Psychology category includes mostly posts from cognitive science and social psychology
Cognitive science's gift to the artificial intelligence development is, by no doubt, cognitive modelling. In short, cognitive modelling is about coming up with some sort of a mathematical or computational model of how the brain operates. These models can then be used in various AI tasks to solve issues the human brain excels at. In this post we will go through three different ways to do cognitive modelling. 😊 (more…)
When we see a horse 🐴, we recognize it automatically and we can talk about it by using the word horse. It seems effortless how the brain and the language can refer to something in the real world. In the case of language, this is known as referentiality, while in the case of the brain, it's called intentionality. What do these two words even mean? (more…)
The fact that we see the world in 3D is nothing but an illusion created by the brain. The claim might seem provocative, but it's true. Our eyes have 2-dimensional retinas. So how can you get three dimensions out of two? Well, you can't. You might argue that the two images can be merged together to form a 3D image, I mean we have all seen that in with the wave of VR glasses coming to the market. Two small displays indeed create a 3D image. But what happens if you close one of your eyes? Will you suddenly stop seeing in 3D and revert to 2D? Not really, so the two eyes aren't the only reason why we have a 3D vision. (more…)
Believe it or not, we have different kinds of memory systems in the brain. In this post, I am going to cover three of them: episodic, procedural and working memory. All of them serve for a different purpose, and research shows that they are independent. It's perfectly possible to forget how your life has been so far and still remember how to play a piano. 😮 (more…)
A claim that comes from the very core of the social psychology is that we cannot imagine a life without social groups. If we didn't group people, we couldn't even understand who we are ourselves. We build our identity based on the social groups we belong to, such as nationality, profession, gender and so on. 👨🏻🎤 👨🏻🏫 👨🏻🏭 (more…)
Previously, I have blogged about meaning in language, and especially the dichotomy related to it. Now, I feel, it's the time to look at the issue from another perspective. Sure, our language models meaning in its own way, but how is it represented in the brain? This post will be about concepts and how they are understood. 🤓 (more…)
The idea of a conscious computer has been presented lately in many Hollywood movies such as Her, Ex Machina and Uncanny. Is there a seed of truth to that or is a computer with a soul just Sci-fi that will never see the light of day? Before reading this post any further, take a look the first and second post in this series. ☺️
Previously, I have covered qualia, dualism, identity theories and two materialisms. This time, we are going to dive deep into emergence. (more…)
In today's world computers are developing at an astonishing pace. Tesla and Google are developing self-driving cars, for instance. Are robots going to develop a soul at some point? This is the second post in this series. Make sure you have read the first post before reading this one any further. 🤖
Last week, I covered qualia, dualism and two identity theories. Today, we have two materialisms on the plate: eliminativism and reductionism. Leaving the emergent materialism for the last post of the series. (more…)
You are walking down the street looking in front of you and suddenly, someone says hi to you. You turn your head and see your friend. How did that happen? Why didn't you see him when you were walking before he caught your attention? These things happen to people, because we are hardwired to ignore most of the things around us. 😮