How Does the Mind Represent Information?
The initial section of the chapter looks at how the brain represents information or, rather, what is there when we are thinking? The popular view is that these representations take the form of picturelike images. Other researchers have found limitations to this view and contend that the representations are propositional; that is, they are based on factual knowledge of the world. The answer probably includes both ideas and the notion that representations exist at different hierarchical levels. It is known that these mental representations activate different patterns of neural activity and that learning involves the strengthening of the connectionist networks. Having information stored in these networks likely has an adaptive capacity in that we are not as susceptible to damage to individual neurons. The authors also address how we organize our knowledge based on defining attributes and prototype models. This promotes cognitive economy and reduces the amount of information we need to store in long-term memory. Finally, it also is apparent we store information in schemas or scripts based on appropriate behavior in a situational context.

How Do We Solve Problems and Make Decisions?
The authors investigate problem solving and decision making as other ways psychological science can shed light on the issue of cognition. They present the Gestalt perspective that making decisions is influenced by how one structures the problem and then realizes the solution (i.e., insight). Their contention that people tend to view problems from narrow perspectives and that insight occurs when one restructures the problem in a novel way is captured in today's business cliché to Think outside the box. Information-processing models of decision making emphasize that problems have a defined solution space, or number of pathways that can be taken toward achieving a solution. It is interesting that they characterize humans as limited capacity thinkers who must use heuristics, or shortcuts, to solve problems. Normative theories of decision making suggest that we are rational beings who come to solutions based on objective as well as subjective probabilities. However, even those theories recognize our inherent limitations. For example, Bayes's theorem demonstrates how we underestimate the impact of new information in making decisions, a fact that will later explain how we continue to maintain prejudicial ideas despite evidence to the contrary. Finally, descriptive theories of decision making illustrate how we are not always rational in our assessment of problems and how we are heavily influenced by issues of loss aversion and regret.

What Does Intelligence Reflect?
The next section addresses intelligence and its assessment, one of the more controversial issues in psychology. The authors trace the history of the IQ test from Galton's Anthropometric Laboratory to various modern views of intelligence. As you study the different approaches to defining intelligence, summarized in the table below, pay special attention to the skills that each approach defines as relevant and adaptive.

Table 8.1: Defining Intelligence
Intelligence Perspective	Skills Assessed
Galton	neural speed, sensory acuity
Traditional IQ tests (e.g. Binet)	verbal, quantitative, analytical
Cattel	fluid and crystallized intelligence
Gardner	musical, verbal, mathematical/logical, spatial, kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal

A salient problem with IQ tests is that they were originally designed to predict success in school. As they tend to measure the abilities that are associated with school performance, they still are fair predictors of this criterion. Unfortunately, the term intelligence has gotten tied up with overall “smartness” and societal worth. No single test could measure up to this relative standard, and it is a flawed view to believe that a single score could accurately represent the broad range of human cognitive abilities. Finally, it is apparent that both genes and environment contribute to intelligence as measured by IQ scores (i.e., the nature versus nurture debate). When comparing individuals raised in the same culture and socioeconomic class, genes probably contribute more to differences in IQ scores. When comparing individuals across cultures and socioeconomic classes, environment is the better predictor

Can We Study Consciousness?
The authors present a final view of cognition by comparing the study of the mind versus the brain. The view of dualism, championed by Descartes, is that the mind and brain are separated entities. The view of physicalism, or materialism, which is necessary for an empirical study of cognition, is that the mind and brain are a unitary system. While investigators have proposed several elements of consciousness to facilitate its investigation, research into unconscious processes has begun to shed some light into its functioning. Studies of subliminal perception indicate that we can be influenced by stimuli of which we are not fully aware. This may be the mechanism for the classic Freudian slip. In addition, the phenomenon of blindsight—visual capacities without visual awareness—suggests that awareness may not be located in a single brain area.