Computer Science
Philosophy
Neuroscience
Linguistics
Psychology
100

A theoretical device that manipulates symbols on an infinite tape according to a set of rules — the foundation of modern computation.

Turning Machine

100

The view that the mind and body are two distinct substances — one mental and one physical.

Dualism

100

The specialized cell that transmits information through electrical and chemical signals in the nervous system.

Neuron


100

The smallest unit of sound that can change meaning in a language — for example, /p/ vs. /b/.

Phoneme

100

The movement that focused only on observable behavior, emphasizing stimulus–response learning and rejecting the study of internal mental states.

Behaviorism

200

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

200

The philosophical approach that defines mental states by their functions and relationships, not by what they’re made of.

Functionalism

200

The region in the frontal lobe responsible for speech production — damage here causes expressive aphasia.

Broca's area

200

The smallest unit of meaning in a language — such as “book” or the plural marker “-s.”

Morpheme

200

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

300

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

300

A type of logic that allows statements to be partly true and partly false, rather than only true or false.

Fuzzy Logic

300

This 19th-century railroad worker survived an iron rod passing through his skull, showing the link between brain regions and personality.

Phineas Gage

300

The set of rules that govern how words combine into phrases and sentences in a language.

Syntax

300

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

400

A neural network learning algorithm that adjusts connection weights by sending error signals backward through the network.

Backpropagation

400

A thought experiment by John Searle that challenges whether a computer running rules can truly understand meaning.

Chinese Room

400

The principle that “neurons that fire together wire together,” describing how connections strengthen through repeated co-activation.

Hebbian Learning

400

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

400

The variable that researchers measure to assess the effect of an experimental manipulation.

Dependent variable

500

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

500

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

500

A method that records electrical activity from the scalp with millisecond precision, often used to study language and perception.

EEG

500

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)

500

In experimental psychology, this framework assumes there is no true effect until data show enough evidence to reject it.

Null Hypothesis