Behavior & Environment 3
Theme 1: Thinking before doing? Impulsive and Reflective Processes in Behavioral Control
You will have insight into how knowledge is mentally represented.
Mental representation: any mental content or operation that stands for something else in the world
(e.g.: categories, exemplars, symbols, mental images, memories, truth values, probabilities etc.)
Function of mental representation: “for the most part we do not first see and then define, but
define and then see”
other functions: classification (human, animal or object?), additional attributes (what to
do with the object), steering attention and interpretation (detecting a glass of water faster if your
thirsty), communication, thinking
Availability: knowledge is stored in the mind
Accessibility: only limited knowledge is also accessible
accessibility can be defined as the activation potential of available knowledge
Study: lexical decision task: how fast can people categorize words or non-words?
Participants watched a video of a women putting on make-up or eating chopsticks and then had
women related words and Chinese related words.
Chinese women putting on makeup social category of female more activated
Chinese women eating with chopsticks social category of Chinese was more activated
you might have all kinds of mental representations available but at specific point some
information is more accessible than other information
You will know the various models concerning how knowledge is stored and can distinguish these
models from one another.
Concept models: a-modal = abstract models
Multiple format models: modal models = mental representations are stored in different models
Associative network models:
mind = computer; mental representation has information nodes that
can become active
nodes = concepts, links between nodes = relationships between
concepts (links vary on strength based on frequency and recency of
activation) meaning is constructed in dynamic bottom-up process
Chronic accessibility effects: frequently activated sets of association
are more easily activated
Priming effects: activating a concept with a prime increase its
activation momentarily and triggers subsequent processing, which
then strengthens their links
Parallel search: nodes or spreading activation (among all connected nodes) is unconscious, but the
resulting representations can become conscious after they cross a threshold implicit search
model
Serial search: intentional search along the linked nodes until a concept is retrieved, the search
process (the node that is the present focus of the serial search) is conscious explicit search model
e.g. as soon as I see a coffee, many different nodes can become active by spreading activation (tasty,
awake); activation is facilitated for stronger connections in the network (coffee and tasty have a
stronger link)
,Schema models:
contrast to ANM: top-down approach
perceivers “go beyond the information given”, which means that people use the schemas they have
about a specific object and all related objects/situations (schemas = abstract mental representations)
Those schemas stir our behavior: schemas operate as a lens (schemas provide understanding
about the connection of features but also provide rules about the situation); when schema is
activated it directs attention, memory, and judgement
representation are not implicit in themselves but are used implicitly,
based on attention the content can be implicit or explicit temporarily, e.g. coffee is tasty but also
knowing how to drink/make it
Predictive coding:
We have all kind of knowledge (priors), and those priors determine what we expect to perceive
Bayesian processes: priors affect perception posterior (comparison between perception and prior)
e.g. you expect coffee to be tasty (priors) but the coffee you drink isn’t tasty (perception), so you
conclude that this type of coffee from this place is not tasty (posterior)
Connectionist model:
Difference to ANM: ANM are about the links between concepts and the
strengths between those links, but in connectionist models it is about links
that may facilitate or inhibit information (both are about nodes and links)
dynamic model, more like neurons people have in their brain: by firing
all kind of neurons a specific set of neurons gets activated which represent
the knowledge that we have (concepts exist by means of dynamic interplay
of distributed elements input, hidden, and output elements), parallel distribution processing
the full set of activated nodes and their weights form a mental representation: a node alone has
no information! Only the combination (difference to ANM) mental representations are not static but
are influenced by the environment (but can be quite stable when they are used frequently)
different representations are only different recombination of the same set of nodes and
connections weights, there are also links that inhibit activation of other nodes
Generally implicit but active representational patterns are conscious (but the network is not)
Multiple format models:
Memory system model (Amodio & Ratner): mental representations
are not created and stored in the same way:
we learn different in different situations so multiple learning
mechanisms that are related to different memory systems, each
system is represented in a different part of the brain
memory and learning = highly correlated, different kinds of learning leads to different behavior
Embodied cognition: Argues that mental representations are represented in the body
mental representations are modality-specific (they are constituted of sensory experiences)
e.g. when you drink coffee the experience of the smell, the warmth and the alertness after the coffee
are included in the mental representation
partial re-experience e.g. by thinking of the coffee, you can imagine the smell of it
Situated cognition: mental representation result from dynamic interactions between the brain, body
and environment relying less on internal information, the brain can delegate to features in the
environment (e.g. post its, smartphone)
, You will possess knowledge and insight concerning Strack and Deutsch’s reflective-impulsive
model.
Behavior Regulation
Level of Automaticity: ‘Four horsemen’ of automaticity (the level of which cognition and behavior is
driven more automatically)
• level of consciousness (to what extend are we aware of a stimulus/event)
• level of efficiency (cognitive sources e.g., you become more efficient while driving the more
practice you have)
• level of intentionality (goal directedness = less automatic, when things are not in line with
our goal/less intentional = more automatic)
• level of controllability (e.g., all kinds of priming effects are controllable, but holding your
breath is not the strength of an automatic process)
independent features that can be high or low
Reflective Impulsive Model Strack & Deutsch
Integrative theory: two systems: Impulsive system and reflective system
parallel: impulsive always activated,
reflective is sometimes activated on top of the
impulsive system when there is enough
motivation and opportunity
knowledge representation: mental
representations by the impulsive systems are
based on associations, the reflective system on
propositions (based on associations)
Impulsive processes: behavior within the impulsive system is based on spreading activation of
knowledge to motor representations according to ideo-motor processes; Thinking about behavior is
enough to
trigger behavior
William James (1890): “every representation of a movement awakens in some degree the actual
movement which is its object” thinking is preceding the action
Study (Choa & Martin, 2000): specific motor representations activated to some extend brain
areas related to motor movements the brain automatically prepares you for the action
example: perception/imagination by spreading activation (train of
associations) triggers a behavioral schema which in turn lead to behavior
impulsive action
Reflective processes: behavior in the reflective system is based on choices; Choices may, by means
of intention, activate motor-representations in the impulsive system; Choices can be based on full
consideration of pros and cons, intuition (“feels good or bad”) or anything in between
Theme 1: Thinking before doing? Impulsive and Reflective Processes in Behavioral Control
You will have insight into how knowledge is mentally represented.
Mental representation: any mental content or operation that stands for something else in the world
(e.g.: categories, exemplars, symbols, mental images, memories, truth values, probabilities etc.)
Function of mental representation: “for the most part we do not first see and then define, but
define and then see”
other functions: classification (human, animal or object?), additional attributes (what to
do with the object), steering attention and interpretation (detecting a glass of water faster if your
thirsty), communication, thinking
Availability: knowledge is stored in the mind
Accessibility: only limited knowledge is also accessible
accessibility can be defined as the activation potential of available knowledge
Study: lexical decision task: how fast can people categorize words or non-words?
Participants watched a video of a women putting on make-up or eating chopsticks and then had
women related words and Chinese related words.
Chinese women putting on makeup social category of female more activated
Chinese women eating with chopsticks social category of Chinese was more activated
you might have all kinds of mental representations available but at specific point some
information is more accessible than other information
You will know the various models concerning how knowledge is stored and can distinguish these
models from one another.
Concept models: a-modal = abstract models
Multiple format models: modal models = mental representations are stored in different models
Associative network models:
mind = computer; mental representation has information nodes that
can become active
nodes = concepts, links between nodes = relationships between
concepts (links vary on strength based on frequency and recency of
activation) meaning is constructed in dynamic bottom-up process
Chronic accessibility effects: frequently activated sets of association
are more easily activated
Priming effects: activating a concept with a prime increase its
activation momentarily and triggers subsequent processing, which
then strengthens their links
Parallel search: nodes or spreading activation (among all connected nodes) is unconscious, but the
resulting representations can become conscious after they cross a threshold implicit search
model
Serial search: intentional search along the linked nodes until a concept is retrieved, the search
process (the node that is the present focus of the serial search) is conscious explicit search model
e.g. as soon as I see a coffee, many different nodes can become active by spreading activation (tasty,
awake); activation is facilitated for stronger connections in the network (coffee and tasty have a
stronger link)
,Schema models:
contrast to ANM: top-down approach
perceivers “go beyond the information given”, which means that people use the schemas they have
about a specific object and all related objects/situations (schemas = abstract mental representations)
Those schemas stir our behavior: schemas operate as a lens (schemas provide understanding
about the connection of features but also provide rules about the situation); when schema is
activated it directs attention, memory, and judgement
representation are not implicit in themselves but are used implicitly,
based on attention the content can be implicit or explicit temporarily, e.g. coffee is tasty but also
knowing how to drink/make it
Predictive coding:
We have all kind of knowledge (priors), and those priors determine what we expect to perceive
Bayesian processes: priors affect perception posterior (comparison between perception and prior)
e.g. you expect coffee to be tasty (priors) but the coffee you drink isn’t tasty (perception), so you
conclude that this type of coffee from this place is not tasty (posterior)
Connectionist model:
Difference to ANM: ANM are about the links between concepts and the
strengths between those links, but in connectionist models it is about links
that may facilitate or inhibit information (both are about nodes and links)
dynamic model, more like neurons people have in their brain: by firing
all kind of neurons a specific set of neurons gets activated which represent
the knowledge that we have (concepts exist by means of dynamic interplay
of distributed elements input, hidden, and output elements), parallel distribution processing
the full set of activated nodes and their weights form a mental representation: a node alone has
no information! Only the combination (difference to ANM) mental representations are not static but
are influenced by the environment (but can be quite stable when they are used frequently)
different representations are only different recombination of the same set of nodes and
connections weights, there are also links that inhibit activation of other nodes
Generally implicit but active representational patterns are conscious (but the network is not)
Multiple format models:
Memory system model (Amodio & Ratner): mental representations
are not created and stored in the same way:
we learn different in different situations so multiple learning
mechanisms that are related to different memory systems, each
system is represented in a different part of the brain
memory and learning = highly correlated, different kinds of learning leads to different behavior
Embodied cognition: Argues that mental representations are represented in the body
mental representations are modality-specific (they are constituted of sensory experiences)
e.g. when you drink coffee the experience of the smell, the warmth and the alertness after the coffee
are included in the mental representation
partial re-experience e.g. by thinking of the coffee, you can imagine the smell of it
Situated cognition: mental representation result from dynamic interactions between the brain, body
and environment relying less on internal information, the brain can delegate to features in the
environment (e.g. post its, smartphone)
, You will possess knowledge and insight concerning Strack and Deutsch’s reflective-impulsive
model.
Behavior Regulation
Level of Automaticity: ‘Four horsemen’ of automaticity (the level of which cognition and behavior is
driven more automatically)
• level of consciousness (to what extend are we aware of a stimulus/event)
• level of efficiency (cognitive sources e.g., you become more efficient while driving the more
practice you have)
• level of intentionality (goal directedness = less automatic, when things are not in line with
our goal/less intentional = more automatic)
• level of controllability (e.g., all kinds of priming effects are controllable, but holding your
breath is not the strength of an automatic process)
independent features that can be high or low
Reflective Impulsive Model Strack & Deutsch
Integrative theory: two systems: Impulsive system and reflective system
parallel: impulsive always activated,
reflective is sometimes activated on top of the
impulsive system when there is enough
motivation and opportunity
knowledge representation: mental
representations by the impulsive systems are
based on associations, the reflective system on
propositions (based on associations)
Impulsive processes: behavior within the impulsive system is based on spreading activation of
knowledge to motor representations according to ideo-motor processes; Thinking about behavior is
enough to
trigger behavior
William James (1890): “every representation of a movement awakens in some degree the actual
movement which is its object” thinking is preceding the action
Study (Choa & Martin, 2000): specific motor representations activated to some extend brain
areas related to motor movements the brain automatically prepares you for the action
example: perception/imagination by spreading activation (train of
associations) triggers a behavioral schema which in turn lead to behavior
impulsive action
Reflective processes: behavior in the reflective system is based on choices; Choices may, by means
of intention, activate motor-representations in the impulsive system; Choices can be based on full
consideration of pros and cons, intuition (“feels good or bad”) or anything in between
