T

Temporal lobe

One of the major lobes in each cerebral hemisphere, located along the temples and containing the auditory projection area (the area involved in the receiving of information provided by the sense of hearing)

Thalamus

A structure in the forebrain, under the cortex, that is the principal gateway for most sensory input, serving an integrative function

Theory of spreading activation

The theory   advanced to explain the rapid associations we make between and among the nodes that represent concepts. It holds that during the thought process, activation from a given nodes spreads out in  every  direction in the network, lessening at weaker links and strengthening at stronger ones. This activation continues as long as the node is in use, with many associated nodes becoming activated and continuing their simultaneous activation in parallel fashion

Threshold

The point at which we become aware of a thought or a sensation

Top-down approach

The approach to modelling intelligence in which the starting point of processing is a master design, or higher level knowledge, rather than sensory  stimuli  (see bottom-up approach)

Truth value

The truth or falsity of a proposition

Turing machine

Alan Turing’s hypothetical machine with an infinite tape from which it reads or to which it writes. The machine is at any given time in a particular state and is able, on reading a symbol on the tape, to determine successive changes in its state. Such a machine would, by means of algorithms, be able to perform any  computational process that can be performed

 Turing test

Devised by  Alan Turing, the Turing test is a game in which an interrogator asks questions of both a human being and a programmed computer simulating a human being, to determine whether the computer is adequately  simulating  the human mind. If the interrogator cannot tell from their answers the difference between them, the simulation is deemed successful