THE

ORGANIZATION
OF KNOWLEDGE
IN THE MIND
 Some questions of interest
1. How are representations of words and
symbols organized in the mind?
2. How do we represent other forms of
knowledge in the mind?
3. How does declarative knowledge
interact with procedural knowledge?
 DECLARATIVE versus PROCEDURAL
KNOWLEDGE
Declarative Knowledge - knowledge of facts that
can be stated (knowing that)
Procedural knowledge – knowledge of procedures
that can be implemented (knowing how)

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Declarative – organizing concepts in mind

Procedural – representing the procedure
 Organization of Declarative Knowledge

An animal Has wings

Tweets and
Can fly
sings

BIRD
Eats worms Builds nest

Has abeak Lays eggs

 Concepts and Categories
Concept is the fundamental unit of symbolic
knowledge, or knowledge of correspondence
between symbols and their meaning.
Category is a hierarchy of concepts. It is a concept
of members.
-Natural categories are groupings that occur
naturally in the world (birds, trees)
-Artifact categories are groupings that are
designed or invented by humans to serve particular
purposes or functions (automoblies, kitchen
appliances)
Ad hoc categories created individually to suit a
need (things you need to be happy; things you do to
please parents)

Categories appear to have basic level

(natural level) of specificity.
-Superordinate level: a fruit
-Basic level: an apple
-Subordinate level: a red delicious apple
Theories on How People Decide What Objects to
Put into a Category
1. Feature-Based Concepts: A Defining View
-The classical view of concepts dissambles a
concept into a set of featural components.

-Each feature is an essential element of the

concept (where features uniquely define the
concept)
2. Prototype Theory: A Characteristic View
-Prototype suggests that categories are
formed on the basis of a (prototypical, or
averaged) model of the category.
-It is an abstract average of all the objects in
the category we previously have encountered.
-Characteristic features qualities that
describe (characterize or typify) the prototype
but are not necessary for it.
Classical and Fuzzy Concepts
-Classical concepts are categories that can be
readily defined through defining features.
-This tend to be inventions that experts have devised
for arbitrarily labeling a class that associated with
defining features.
-Fuzzy concepts are categories that cannot be so
easily defined.
-This concept tend to evolve naturally.
Real-World Exemplars: Using Exemplars
-Exemplars are typical representatives of a
category.
 A Synthesis: Combining Feature-Based and
Prototype Theories
-Theory-Based View of Categorization
-Finding the “Essence” of Things
Semantic-Network Models
-It suggests that knowledge is represented in our minds in
the form of concepts that are connected with each other in a
web-like form.
Comparison of Semantic Features
Schematic Representations
Schemas are mental frameworks for representing
knowledge that encompass an array of interrelated
concepts in a meaningful organization
Characteristics of schemas that ensure wide
flexibility in their use.
1. Schemas can include other schemas (a schema
for animals includes a schema for cows, a
schema for apes, and so on)
2. Schemas encompass typical, general facts that
can vary slightly from one specific to another
3. Schemas can vary in their degree of abstraction. (a
schema for justice is much more abstract than a schema for
apple or even a schema for fruit)

-Schemas can also include information about relationships:

1. Concepts (the link between trucks and cars)
2. Attributes within concepts (the height and the weight of
an elephant)
3. Attributes in related concepts (the redness of a cherry
and the redness of an apple)
4. Concepts and particular contexts (fish and ocean)
5. Specific concepts and general background knowledge
(concepts about particular president, about the
government and the history)
Scripts
-A structure that describes appropriate sequences of events in
a particular context
-Contains information about particular order in which things
occur.
Feature of script:
Props (tables, menu, food, check and money)
Roles to be played (a customer, waiter, cashier)
Opening conditions for script (the customer is hungry and
she has money)
Scenes (entering, ordering, eating, exiting)
A set or results (the customer has less money, the owner has
more money, the customer is no longer hungry, the customer
and owner are pleased)
 Representation of How We Do Things:
Procedural Knowledge
The “Production” of Procedural Knowledge
-Procedural knowledge is acquired by practicing the
implementation of a procedure.
-It involves serial processing in which information
is handled through a linear sequence of operations,
one operation at a time.
-It is in the form of sets of rules governing a
production, which includes the generation and
output of a procedure.
-Production system an ordered set of
production in which execution starts at the top
of a list of productions, continues until a
condition is satisfied, and then returns to the
top of the list to start a new.
- It includes the entire set of rules (production)
for executing the task or using the skill.

Ex. Traffic light red - stop

Traffic light green - move
 Nondeclarative Knowledge
-Perceptual, motor, and cognitive skills
(procedural knowledge)
-Simple associative knowledge (classical and
operant conditioning)
-Simple non-associative knowledge
(habituation and sensitization)
-Priming (semantic priming and repitition
priming)
 Intergrative Models for Representing
Declarative ad Nondeclarative Knowledge
-Combining Representations: ACT-R
(Adaptive Control of Thought – rational) – a
model of information processing that
integrates a network representation for
declarative knowledge and a production-
system representation for procedural
knowledge.
 Declarative Knowledge within ACT-R

Spreading activation excitation that fans out

along a set of nodes within a given network
-The more often particular links between
nodes are used, the stronger the links become.
-A node can be turned on – activated – directly
by external stimuli, such as sensations, or it
can be activated by internal stimuli, such as
memories or thought processes.
 Procedural Knowledge within ACT-R
STAGE DEFINITION
Cognitive We think about explicit rules
Stage for implementing the
procedure
Associative We consciously practice using
Stage the explicit rules extensively,
usually in a highly consistent
Autonomou We use these rules
s Stage automatically and implicitly
without thinking about them.
We show a high degree of
integration and coordination,
as well as speed accuracy
EXAMPLE
When learning how to drive a car with
standard shift, we must explicitly think about
each rule for stepping on the clutch pedal,
the gas pedal, or the brake pedal.
Simultaneously, we also try to think about
when and how to shift gears.
We carefully and repeatedly practice
following the rules in a consistent manner.
We gradually become more familiar with the
rules. We learn when to follow which rules
and when to implement which procedures.
We have integrated all the various rules into
a single, coordinated series of actions. We no
longer need to think about what steps to
take shift gears. We can concentrate instead
on listening to our favorite radio station. We
simultaneously can think about going to our
destination, avoiding accidents, stopping for
pedestrians, and so on.
 Parallel Processing: The Connectionist Model
Parallel processing occurs when multiple
operations are executed all at once.

Parallel Distributed Processing(PDP)

Models or Connectionist Models the
handling of very large numbers of cognitive
operations at once through a network
distributed across incalculable numbers of
locations in the brain
 How the PDP Model Works
- The representation of information is distributed
- Knowledge for specific things are not stored explicitly
but stored in the activations of patterns among units
-Units send excitatory and inhibitory signals to other
unit.
Inactive neurons are not stimulated beyond their
threshold of excitation.
Excitatory neurons release neurotransmitters that
stimulate receptive neurons at synapse.
Inhibitory neurons release neurotransmitters that
inhibit receptive neurons.
Knowledge represented by Patterns of Connectionist
 Criticisms of the Connectionist Models
-Connectionist networks neglect properties
that neural systems have, or they propose
properties that neural networks do not have.

-Many aspects of the connectionist models are

not yet well-defined.
Comparing Connectionist with Network
Representations