve more abstract and complicated problems than other animals. We are aware that we are solving a problem, in a nutshell, we are engaging in mega-cognition, where we think about thinking. That makes us more prone to encountering a problem (for example, a dog would not look at a tree branch and wonder where it comes from, but we would wonder and became aware that we wanted to know the answer), and therefore more chances of solving complex problems.

4a) What one (1) thing did you find the least interesting?
4b) Why wasn't it interesting to you?

I found intelligence less interesting. it is a boring subject to me, at least when comparing it to creativity. Also, it has been beaten to death in two other psychology classes I am taking right now.

5) What did you read in the chapter that you think will be most useful to in understanding Cognitive Psychology?

I thought creativity is the most useful to in understanding cognitive psychology, because it is what makes us human, and it is abstract enough for us to explore other unknown things about the brain.

6) How, in what ways, does this chapter relate (build on) to the previous chapters?

This one builds up on the previous chapter by continuing the topic of problem solving. We cannot not talk about creativity after discussing logic, and not talk about intelligence after discussing decision making and concept formation. They go hand in hand.

7a) What topic would you like to learn more about?
7b) Why?

I would like to learn more about an artist’s brain. the case study got me interested in the topic. I want to know more in details what is specifically different cognitively that makes them an artist.

8) What ideas related to what you were reading (what did you think about) did you have while reading the chapter?

I thought about creativity and problem solving. Creativity is a crucial part in solving problems and what makes us able to solve complex problems and come up with better solutions? Is there any downside to creativity (say, the invention of technology, and the over-use of technology makes children more creative or less creative? Are screens making them more inventive? Or playgrounds and different games are crucial in making them inventive and technology is taking it away)?

9) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Creativity, problem solving, intelligence, concept formation, decision making, logic

Chapter 14 Blog

The first thing that I found interesting in chapter 14 was the candle problem experiment. This experiment looks at someone’s problem solving skills based of the representation of the problem. All of the participants in the experiment were asked to take the objects they were given and create something that would serve as a lamp. The objects they were given included: a box, a candle, a book of matches, and thumb tacks. Half of the participants were given these objects all inside of the box, and the other half were given these objects all separately. Since both of these groups were presented the information in different ways, they also solved the problems differently. The group that was given the objects separately solved the problem much faster than those that were given the objects inside the box. This was very interesting to me because I would have assumed opposite results. I would have hypothesized that the participants given the objects in the box would have solved the problem faster. I thought this way because the solution to the problem has the candle inside the box. This is also interesting because it shows that the representation of the problem and the presentation of materials can have an impact on how the person solves the problem.

The next thing I found interesting in chapter 14 was how Wallas (1926) described the creative process. He said that our creative processes have 4 sequential stages. The stages (in order) are preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification. The stage that interested me the most was incubation. This stage is where the person steps back from the problem they are trying to solve. There is a paragraph that points out how most creative breakthroughs happen after a period where the problem becomes dormant. When the person trying to solve the problem, and they take a step back from it for a bit, that will help them solve it more creatively than someone else who just sits and dwells on it. The reason I find this interesting is because I am guilty of it. I have always been the type that cannot dwell on something for long periods of time. When I am studying for a test, I have to take frequent breaks. It is also the case if I am taking a test. If I come upon a question that I don’t know the answer to, I will think on it for a bit, and then come back to it later. I have a friend who is the exact opposite of me though. She can sit down and study one subject or work on one problem for hours. I think this is interesting because it is a main step in the creative process.

The third thing I found interesting in chapter 14 was the blue box at the end of the chapter labeled “Elephant Art”. This entire section talked about animals learning to do human things, such as problem solving. There wasn’t too much actually said about elephant art, but it discussed how cats solved certain problems and how chimps solved certain problems. The experiments that were done with cats involved them being put in boxes. The researcher would put the cat in a box and then see how long it took for the cat to figure out how to escape. After several trials of this, the cat became faster at escaping and found more efficient ways to escape. I thought that this was interesting because it shows that animals have problem solving abilities as well. It also shows that after several trials of having to solve the same problem, the animal seems to learn how to best solve that problem. Another reason I find this interesting is because I have done this to my cat before. I wasn’t doing it in an experimental way – but I did realize that after several times of being in the box, he was much faster at knowing what to do in order to get out of the box.

The thing from chapter 14 that I found least interesting was all of the information on intelligence. I do think that all of this information is interesting, but I am learning about it in my other class as well. Right before sitting down to write this blog, I was in a class where we are learning all about intelligence, intelligence testing, and theories of intelligence. I really like learning this information, but it was hard for me to read for the second time in one day. In my other course, we have been talking about intelligence for the last couple weeks. We have already covered all of this information, so it wasn’t really as interesting to me the second time around.

I think that all of this information will be important in my learning about cognitive psychology. And even though I found the information on intelligence the least interesting, I still think it will be the most important aspect of this chapter. I think that intelligence is a huge part of cognitive psychology, and I also think that it is a very misunderstood concept. People use the word “intelligent” to describe others, or maybe even describe themselves. But when asked what intelligence is – the term becomes a little more complicated. Intelligence is a very hard thing to measure and there are many components to it. I think that everyone should be required to take a course on intelligence while they are in college. I also feel the same about language. Most people don’t understand the scientific view of language – which is much different from the cultural view. Intelligence and language are both hard for people to define when asked, and I think that since I have this information, and I’m learning about it in two of my classes, it will really help in my understanding of cognitive psychology.

This chapter relates to the previous chapter because the previous chapter was all about concept formation, logic, and problem solving. And chapter 14 is all about problem solving, creativity, and human intelligence. Without concept formation, logic, and problem solving we wouldn’t be able to have creativity or intelligence. All of these concepts are related to one another and sometimes they are used together. When given a problem, puzzle, question, etc. we can use one of these or a series of these to solve it.

I think that I would like to learn more about problem solving experiments done on animals. I have always enjoyed animals and learning about their cognitive processes. I know that animals can be taught to do certain things. But I want to know to what extent they can be taught things. I would also like to know what animals would be better at learning things. I think it’d be interesting to look at how animal’s cognitive processes differ. I enjoyed reading about the cat experiments, the chimp experiments, and the elephant art. I think it’d be cool to learn more about those kinds of things.

While I was reading this chapter I was thinking about my own problem solving skills and my own level of creativity. I think that I have fairly good problem solving skills and strategies. I also thought a lot about my creativity compared to others. I would rate myself as more creative than most of my peers. Obviously I am pretty biased about that, but I could easily relate to the 4 stages of a creative process. I also thought a lot about my other class and how we are learning about intelligence. I am actually in 3 courses this semester that are all very closely related in material being taught.

Terms: The Candle Problem, Problem Solving, Representation of the Problem, Wallas, Creative Process, Incubation, Sequential Stages, Preparation, Illumination, Verification, Elephant Art, Human Intelligence, Concept Formation, Logic

1. I chose to read chapter fourteen about problem solving, creativity, and human intelligence. I chose to read this chapter because I was particularly interested in learning about the cognitive aspects of creativity and human intelligence. Artificial intelligence is not a subject that is very interesting to me. I have learned about different theories of human intelligence in other psychology classes and wanted to build on to that knowledge base with the cognitive approach to the subject.

2. One thing that I found interesting from this chapter was the idea that functional fixedness can inhibit our creativity and problem solving abilities. Humans have the tendency to perceive things in the contexts and in the terms of uses that we are used to seeing them in. This can make it difficult when a situation requires for that item to be used in a different way than how our brains are trained to accept as its use. In order to increase problem solving and creative abilities a person must be able to overlook the set that items are classified in our memories as a part of. This can be manipulated simply by the way that information and materials are presented to a person. If an item is presented in a certain way it can be difficult to overcome that functional fixedness, rather than if an item is presented without that functional attachment already attached to it. I found this interesting because it can help to explain why people get stuck when attempting to solve particular problems and why they can benefit from taking a break and returning to the problem later on.

3. Another thing that I found interesting in this chapter was the H.O case study which showed how a particular expert in a field differs in the way that their brain functions during tasks in their field of expertise compared to a novice performing the same tasks. From this case study we are able to understand that the brain of an expert tends to work more efficiently during tasks that are in that field compared to novices. Their brains do not require as much blood flow to particular areas of the brain that are identified to be active during those particular tasks because the experts have somewhat automated the motions of the task. This efficiency allows for experts to focus their brain power on higher order thinking and analysis of the task which takes their work to a higher level in comparison to the novice. The eye tracking study of H.O. showed that his eye fixation pattern was different when performing the task in his field of expertise than when performing other tasks that did not fit into this field. More time was spend at each fixation allowing for a deeper analysis of the subject. I found this case study interesting because it provides evidence that the brains of experts are different in particular ways to novices which allows for those experts to perform at a higher level. This section left me wondering how exactly those changes come about and what can be done to make those changes happen. Is everyone capable of becoming an expert in a particular thing if they put enough effort into it?

4. The third thing that I found interesting from this chapter was the different abilities that have been determined to represent the uniqueness of human intelligence. I found these interesting because they are things that we so easily take for granted as processes that we naturally have. They are processes that many times we may not understand how important and necessary they are in order to live the kind of lives and in the societies that we do today. Humans are able to classify nonidentical stimuli into categorical patterns. We are able to adapt our behaviors. Humans are able to learn from their experiences and store that information in long term memory where it can be retrieved and used to determine which behaviors are the best exhibit in a given situation. Humans are able to use both inductive and deductive reasoning to solve problems. Along with learning, humans are able to create and use conceptual models of based on past experiences to understand how the world works without actually seeing all the information that we me may necessarily know. The final ability of human intelligence is the ability to understand. This is the ability to form relationships between different bits of information and appreciated the meaning of that information.

5. One thing that I found the least interesting in this chapter was the section on cognitive neuroscience support. I felt as though much of the information presented in this section had been covered in previous chapter or in other areas of this chapter. There were a lot of studies and their findings presented in a little amount of space which made it hard to keep track of each and fully grasp what each was trying to show.

6. The subject from this chapter that I think is the most important for understanding the history of psychology is the idea that normal development of intelligence has not been a prominent area of study until just recently. This is due to the different waves of popular psychological theory that have occurred throughout history which shifted the focus of studies. Not until recently has it been seen as important to try and understand the normal development of human intelligence and how exactly the process of intelligence works. Before the focus had only been on issues in intelligence. the accepted fact was that intelligence was simply one thing that could be measured in one way and that was it. Now we can see that there are theories of a number of different types of intelligence and the idea that there is a g intelligence, but that is not the only type that exists. Different individuals are able to have different types of intelligence and we do not yet have a way to measure and quantify them all.

7. This chapter brought together many of the previous chapters to explain the cognitive approach to problem solving, creativity, and intelligence. Gestalt psychology was previously introduced in the chapter that covered perceptual organization and is built upon in this chapter to explain problem solving. Gestalt theory focuses on how we organize ideas and concepts in our minds to attempt to solve a particular problem. A sequence of steps have been identified that people generally follow when solving a problem which is said to be done unconsciously. Explanation of the unconscious was explained in previous chapters. The chapter on internal representation explained how the process occurs and this chapter adds on to this to explain how internal representations are used in problem solving techniques. Both inductive and deductive reasoning were introduced previously and in this chapter we see that both are used in problem solving for humans. We also use both top down and bottom up processing to solve problems in different contexts.

8. I would like to learn more about any genetic link that may be associated with creativity. It was briefly mentioned that it may be a possibility in the text but no detail was given on any research on the topic. I would like to research this because my two brothers both have a lot of creativity and artistic talent and I do not. I want to know whether or not there is something genetic that allows for a person to have more creative ability than another person.

9. While reading this chapter I began to think about the way that our society views and measures intelligence. I would love for the field to be able to find out more about the different types of intelligences that a person is able to have and make it more common knowledge that a general intelligence is not the make all or break all aspect for success. I also began to think about the different ways that were suggested to try and enhance a persons creativity. I began to wonder if these really enhance a person's creativity, and if so how much. I thought about the different ways that I would go about solving some of the problems that were presented in the text and realized how unconsciously I went through the same steps that were explained in the text realizing how much processing that goes into what seams to be a simply problem solving task.

10. Terms used- functional fixedness, creativity, set, eye tracking, fixation, intelligence, stimuli, long term memory, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, neuroscience, gestalt psychology, unconsciousness, bottom up processing, top down processing.

1a) What did you find interesting? 1b) Why was it interesting to you?
I thought the investment theory of creativity was interesting because it had so many different attributes that combine to build creativity. I thought it was interesting that personality was part of this theory but considering the Big Five Personality traits, it makes sense that some personalities would be more apt to be creative than others.

2a) What did you find interesting? 2b) Why was it interesting to you?
I thought the adaptive function of creativity theory was interesting because it gives survival value to something that is seemingly separate from survival. This theory also reminded me of a theory about dreaming that suggests dreams are a way to play out different scenarios that might be important for survival.

3a) What did you find interesting? 3b) Why was it interesting to you?
I thought the H.O. case study was interesting. This was interesting to me because I was an art minor and switching between art classes and other academic classes throughout the day was a very interesting experience. It was like the first ten to fifteen minutes of art classes were devoted mostly to switching from one style of thinking to another. For experts, it seems that slipping into the style of thinking related to their area of experts is more automatic because it has been practiced so many times.

4a) What one (1) thing did you find the least interesting? 4b) Why wasn't it interesting to you?
The sequence of problem solving was not as interesting to me. This was not as interesting because it seemed intuitive. This didn’t add a whole lot to what I already knew about problem solving.

5) What did you read in the chapter that you think will be most useful to in understanding Cognitive Psychology?
I think the debate about the definitions of intelligence is important in understanding cognitive psychology. I think this important because it shows that there is more than one way to think about a single construct and sometimes scientists haven’t agreed on a single definition.

6) How, in what ways, does this chapter relate (build on) to the previous chapters?
This chapter builds on other chapters by showing how we use all the processes we have learned about thus far for higher order cognitions.

7a) What topic would you like to learn more about? 7b) Why?
I would like to learn more about intelligence and different types of intelligence. I would like to know more about this because intelligence assessments are really popular in clinical settings and I would like to know about the full utility of intelligence tests and what they are really measuring.

8) What ideas related to what you were reading (what did you think about) did you have while reading the chapter?
I was thinking about different types of creativity and how creativity usually makes for successful careers in any field.

9) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Creativity, intelligence, problem solving

1) I chose chapter 14, I am not really all that interested in artificial intelligence, so I decided to do this chapter instead.

2) H.O. and eye tracking and motor movements. When we learned about eye tracking before, I thought it was a really interesting subject, so I enjoyed reading about it at some length. A detailed case study was done of an expert portrait artist named H.O. In this study, several aspects of H.O. were studied, but this was the part of the study that I found the most interesting. In this phase of the study, the researchers outfitted him with an eye camera (for tracking eye movements), a scene camera (which captured the visual scene) and a motion detector marker (tracking of movements). This allowed researchers to track his movements over an extended period of time, while H.O. was sketching a model. When compared to others, H.O., unsurprisingly, did much better overall then the others, however there were a few other things that were also different about him. The way in which H.O. looked at the model when doing his sketching was much more intense than an ordinary looking pattern. Also, as the sketching of the model progressed, H.O. became much more focused on the canvas, which would indicate that once the basics of the sketch are done, it becomes the own basis for doing any touchups. The artist’s typical fixation time was from .6 to 1.0 seconds, with the novice artists having about half that time; indicating that the artist is locking his gaze into one spot, which is not typical of a normal fixation. When the results of the hand movements were recorded, it looked remarkably close to the finished product, which shows just how precisely the artist did his work. This artist helped give a glimpse

3) Cultural blocks and Can We Teach Creativity? As I was reading this part of the chapter, these two sections stuck out to me and really made me think. First, the book asked the question of why are some people able to create creative ideas for objects, but some aren’t? Cultural block may be part of the reason that this occurs. If I think about my own home life, creativity was not something that was praised, nor was it sought out. While I don’t want to blame my parents for everything, I really think that creativity is something that has to be fostered. The example in the book details a situation in which you need to sit and think about ways in which to complete a task, using everyday household objects. Some really interesting ideas were brought up as examples of completing this task, but I struggled to come up with more than one on my own. If I really had to think about it, I am sure I would have come up with more-but I also know that I would never have come up with some of the ideas listed. The way in which we are educated and cultured can have a big impact on your ability to think about things in this manner.

Secondly, can we teach creativity? While it certainly is possible to teach people to think more flexibly, or “outside of the box,” it is not known scientifically if it is possible to teach creativity. However, there are certain ways to enhance creativity. First, by expanding your knowledge base. The more you know about important subjects such as math and science, literature, arts, etc., the larger group of information a person has to pull creative ideas from. In a study done on this subject, the only real difference between a creative and non-creative person was that creative people worked really hard at their craft. Second, creating the right atmosphere for creativity. Sometimes it may be uncomfortable to “brainstorm” with other individuals, but in reality that is a perfect opportunity to come together and create new ideas, especially if there is an “anything goes” type of policy. Last, search for analogies. Studies have shown that when a problem is presented, most people don’t generally use past experiences to solve problems. Looking for solutions that you may already know.

4) Cognitive Neuroscience Support for intelligence. I have always thought the general idea of intelligence was really boring, but reading this section of the book was a really interesting subject. I had never thought much about how someone with a higher IQ might actually have a different brain, but this section touched on this idea. Much of the research into intelligence has been on those that have lower IQs, but with the invention of the technology that allows for a closer look at the brain has come more research into what a “normal” brain looks like. Through these scanning technologies, we have learned that when using a PET scan, that it is possible to measure the areas of the brain needing energy (in the form of glucose) in the brain using a radioactive isotope of oxygen. What these “hot spots” tell us are that there may be specialized areas of the brain for certain types of intelligence. In general studies, what they have found is that while the brain itself is the same when testing a highly skilled person vs. a novice, what is different is the activity of the brain. When we are skilled at a certain subject, we use that brain much more efficiently, which is shown by the use of less glucose. A study was done using the game Tetris, in which players were told to practice this game over a period of time. Not only did the players become much more skilled over this time period, but their brain worked much more efficiently, as well. A smart brain is an efficient brain.

5) The section on problem solving. I just didn’t feel that problem solving was a logical fit into this chapter. In my opinion, problem solving is better suited in the section on decision making.

6) I think the ideas of intelligence and how far they have come is really important to the general ideas of psychology.

7) More discussion of intelligence, general brain knowledge and brain scanning technology.

8) Intelligence, I think what I know about intelligence is more related to the IQ test and not so much about the cognitive/biological basis of intelligence. I would like to expand on this topic.

9) I really did not think a lot about anything while reading the chapter.

Terms: creativity, cultural block, intelligence, problem solving.

1.I chose chapter 14.
1.1 Honestly I didn’t read what the assignment was prior to reading this chapter so I did not know I had a choice of which chapter to read and just read the next sequential chapter. But, it turned out to be pretty interesting anyway.
1a. The first thing I found interesting was the section on gestalt psychology and problem solving. Gestalt psychology focused on behavior in terms of an organized system. According to gestalt psychologist perceptual problems exist when tension or stress occurs as a result of some interaction between perception and memory. By examining the problem from different angles the correct view can appear in a moment of insight. The concept of functional fixedness emerged from this line of work and this is an interesting concept in problem solving that basically means that there is a tendency to perceive things in terms of their familiar uses and that that tendency makes it difficult to use that thing in an unfamiliar way (i.e. using a pencil as measuring device). Objects or ideas become set in their function and when a subject has to use an object or idea to solve a problem in an unfamiliar way the subject has to overcome the set to solve the problem.
2a. I found this interesting because Gestalt psychology is an area of psychology that has hardly ever been covered in any of the psych classes I have taken thus far. To see it expanded on an area such as problem solving is very interesting and I also could really connect with the trouble of getting over a set in order to solve a problem.
1b. The next section I found interesting was section on creativity. Creativity as defined in the book is a cognitive activity that results in a new or novel way of viewing a problem or situation. Apparently creativity is a very controversial subject in psychology in that studies of creativity are often conflicting which has led to no one dominant theory on creativity. There is a framework that was created in the 1920’s by Wallas that describes a series of stages that creative processes go through. The first stage is preparation, or formulating the problem and making initial attempts to solve it. The second stage is incubation, or leaving the problem while considering other things. The third stage is illumination, or achieving insight to the problem. The fourth stage is Verification, or testing and/or carrying out the solution.
2b. I found this interesting because, for one, if I would have been asked what the definition of creativity was I would not have guessed what the book provides as a definition. I would have thought of it as more abstract thinking process that doesn’t necessarily involve a problem or a situation, merely a simple abstract expression of oneself. Also I am surprised that there is not more recent insights or more a unanimous conclusion on what exactly creativity is.
1c. The next section I found interesting was the section on H.O.: The Case Study of a Painter. H.O. is an expert portrait painter who has acquired over 25,000 hours of painting over his life. H.O. submitted himself to be studied by scientists and results from the study were very intriguing. During an fMRI the expert painter and a novice were both asked to draw six portraits. The novice painter showed more activation in the right parietal area of the brain which is the center for facial processing. The novice showed more activation because the expert had logged so many hours processing faces that essestially his brain has found a more efficient way to do it. But, in the right frontal area of the brain the expert painters activation was much higher, suggesting that a higher order of abstraction of the information was going on.
2c. I found this very interesting because it is biological evidence that experts (not just portrait painters) be it chess or math, are experts because of a more efficient and higher level of processing functioning of the brain. Also, the book talked about how this level of expertise, especially in regards to the efficiency of the processing, also had to do with the hours of practice and experience someone has. So the saying, practice makes perfect, has a kernel of truth to it. So, I guess the lesson is here is that I should keep practicing at my guitar chords.
4a. One thing I did not find interesting was Sternbergs theory of Intelligence. His theory distinguishes five different components by which intelligence can be analyzed. 1. Metacomponents 2. Performance components 3. Acquisition components 4. Retention components 5. Transfer components. Components refers to the steps that a person must go through to solve a problem. Metacomponents refers to the person’s knowledge about how to solve a problem. Sternberg considers metacomponents to be related to general intelligence because they are the basis of so many diverse intellectual tasks. Apparently his research on this theory is ongoing.
4b. I did not find this interesting because there was not very much support to back up the jargon. It is interesting that his research is ongoing and maybe by now there is more information out there, but with what was said about it in the book it seems rather unfounded and incomplete in its description.
5. I think knowing the basics on problem solving, creativity, and human intelligence (the topic the chapters hit on the most) are most important things to know going forward.
6. This chapter retouches on subjects explored in early chapters but in greater detail. Instead of having one little section on intelligence and problem solving we are given a chapter to explore the topics.
7. I would like to learn more about creativity.
7b. I would like to learn more because all the information about it in the book was pretty dated. It also said there was no unifying theory on creativity and I would like to see if there has been any new developments in the last couple years.
8. While reading the chapter I thought a lot about my own abilities. When it was talking about problem solving I thought about how I go about solving some of the problems it talked about.
9. Problem solving, Gestalt, functional fixedness, set, creativity, preparation, incubation, illumination, verification, components, metacomponents.

1a) What did you find interesting?
Artificial Intelligence.
1b) Why was it interesting to you?
Artificial intelligence has been a topic of interest for me for as long as I have been watching science fiction films or day dreaming about the future. For many decades the idea of artificial intelligence has permeated film and television but it is finally gaining ground in the real world. AI was broadly defined by the book as a branch of computer science that deals with the development of computers and computer programs that imitate human cognitive function. Throughout the semester we have learned the human cognitive process is extremely complex and nearly impossible to replicate. One thing I found interesting while reading the section was how the author described humans, our cognition involves perception, memory, thinking, language processing and other related functions, but we are not perfect, we make mistakes. That has become a problem when developing AI, most machines never make mistakes. While machines and technology has been a part of our lives for years they are still unable to do things that are inherently human. While machines are being developed today trying to mimic human cognition some researchers are weary of the future of AI and machines becoming intelligent.
2a) What did you find interesting?
Chinese room.
2b) Why was it interesting to you?
I also found the Chinese room experiment to be pretty interesting. In this experiment, an individual is placed in a room with a large collection of Chinese writings which they do not have the ability to read. After a period of time in the room they are then given another set of Chinese characters with instructions in English on how to organize the first set with the second set. The purpose of this challenge is to demonstrate the ability to answer questions in a situation such as this, while it doesn’t necessarily relate to an understanding of the subject. This means that although an AI could give an answer to a complicated and humanistic type of problem, it might not actually understand it on a deeper level.
3a) What did you find interesting?
Expert systems.
3b) Why was it interesting to you?
This section interested me because these machines have been in use for many years and have been designed to solve problems in medicine, law, aerodynamics and many other chores that generally bore humans. An expert system is a computer system that imitates the decision-making ability of a human expert. Expert systems are designed to solve complex problems by reasoning about knowledge. The first expert systems were created in the 1970s and then thrived in the 1980s. An expert system is divided into two sub-systems: the inference engine and the knowledge base. The knowledge base represents facts and rules. The inference engine applies the rules to the known facts to deduce new facts. Inference engines can also include explanation and debugging capabilities. Expert systems were among the first truly successful forms of AI software. Many of these systems have been crucial in military, space exploration and industry.
4a) What one (1) thing did you find the least interesting?
Calculators
4b) Why wasn't it interesting to you?
This was a section in the book that was mildly interesting to me, while I did read the section about calculators, it was just a little irrelevant to me. I was surprised to find out how early calculators were used and how long they have been around.
5) What did you read in the chapter that you think will be most useful to in understanding Cognitive Psychology?
This chapter is basically a culmination of everything we have learned about human cognition throughout the semester. While our understanding of the human brain and our cognitive processes has grown exponentially over the last 50 years, the ultimate goal of many scientists is to replicate those cognitive processes in a mechanical form. This chapter gives a glimpse into the future of humans, we have been living and working with machines now for centuries and eventually we may become part machine ourselves.
6) How, in what ways, does this chapter relate (build on) to the previous chapters?
As I said above this chapter brings many of the chapters and topics we have talked about throughout the semester together to show a glimpse of what the future may hold. While there is still much to be learned about the brain and cognition we are getting closer and closer every day to giving birth to AI, an intelligent machine that might behave like an intelligent human.
7a) What topic would you like to learn more about?
Moore’s Law.
7b) Why?
This section was a little over my head and a little short so I would like to learn more about Moore’s Law and the future of robotics and artificial intelligence.
8) What ideas related to what you were reading (what did you think about) did you have while reading the chapter?
While I was reading this section I found myself thinking of all the futuristic dystopian society films that have been made dealing with artificial intelligence or a future where intelligent machines rule over humans. In my opinion it is not unreasonable to be weary of these things, as humans we have been dependent on machines for centuries but would machines or intelligent robots have the same need of us.
9) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
-artificial intelligence, moore’s law, processing speed, Chinese room, expert systems, robots

I have been a chapter ahead for the entire class, so naturally I ran out of chapters to do my blog on. I emailed Otto and asked what I should do for this weeks topical blog. He suggested that I learn more about Oliver Sacks. I went to ted talks to see if he had anything that went along with out class and cognitive psychology. I came across a video were Oliver talked about hallucinations. It was a very interesting article and I learned a lot about a subject that I would not have otherwise came across.

Oliver went on to talk about one of his patients that was suffering from hallucinations. She was an elderly women that thought she was going mad. The nursing home ladies wanted Oliver to come in and diagnose her to see if in fact she was suffering from dimentia, or athzhimers. He went in to talk to her and she described some of the things that she was seeing. Oliver quickly mad the judgement that she was in fact sane, and there seemed to be nothing wrong with her. She seemed to be of good intelligence, and was taking no medication that would cause the hallucinations that she was having. He then realized that the women was blind because of a disease that she had being 95 years old. He quickly then diagnosed her with Charles Bronnett syndrome. The women then asked Oliver to tell the nurses that she had Charles Bonnett syndrome and was not in fact going crazy. He said that Charles Bonnett was a man that had a grand father that had the same hallucinations. Oliver told the lady that he say some of the same things that were happening to her in about 10% of his other patients that suffered from either hearing loss or visual loss. What was going on was that the visual lobe was overreactive because she had not been using her vision for five years. The visual lobe was sending messages to her brain that were not real because it was so hyperactive. Her vision would come and go at random, so it was not a serious case. This was very interesting to hear about because it has a lot to do with what we are learning in class. We had talked before about when one part of the brain is compromised other parts of the brain will come in aid to help the part that is compromised. Since this ladies vision was impaired it did not mean that the part of the brain did not exist anymore, but it was doing the exact opposite. It wanted to send messages to the brain, so that was causing the hallucinations.

For the topical blog this week I want to learn more about some of these cases that are causing these people to have these hallucinations. Oliver works in a nursing home and comes across these cases more than often, so maybe he has some studies that I can look at the will help me in my research. I thought that this ted talk was amazing, and it helped me in my understanding of cognitive psychology. Continued research in this area would be very beneficial to help me understand this topic and cognitive psychology that much more. I am sorry that I can not follow the typical format for the Monday blog, but I learned some very useful information about cognitive psychology nonetheless.

1)i choose to read chapter 14. problem solving and crativity is something that i like alot.
2)the first thing I found interesting was the section on gestalt psychology and problem solving.According to gestalt psychologist perceptual problems exist when tension or stress occurs as a result of some interaction between perception and memory. when you look at the problem from all angles the answer some times just pops up and its like its been staring you in the face the whole time The concept of functional fixedness emerged from this line of work and this is an interesting concept. you look at things and all you see is what they are intended for and not all the other ways that they can be used to solve a problem.
3)the next topic I found interesting in this chapter was the part on creativity. i liked how the book talked about creativity and how it is widely used in our everyday life. i never knew that there were four stages to creativity, according to Wallas well i guess i did know but didn't understand how they or i used them. stages are preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification.
4)the third thing I found interesting in chapter was the blue box at the end of the chapter labeled “Elephant Art”. this entire section talked about animals learning to do human things, such as problem solving. i thought this was neat cause i see trump do things and other service dogs do things that are task that us humans do.
5)i liked it all
6) all of it
7) all of it
8)i just was thinking about how neat and interesting the mind is and how it can do so much and its not the same for everyone everyone has their own ways of doing things that work for them