psych 421 chat 2

Psych 421

300 words

Chapter 2 - Looking at machines to understand the mind

Please, read Chapter 2 and answer the following questions:

1. Do you think building machines to learn about cognition is a good idea? What can cognitive scientists gain from this kind of work?

2. Why do you think SHRDLU focuses only on a micro-world and a restricted language? Does this limitation matter, or is it actually helpful for understanding cognition?

3. Do you think introspection is a valid method in psychology? When it comes to Shepard and Metzler’s experiments, why do you think it feels like participants are mentally rotating one image to compare it to another? Does that matter?

4. What challenges might come with using a top-down approach in cognitive science? And how do you feel about Marr’s approach overall—does it make sense to you?