Cognitive Science Glossary: P–R
Cognitive science terms P–R: plasticity, positivism, productivity, proposition, psychology, psycholinguistics, reasoning, representation, and more.
This section contains key cognitive science concepts starting with letters P–R.
P
Perception
Sensory representation of environmental stimuli. Perception is an active process where the brain constructs an interpretation from sensory data.
Perceptual sub-processes:
- Sensation
- Organization
- Recognition
- Interpretation
Plasticity
- "Openness" of individual development programs—genes don't determine complex development minutiae; developmental pattern adapts to individual environment.
- Central nervous system development through synapse modification and neural network reorganization.
Types of neuroplasticity:
- Synaptic plasticity
- Structural plasticity
- Functional plasticity
Positivism
A philosophical position allowing only hypotheses containing operationalizable or observation-terms-defined concepts. Nothing testable only through observation or observation-based logic lacks scientific meaningfulness.
Logical positivism: Vienna Circle (1920s)
Productivity
A representation system capacity for unlimited complex representation combinations from finite primitive elements.
Example: From a finite vocabulary, unlimited sentences can be formed.
Proposition
A meaningful statement expressing thought content; the basic meaning-bearing unit combining concepts through logical form.
Properties:
- Can be true or false
- Language-independent (same proposition in different languages)
- Content of thoughts
Psychiatry
A medical specialty diagnosing and treating mental disorders.
Psycholinguistics
A branch of psychology studying language psychological processes and mechanisms.
Research areas:
- Language comprehension
- Language production
- Language acquisition
- Reading
Psychology
Science studying individual behavior and mental processes.
Major branches:
- Cognitive psychology
- Developmental psychology
- Social psychology
- Neuropsychology
- Clinical psychology
Psychometric Research
Psychological measurement research developing tests and scales measuring psychological constructs.
Examples:
- Intelligence tests
- Personality tests
- Attitude scales
Psychopathology
A branch of psychology studying mental disorders and abnormal behavior.
Q
Qualia
- Conscious states' subjective phenomenal contents—qualitative impressions like "redness experience" or "sweetness taste."
- Direct inner observation objects.
R
Reasoning
A logical process deriving conclusions from premises.
Reasoning types:
- Deduction: From general to specific
- Induction: From specific to general
- Abduction: Inference to the best explanation
Recursion
A process that calls itself or contains self-references.
In linguistics: The ability to embed structures within others indefinitely.
- "The girl who saw the boy who ate the apple that fell from the tree..."
Reductionism
A philosophical view that complex phenomena can be explained through their simpler components.
Types:
- Ontological reductionism: Higher-level entities consist of lower-level entities
- Methodological reductionism: Research strategy
- Theoretical reductionism: Relations between theories
Reliabilism
An epistemological theory that a belief is knowledge if produced by a reliable process.
Representation
An internal presentation or model of the external world or abstract objects.
Representation types:
- Symbolic: Language, concepts, propositions
- Analogical: Mental images, maps
- Distributed: Neural network activation patterns
Key properties:
- Intentionality (directedness toward an object)
- Content (what the representation represents)
- Satisfaction conditions (when the representation is true)