Deck 14: Minds,Machines,and Cognitive Psychology

Question 1

The technology employed by Pascal in his "Pascaline" resembled which more modern mechanism?

A) an automobile odometer
B) a digital watch
C) a water clock
D) a self-winding watch

Answer 1

an automobile odometer

Question 2

The term "von Neumann Architecture" refers to:

A) a computer design based on binary code.
B) a computer design using punched cards for introducing input.
C) a computer that performs parallel processing.
D) a computer designed to contain "stored programs."

Answer 2

a computer designed to contain "stored programs."

Question 3

The Logic Theorist (LT)program introduced by Newell and Simon in 1956 was able to:

A) compose melodies in the style of Mozart.
B) construct proofs for theorems in Russell and Whitehead's Principia Mathematica.
C) perfectly simulate the operations of Babbage's analytical engine.
D) all of the above

Answer 3

construct proofs for theorems in Russell and Whitehead's Principia Mathematica.

Question 4

Claude Shannon's famous Master's Thesis made the case that:

A) genuine computer "creativity" is impossible.
B) patterns of relay circuits in "off" or "on" positions could be used to represent information in binary code.
C) computers could potentially be made much smaller by using transistors.
D) both b and c

Question 5

The idea that a computer program might one day be developed that is capable of replicating all of the intellectual properties of the human mind is sometimes called:

A) strong artificial intelligence.
B) computational equivalence.
C) computational intelligence.
D) functional artificial intelligence.

Question 6

By the middle of the seventeenth century all of the following developments had occurred that would later coalesce to create a major current in the modern field of artificial intelligence,except:

A) the ability to perform mathematical calculations using fixed rules.
B) the ability to convert the difference machine into the analytical engine.
C) the ability to perform calculations mechanistically.
D) the recognition that mathematical calculation processes resembled human rational thought in general.

Question 7

One of the key problems with the Pascaline that Leibniz went on to overcome was:

A) it could only add and subtract.
B) it only worked with Roman numerals.
C) it multiplied, but could not divide numbers.
D) it used a "stepped cylinder."

Question 8

A computer program that employed heuristics and a means-ends analysis in its attempt to simulate problem solving in a generally humanlike fashion was called:

A) Logic Theorist.
B) Pandemonium.
C) General Problem Solver.
D) The Chinese Room.

Question 9

In creating Boolean algebra,George Boole:

A) actualized Leibniz's dream of formally uniting the fields of logic and computational mathematics.
B) laid the groundwork for Whitehad and Russell's Principia Mathematica (1910-1913), which provided a seemingly definitive resolution of all mathematics into the terms of symbolic logic.
C) demonstrated that mathematical "symbolic logic" could deal with logical problems along with those of magnitude and number.
D) all of the above

Question 10

What philosophical implications did the creation of the Pascaline have?

A) It challenged Descartes' assertion that only humans had the capacity for rational calculation.
B) It called Locke's theories about associationism into question.
C) It undercut Hobbes's argument that human reasoning was a form of mathematical calculation.
D) It caused Leibniz to be troubled by the thought of a machine that could calculate numbers better than a human being.

Question 11

In exploring the question of whether computers can be creative,Margaret Boden suggested that putting already familiar ideas or components together in novel but useful or interesting combinations,but according to preset rules,is an example of:

A) computational functionalism.
B) Impossibilist creativity.
C) Intentionality.
D) Improbabilist creativity.

Question 12

McCulloch and Pitts are best known for their promotion of:

A) the concept of the brain as a "neural network" of interconnected binary switches.
B) the use of computers as codebreaking devices.
C) the concept of strong artificial intelligence.
D) the use of transistors in computing devices.

Question 13

Alan Turing did all of the following except:

A) propose a test for determining if a calculating machine was "intelligent."
B) conceive of an architecture for a universal calculating machine.
C) help break German codes during World War II.
D) receive high honors from the British government for his wartime contributions.

Question 14

Ada Lovelace was the only daughter of the poet Lord Byron,but is better known to historians as:

A) a mathematician.
B) a promoter of Babbage's analytical engine.
C) a theorist of the potentialities and limitations of a universal machine.
D) all of the above

Question 15

Which of the following developments did Leibniz correctly anticipate would later lie at the heart of artificial intelligence technology?

A) that binary arithmetic could be used for digital calculators and computers
B) that a machine might be developed with the capacity to solve problems in logic
C) the general idea for a "stored program"
D) both a and b above

Question 16

The Lovelace Objection refers to:

A) Ada Lovelace's claim that Babbage stole her ideas.
B) Lovelace's view that computers could only do what they were programmed to do.
C) Lovelace's objection to Babbage creating the analytical engine and giving up his work on the difference engine.
D) Lovelace's claim that computers could never be used to compose music.

Question 17

Joseph Jacquard was a ___________ whose invention accidentally gave him a place in the history of artificial intelligence.

A) mechanic
B) watchmaker
C) weaver
D) philosopher

Question 18

Newell and Simon's General Problem Solver made use of all of the following except:

A) prior observation of human problem solvers.
B) heuristic strategies.
C) means-ends analysis.
D) parallel processing.

Question 19

While Babbage's difference engine was capable of __________________,his analytical engine was potentially capable of ___________________.

A) division; multiplication
B) single tasks; any type of calculation
C) any type of calculation; only single tasks
D) any type of calculation; showing genuine creativity

Question 20

An algorithm is appropriate to use when:

A) there is a need to limit "search space."
B) the number of possible solutions are relatively few in number.
C) one is trying to develop a chess-playing program.
D) one is trying to simulate human speech.

Question 21

"Pandemonium" was:

A) an early example of a computer program that could perform parallel processing and "learn."
B) the annoying computer "noise" that occurred when too much information was being processed at one time.
C) a computer program that analyzed information about pandemics.
D) a computer program that worked similarly to a Turing machine.

Question 22

Ulric Neisser's interest in cognitive psychology was stimulated by:

A) a childhood event that forced him to question the accuracy of his own memory.
B) his fascination with the Turing Test.
C) his conviction that computer processes would eventually be able to completely reproduce most human cognitive processes.
D) all of the above

Question 23

James Gibson's ecological psychology stressed which of the following?

A) an ethical concern for the environment
B) the integration of psychoanalytic and psychophysical methods
C) the notion that much visual information can be picked up directly from the light itself
D) both b and c

Question 24

Neisser's conception of Cognitive Psychology,as presented in his original textbook of that name,emphasized which of the following topics?

A) information processing
B) computer science
C) Gestalt psychology
D) artificial intelligence

Question 25

"Flashbulb memories" refer to:

A) vividly recalled memories of emotional events.
B) memories that may be wrong on the surface but right in a deeper sense.
C) memories that are photo-perfect replicas of past events.
D) a and b above

Question 26

Which of the following terms refers to the capacity of a computer program to avoid crashing by continuing indefinitely with responses that get progressively closer to a desired end state,that may never be conclusively achieved?

A) graceful degradation
B) computational functionalism
C) algorithmic calculation
D) means-ends analysis

Question 27

How did developments in computer technology and AI help set the stage for the emergence of cognitive psychology?

A) They emphasized the internal processing that goes on between input and output.
B) They forced scientists to try to specify the steps involved in problem solving.
C) They provided concepts and a language that were useful in describing human cognition.
D) all of the above

Question 28

Neisser's approach to memory research adopted which of the following characteristics in response to James and Eleanor Gibson's "ecological" psychology?

A) a nativist approach
B) an empiricist approach
C) a concern for the environment
D) a focus on real events and natural settings

Question 29

Who among the following was not one of the leaders in establishing a new cognitive psychology in the 1950s and 1960s?

A) George Miller
B) Jerome Bruner
C) Ulric Neisser
D) Alan Turing

Question 30

John Searle was a philosopher who:

A) proposed the Chinese Room thought experiment.
B) argued that strong AI was a very real possibility.
C) proposed the name for the Turing Test.
D) both a and b above