User:Todd P. Shuba

Homework - Week 3

In order to theorize how the mind works, I am of the belief that you actually have to explain how individuals learn. In order to learn, every individual must actively participate in his or her own learning by connecting information he or she receives from a particular experience and, in turn, reflecting on it. In doing so, each individual builds meaning or constructs understanding of a certain concept. Individuals then turn to those concepts when they encounter new experiences. They may use the concepts to help give meaning to the new experiences or use the new experiences to redefine the concepts. If the new experiences conflict too much with the meaning or understanding of the concepts, they may also simply dismiss the new experiences out of hand.

Put another way, individuals interact with the physical environment through their own experiences. Through these interactions, they construct schema to help them understand the world around them. Over time, they continue to build more and often larger schema and make connections between them. They then interact with each other, sharing their individual schema. As a result, one of three outcomes is possible. First, an individual fully accepts the schema of another individual and replaces his or her own with it. Second, an individual partially accepts the schema of another individual and modifies his or her own with it. Third, an individual rejects the schema of another individual and retains his or her own.

To clarify, the process associated with replacing, modifying, or retaining schema is not a binary one. Explained, an individual does not simply intake something novel and instantaneously output a decision to fully accept, partially accept, or reject it. Such a process lacks the iterative nature associated with the process of learning. True learning occurs in the space between input and output. When exposed to something for the first time, the mind performs any number of activities with respect to the new thing in order to make sense of it. These activities may include, but are not limited to, clarifying and questioning what an individual just saw. Once the individual is satisfied or all possible activities have been exhausted, the mind renders a decision on the novel concept. It is important to note that this decision is not a “snap” judgment. While the process may occur very quickly, it is still robust and mentally laborious.

Taking into consideration all of the above, the mind processes information by utilizing schema. In other words, schema are used in both the encoding of information into long-term memory and the retrieval of information from long-term memory. To encode new pieces of information into long-term memory, individuals first connect those pieces of information to form schema. They then make connections between those schema and schema already encoded into long-term memory. To retrieve information from long-term memory, individuals rely again on schema. Since schema serve as mental representations and associations of information, individuals take advantage of them as memory cues to aid them in recalling past knowledge.

Homework - Week 4

Before I begin, I just want to say that I found Turing’s discussion of opposing views absolutely fascinating. I still cannot completely wrap my head around the discussion and, consequently, the four issues. However, I will try my best to clearly express my thoughts here and clarify them as needed in class.

To begin, consider the first two issues:

1. Is the Turing Test a sufficient test? That is, if a machine passes the test, would you agree it is intelligent?

2. Is the Turing Test a necessary test? That is, does a machine have to pass this test in order to be intelligent?

I think that the Turing Test is a necessary, but not sufficient, test for intelligence. In other words, a machine has to pass this test in order to possibly be considered intelligent. Turing refers to “laws of behavior” and “rules of conduct” (p. 65). I look at these as static and dynamic components of intelligence, respectively. Static components of intelligence are in play when specific inputs trigger specific outputs regardless of any other external factors. Dynamic components of intelligence are in play when an input has the ability to trigger one of any number of possible outputs and, thus, depends on the reaction and subsequent adaptation of the individual. In my opinion, both static and dynamic components of intelligence must be present. Because the Turing Test may not ask a question requiring dynamic components of intelligence, a machine could pass the test just by answering questions requiring static components of intelligence. Therefore, the result of the test would be inconclusive.

Now, consider the third and fourth issues:

3. Will a machine ever pass the Turing Test? Why or why not?

4. Will a machine ever be intelligent? Why or why not?

If the Turing Test only asks questions requiring static components of intelligence, a machine will pass it because the answers can just be hard coded in. However, the machine will not be considered intelligent because dynamic components of intelligence are not evident. Even if the Turing Test asks just one question requiring dynamic components of intelligence, a machine will not pass it because, unlike humans, the machine cannot adapt accordingly.

Homework - Week 5

For purposes of context, the person tested holds a Bachelors of Science in Biomedical Engineering and a Master’s of Science in Biomedical Engineering. Additionally, the person explained that he internally rehearsed the numbers, letters, and words until he had to externally recite them (i.e., the articulatory loop [Anderson, p. 153]).

1. 8 7 0 3 1 4 (6/6)

2. 7 1 5 0 5 4 3 6 (8/8)

3. 2 1 6 6 8 7 2 5 4 5 (10/10)

4. 6 8 1 4 3 7 9 5 2 4 7 0 (10/12)

5. 2 8 4 3 9 3 4 8 2 5 5 1 (12/12)

The person successfully recalled four of the first five items on the list. On the fourth item, the person flipped the tenth number and the eleventh number (i.e., 4 & 7). It would be interesting to see if the person would do the same thing on the fifth item if the tenth number and the eleventh number (i.e., 5 & 5) were unique (e.g., 5 & 6). Moreover, it is of interest that the person successfully recalled the second, third, and fifth items even though Anderson argues that short-term memory span is about seven elements only (p. 150).

6. T S Y L Q P (6/6)

7. C I M W O D X A (6/8)

8. Q W E R T Y U I P (9/9)

9. K W U C R A L N Y W G S J (9/13)

10. L A B O N N E M A I S O N (9/13)

The person successfully recalled two of the next five items on the list. The item of note here is the eighth one. Although the eighth item had one more letter than the seventh item, the person successfully recalled the former but not the latter. A possible explanation for this is that the person was able to focus all of his attention on the last three letters because the first six letters spelled out “QWERTY”. Moreover, the person's performance on those five items seems to lend support to Anderson's argument that short-term memory span is about seven elements only.

11. LEAF GIFT CAR FISH ROCK (5/5)

12. PAPER SEAT TIRE HORSE FILM BEACH TREE BRUSH (5/8)

13. BAG KEY BOOK WIRE BOX WHEEL BANANA FLOOR BAR PAD BLACK RADIO BOY (7/13)

14. LOVE EMOTION PLAN ATTEMP RULE LAW ANALYSIS SYSTEM FINE PAYMENT (9/10)

15. WHILE I WAS WALKING THROUGH THE WOODS A RABBIT RAN ACROSS MY PATH (13/13)

The person successfully recalled two of the final five items on the list. As is to be expected, the person could recall items that were either shorter or contextualized.

In regards to the class project, I am not married to any one particular area of content. However, I am interested in exploring hypertext versus linear text (or something along those lines.) I would expect to see two main differences between groups that study with the hypertext and groups that study with the linear text. First, assuming that the groups are composed of individuals from the current generation, I would expect to see greater engagement from the groups that study with the hypertext than the groups that study with the linear text because of the technological adaptation of the written material. Second, I would expect to see greater identification of cross-cutting themes from the groups that study with the hypertext than the groups that study with the linear text because the hypertext allows for relatively seamless navigation between topics.

Homework - Week 6

For purposes of context, the person tested holds a Bachelors of Science in Biomedical Engineering and a Master’s of Science in Biomedical Engineering.

The list: Paper, Seat, Tire, Love, Beach, Analysis, conjunction, brush, chairman, accurate, woods, green, hunger, gift, keyboard, number, bottle, jogging, wheel, system

Immediate Recall: Paper, Seat, Tire, Love, woods, green, jogging, wheel, system

The person correctly recalled NINE items on the list. Primacy and recency probably explain the data with the exceptions of “woods” and “green”, which will be explained later. In other words, “Paper”, “Seat”, “Tire”, and “Love” were the first four items on the list, and “jogging”, “wheel”, and “system” were the last three items on the list.

Delayed Recall: Tire, woods, green, wheel

The person correctly recalled FOUR items on the list. Motivation (or lack thereof) probably best explains the data. While the person knew that his job was to remember as many words as he could, he also knew that there were no consequences linked to his performance. Thus, rehearsal was not taken seriously and was, at best, minimal, and, therefore, the words were barely committed to memory. Furthermore, the person stated that he remembered the words “Tire” and “wheel” by pairing them based on their association with a car. The person also admitted that he remembered the words “woods” and “green” because Tiger Woods was in contention at this past weekend’s golf tournament.