Take-Home Exam Questions

2008 “Cognitive Machine Learning” Course

(a.k.a. Artificial Neural Networks)

Instructor: Prof. Byoung-Tak Zhang

School of Computer Science and Engineering

Seoul National University

October 22, 2008

Due: 1:00 PM, Monday, October 27, 2008

Submission form: both in electronic and hard copy

Answer 6 questions of your choice from the following 12questions. The length of eachanswer is limited to two A4 pages, so that the total number of your answer sheets does not exceed 12 pages. Try to give your answers as concise and complete as possible. For some questions, you may write a short essay on the topic.The text bookcan be used for answering your questions, but attempt to formulate your own sentences and avoid transcribing the sentences in the text.

  1. (20 points) Memory can be investigated from different perspectives, includingthe structuralist, proceduralist, and functionalist views. Explain how these views are different, and point out what aspects of memory phenomena are best explained by each view. Give some specific examples of experimental findings from each view.
  2. (20 points) The following are examples of different types of human memory. For each pair in the lists A-D, compare the two types of memory by mentioning, for example, their differences in function and structure.
  3. Sensory memory vs. working memory
  4. Iconic memory vs. echoic memory
  5. Short-term memory vs. long-term memory
  6. Explicit memory vs. implicit memory
  7. (20 points) Explain the embedded processes model of immediate memory. How does this model differ from Baddeley’s working memory? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the model?
  8. (20 points) Memory can be viewed as a process rather than a structure. Explain the theory of transfer appropriate processing (TAP). In what aspects is this theory different from the levels of processing view? What kind of data can TAP explain best? Explain also the relationship to the encoding specificity principle of Tulving.
  9. (20 points) Forgetting is an important aspect of human memory. Explain the three main theories of forgetting, i.e. consolidation theory, interference theory, and discrimination theory. What data can best be explained by each theory? What are the important characteristics of the modern view of forgetting?
  10. (20 points) Implicit memory is often defined as memory without awareness. There are at least three different accounts of the implicit memory data. What are these? Compare them by discussing what their major strengths and problems are.
  11. (20 points) One of the fundamental questions in memory research is where it is located. Two basic historical conceptions are the localized storage view and the distributed storage view. Explain each view and give arguments and experimental results for supporting the view. Is there a resolution between these two views? Give experimental evidence from amnesia research.
  12. (20 points) Consider recognition memory. What phenomena can not be explained by simple single process models of recall and recognition? What findings are not explained by generate-recognize models? Explain what the modern view of recognition memory is.
  13. (20 points) Compare the characteristics of the two forms of representations, i.e. propositional and analog representations. How do we know that they exist? Design an experiment and show that both forms of representation are available. Can we also create auditory images, tactile images, and odor images?
  14. (20 points) People are very likely to remember actually reading sentences that were not presented, if those sentences are likely inferences. Explain this phenomenon using the concept of schema. Can the notion of schema also explain the eyewitness memory, i.e. recollected description of a crime scene. How much we should believe the eyewitness report according to the theory of memory as a reconstructive process.
  15. (20 points) Explain the following terms on human memory.
  16. Forward telescoping and backward telescoping
  17. Retroactive interference and proactive interference
  18. Retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia
  19. (20 points) One interesting finding in memory is that most people cannot recall events that happened to them before the age of about 3 or 4 years. Give your own explanation to this “infantile amnesia” phenomenon. What are other theories to explain this?

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