Cognition 2: Exam Practice Questions – Language (copy)

Phoneme Discrimination

The ability of infants to distinguish between different phonemes, which they can do from birth.

High-Amplitude Sucking Technique

A method that measures changes in an infant's sucking rate in response to sounds, indicating perceptual change.

Native Language Preference

The tendency of newborns to prefer sounds from their native language, suggesting early phonological learning.

Statistical Learning

A strategy where infants track syllable co-occurrence probabilities to identify potential word boundaries.

Phonotactic Constraints

Awareness of permissible sequences of sounds in their language that helps infants in word segmentation.

Prosodic Bootstrapping

Using rhythm, stress, and intonation to identify word boundaries in speech.

Fast Mapping

The ability of children to form a quick connection between a new word and its referent after minimal exposure.

Mutual Exclusivity

The assumption that each object has only one label, which helps children learn new words.

Critical Period Hypothesis

The theory that there is a specific time frame before puberty when language acquisition is most effective.

Dual-Route Model of Reading

A framework describing two pathways for reading: the lexical route for recognizing whole words and the non-lexical route for decoding words.

Visual Word Form Area (VWFA)

A brain region in the left fusiform gyrus responsible for rapid recognition of written words.