Computer Science
A theoretical device that manipulates symbols on an infinite tape according to a set of rules — the foundation of modern computation.
Turning Machine
The view that the mind and body are two distinct substances — one mental and one physical.
Dualism
The specialized cell that transmits information through electrical and chemical signals in the nervous system.
Neuron
The smallest unit of sound that can change meaning in a language — for example, /p/ vs. /b/.
Phoneme
The movement that focused only on observable behavior, emphasizing stimulus–response learning and rejecting the study of internal mental states.
Behaviorism
An early AI program that understood language using fixed, hand-coded rules instead of learning from data, commands like puttee toy on the brick.
SHRDLU
The philosophical approach that defines mental states by their functions and relationships, not by what they’re made of.
Functionalism
The region in the frontal lobe responsible for speech production — damage here causes expressive aphasia.
Broca's area
The smallest unit of meaning in a language — such as “book” or the plural marker “-s.”
Morpheme
A task that shows automaticity in reading, where participants must say the color of the ink instead of the written word, revealing interference between word meaning and color.
Stroop Task
A step-by-step method used in computer science and AI to explore possible solutions or paths in order to find a goal or solve a problem.
Search Algorithm
A type of logic that allows statements to be partly true and partly false, rather than only true or false.
Fuzzy Logic
This 19th-century railroad worker survived an iron rod passing through his skull, showing the link between brain regions and personality.
Phineas Gage
The set of rules that govern how words combine into phrases and sentences in a language.
Syntax
A decision-making framework used in psychology to separate sensitivity (detecting real signals) from response bias, explaining Type I and Type II errors.
Signal Detection Theory
A neural network learning algorithm that adjusts connection weights by sending error signals backward through the network.
Backpropagation
A thought experiment by John Searle that challenges whether a computer running rules can truly understand meaning.
Chinese Room
The principle that “neurons that fire together wire together,” describing how connections strengthen through repeated co-activation.
Hebbian Learning
A sentence like “The horse raced past the barn fell” demonstrates this phenomenon, where the parser makes an early, incorrect structural commitment.
Garden Path Sentences
The variable that researchers measure to assess the effect of an experimental manipulation.
Dependent variable
In neural network learning, this term refers to the difference between what the model predicts and the actual outcome — the signal used to update its connections.
Prediction Error
The paradox that we must use the very thing we’re trying to explain — the mind — to study the mind, creating a loop of self-reference.
Catch 22
A method that records electrical activity from the scalp with millisecond precision, often used to study language and perception.
EEG
When a speaker knows a word’s meaning but can’t recall its sound form, revealing separate levels of lexical representation.
Tip-of-the-Tongue Effect (or TOT State)
In experimental psychology, this framework assumes there is no true effect until data show enough evidence to reject it.
Null Hypothesis