Psy
416: Reasoning and Problem Solving
Schema
theory
Erwin Segal
Psy 416 Syllabus
The lexicon seems to relate to what has been called lexical
or conceptual meaning. This gives what is usually called the meanings of
the words. When, however, words are used to talk about something or to
refer to something we seem to enter a different ballgame. Certain phrases
often refer to things other than themselves, and sentences can be used
to make assertions, ask questions, request activities, promise something,
create a mood, tell stories, etc. We will not deal with many of these issues
in this class, but one aspect of the more global properties of language
will be used, either as a metaphor, or directly, for other reasons. Much
language is contextually interpreted. That is, it relates to some integrated
and (usually) coherent domain, and only makes sense within that domain.
Our current term for this domain to which the discourse relates is schema
(plural
schemata).
Some properties of schemata or issues relating to schema
theory
1. Conceptual structures that help us understand, interpret,
and remember incoming information
2. Related to Gestalt theory
in that one develops, structures (and restructures) the information.
3. Sometimes called constructivist
theory because rather than simply reproduce the information that is received
the information is restructured into something that the agent can call
his own. Information is often added, subtracted, ignored, or transformed
depending on how the agent views the schema and the relation of new information
to the schema.
4. Schema theory is useful for reasoning, categorization,
story interpretation, evaluation, inferences, and much more.
5. We have problems agreeing as to the properties of
schemata. Bartlett--schemata; Minsky--frames; Schank and Abelson--scripts;
Rumelhart, Mandler and Johnson--Story Grammars
6. There are lots of data that have been interpreted
to support a schema analysis.
-
Bartlett: Schema: War of the ghosts
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Segal and others on Deictic Shift Theory--example
-
Dooling and Lachman: Columbus story: Understand sentences
better when they are accompanied with a contextual frame
-
Bransford et al; and Johnson: washing clothes, serenading,
sentential images,
-
context sensitivity for interpretations
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Bransford and Franks: larger units;
One doesn't recognize particular sentences, but compares them to "full
schema." discussion
-
Other Bransford: remember particular sentences that fit into
the frame. discussion
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Beth Loftus: remembering as a function of the questions asked
or the context. Childhood sexual abuse repressed and then remembered
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Greenspan and Segal: Using linear arrays; Understanding input
as a function of the context
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Story grammars--Rumelhart, Mandler and Johnson
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Fillmore; B. Tversky; Segal et al: Contextualization, perspective
taking and deixis.
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Pragmatic errors: Revisit Tversky and Kahneman; Categorical
Reasoning
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Barwise and Perry: situation semantics
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Bruner: Concepts of sharpening and leveling, modification,
bias in memory, errors of memory, intrusions, reversals, etc.
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Cummins: Causal schemata dominate over
logical reasoning. discussion
READ: Naive
theories and Causal Deduction (on reserve)
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Lawson: pictures and sentences
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SNePS and CASSIE: evaluating sentences in context. example
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