Cognitive Science: An Introduction/Style Guide

Wikibook General Style Guide

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:Manual_of_Style

How to Make Sections

Define section headers with

==This is a Header==

and add more = symbols to make them deeper subsections.

How to cite

Put this code (filled in with the appropriate APA reference) after the fact or theory.

We can see that the firing of a neuron is binary, but the firing rate is analog. In the visual system, for example, the firing rate of many neurons indicates the brightness of light falling on a particular part of the retina.

<ref name="Groh2014-60">Groh, J. M. (2014). Making space: how the brain knows where things are. Harvard University Press. Page 60.</ref>,

Note that the ref name is LastnameLastnameYear-page, and you can put the page number, if you wish, after the APA reference. This is important because if you cite the same book several times on one page, you can't keep using the same code. So make a new code for every page reference if it's a long article or a book. If you're just citing an article, don't bother with page numbers, and you can just use LastnameLastnameYear for the ref name.

Here it is in use: We can see that the firing of a neuron is binary, but the firing rate is analog. In the visual system, for example, the firing rate of many neurons indicates the brightness of light falling on a particular part of the retina.

If the article is by Davies, Haigh, and Maitee, and published in 2014, the ref name would be DaviesHaighMaitee2014. If it was by McKee, von Rostroff, and Blanchard-Fields, it would be MckeeVonrostroffBlanchardfields2014.

Then at all the other citation points for that same reference, just enter:

<ref name="Groh2014-60"/>

You can find more information about referencing in wikis here:

• https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Help:Editing#References*

References

add

{{BookCat}}

to the bottom of each page

Images

• https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Using_Wikibooks/Inserting_Images*

From Wikipedia's image syntax guide, the general syntax for including an image is:

[[File:{name}|{type}|{location}|{size}|{border}|{caption}]]

When you use this, make sure you remove the curly brackets.

It should look something like this:

[[File:Fm stirling pool.jpg|thumb|Swimming Pool]]

{name} is the name of the image file, E.g. Commons-logo.svg, either stored here on Wikibooks or on Wikimedia Commons. All images need to have a name specified.

{type} is the type of formatting the image has. "thumb" makes the image a thumbnail and puts it in a box and resizes the image if it is larger than the thumbnail size value set in the user preferences under the Files tab. The default is 180px, and this is used for people without an account or who are not logged in. "frame" puts the image in a box and doesn't resize it. Not putting in a type will just put the image in without a box at it's original size, unless a size is given.

{location} is where the image will be put on the page. "left", "right", and "center" put the image on either the left or right side of the page, or in the center of the page, respectively, and wrap the text around the image. "none" puts the image under the text and puts following text underneath it. If you don't put in a location the image is included inline with the text.

{size} is the width of the image in pixels, written as the number of pixels followed by px, E.g. 200px for 200 pixels width. The image will be scaled to maintain aspect ratio to fit into this size. Images can be scaled up or down. If not used then image is shown at full size, or if it is a thumbnail, then the maximum size of a thumbnail. With thumbnails the size option won't work if you try to make the image larger, even if it is still below the limit for images being resized in thumbnails (180px by default), and the image will remain it's normal size in the thumbnail if you try. But you can still make the picture smaller if you want by using a size less than the images original width and less than the thumbnail size.

{border} just gives the image a gray line border, by using "border" as one of the options. Not giving a border will leave the image without a border, unless it already has one from the type.

{caption} is the alternate text of the image that you see when you hold the mouse over it. It is also used as the caption text for images using "thumb" or "frame". Wikiformatting can be used in this, E.g. links, but the formatting is removed for the alternate text and only shown in captions. If no caption is given, the filename is used as alternate text, and the caption on a frame or thumb is left blank.

The order of the options shouldn't matter except for the name part. Using thumb and frame at the same time will just default to frame. Using multiple locations in the image will make the image use whatever location was given last. Same thing with multiple sizes.

Sidebars

You can make sidebars, too.

<div style="float:right; border:2px solid #aaaaaa; width:250px; margin-left:0.2em; padding:0.4em"> '''This is the sidebar's title''': This is the sidebar's content. </div>

Content

When discussing a topic in cognitive science, try to describe how it works, to the best of our current knowledge, and what are considered the important subtopics. Also describe the challenges currently under investigation.

Keep in mind that there are several approaches that should, ideally, feature into discussion of all mental tasks:

The first is development and aging. How does this competence change over the course of the lifetime of the organism? When do the skills become apparent, and in what order? What are the theories explaining the mechanism? What do we know about what's inborn and what is learned? What are cultural influences? Also, does the ability decline in old age?

Second are individual differences. Lots of psychology reports averages, but what is the range? For example, if we read that a person can't hear a sound weaker than 3 kilohertz doesn't tell us how sensitive the most sensitive people are. Also, are there sex differences, cultural differences, and so on?

Third are cross-species capabilities. Do we have analogous capabilities in other animals, distributed systems, or computer software? How do these inform our understanding of the topic in the abstract?

Fourth are the neurological substrates. Are there brain areas, circuits, or waves that are particularly associated with this task? How does neuroscience contribute to our understanding of it?

Fifth are disorders. This could be related to the neurological substrates discussion--what are the brain and mental disorders that shed light on how the task works? For example, brain damage can cause double dissociations that show evidence that two tasks are different processes in the mind and brain.

Sixth is evolution. What are the theories of how we (and other animals) evolved to have this capability? Have there been experiments to test these ideas? How might what is found here relate to the cross-species differences we see?

Study Questions

Each page should have study questions and answers. You can use this table to format them.

{| class="wikitable" |- ! Study Questions !! Answers |- | Question1 || Answer1 |- | Question2 || Answer2 |- |}