The Internal Representation of Curriculum-Based Conceptual Systems

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the internal representation of curriculum-based conceptual systems. A decisive role in psychological memory research is being played by studies of the attainment and internal representation of natural concepts and conceptual systems. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate the possibilities of an invariant structural description of well-defined natural conceptual systems and to test its validity by way of experiment. By a natural conceptual system, a linguistically labeled and induced conceptual structure is described whose elements are concepts over which inter-conceptual, mostly asymmetrical relations are defined. The attribute “natural” is to denote that a well-defined realm of reality is represented in this conceptual system, and the system term is to denote that conceptual organization is based on structure-forming principles. There are a wide variety of principles of the structuring of conceptual systems and, hence, their internal organization. Depending upon whether either a functionally or a taxonomically defined organizing principle is adopted as determining structure, roughly two types of conceptual systems are differentiated as subjects of psychological studies.