Language & Thought (Ch. 9)

Language & Gramma

• system for communicating signals

• combined according to rules of grammar

• convey meaning

g: rules specifying how lang combined to produce msgs

Human Language

• complex structure (diff ideas/novel sentences)

• refer to intangible things

• name/describe things to self when thinking

Basic Characteristics of Language: Phonemes & Phonological Rules

P: smallest units of speech (sounds)

PR: indicate how phonemes combined to form words (typically learn wo instruction)

Basic Characteristics of Language: Morphemes (2 Types)

= smallest meaningful units of language (phonemes combined)

• content: things/events

• function: grammatical func, tie sentences together

Morphological vs. Syntactic Rules

M: how morphemes combined to form words

S: how words combine to form phrases/sentences

3 Language Development

1. learn lang rapidly

2. make few errors while learning to speak

3. comprehension develops faster than production (understand better than speak)

at birth can distinguish sounds in all langs (6mo: only own lang)

Language Milestones

• 4-6mo: babble consonants

• 6-10mo: understand some words/simple requests

• 10-12mo: first words

• 18mo: 50 words, understand more

• 24mo: telegraphic speech → 2 word sentences, no func morphemes & mostly content words

Emergence of Grammatical Rules

• 3: complete sentences w func words

• 4/5: begin over regularizing when learning grammatical rules

Language/Cognitive Development

orderly progression result of either:

• gen cognitive development (unrelated to experience w spec lang)

• depend on experience w spec language (reflect emerging knowledge of language)

→ shifts in early lang development reflect specific characteristics of lang learning instead of limitations in cog development

Theories of Language Development: Behaviourist

• learn through reinforcement shaping & extinction (skinner)

• ignores fundamental characteristics

Theories of Language Development: Nativist

= lang development explained as innate biological capacity

• lang learning capacities build into brain→ acquire rapidly through exposure (chomsky)

• brain equipped w universal grammar (processes facilitating lang learning)

• doesnt explain how lang develops

Theories of Language Development: Interactionist

social interaction plays crucial role in lang

Broca’s & Wernicke’s Area

• connected by pathway = arcuate fasciculus

• damage to both associated with aphasia: difficulty producing/comprehending language (brain lesions extending beyond B/W)

Brocas Area

• L frontal cortex

• language production

• brocas aphasia: difficulty w speech production (miss func morphemes)

Wernickes Area

• L temporal cortex

• language comprehension

• wernickes aphasia: difficulty comprehending lang & meaningless grammatical speech

Right Cerebral Hemisphere & Language

evidence of involvement

1. capacity for processing meaning

2. damage to R sometimes have subtle problems w comprehension

3. activation during lang tasks

4. kids w L hemispheres removed can recover many lang abilities

Bilingualism

• score higher IQs than monolingual children (executive control suppressing language don’t want to use)

• later evidence has little/no advantage in executive func

• later onset of alzheimers

Limits of Animals with Human Language

• limited vocabulary

• limited conceptual repertoire (learn signs for concepts they understand)

• limited understanding of grammar (only 3/4 words w poor grammar)

Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis

= idea that language shapes nature of thought (Whorf)

• considered half right= overly simplistic to talk generally about if language influences thought

Concept

mental representation groups/categorizes shared features of related objects, events, stimuli

Necessary vs. Sufficient Condition

N: something must be true of obj to belong to category (ex. mammal to be dog)

S: if true of object, proves belongs to category

Prototype Theory

classify new objects by comparing to best/most typical member of category

Exemplar Theory

category judgements by comparing new instance w stored mems of other instances in category

Concepts/Categories & Brain

• L hemisphere: primarily involved in forming prototypes

• R hemisphere: active when recognizing exemplars

• visual cortex: helps form prototypes

• prefrontal/basal ganglia: learning exemplars

Category Specific Deficit

= inability to recognize objects belonging to particular category, deficit depends where damage

• front L temp: difficult identifying humans

• lower L temp: animals

• temp meets occipital/parietal: tool names

Rational Choice Theory

= make decisions by determining how likely something is to happen, judging value of outcome then multiplying by 2

→ judgements vary depending on value assigned to possible outcomes

Judging Frequencies & Probabilities

• good at estimating freq: natural/easy, done daily

• bad at judging probabilities (likelihood of something happening→ more abstract/less familiar)

Availability Heuristic

=items more readily available in mem judged as occurring more frequently

heuristic: fast/efficient strategy may facilitate decision making, doesnt guarantee solution reached (mental shortcut)

Algorithm

well defined sequence of procedures/rules guarantee solution to problem

Representativeness Heuristic

= mental shortcut involving making probability judgement by comparing obj/event w prototype of obj/event

Conjunction Fallacy

people think that 2 events are more likely to occur together than either individual event (rely on RH)

Framing Effects & Sunk-Cost Fallacy

FE: give diff answers to same problem depending on how problem framed

SCF: framing effect where people make decisions on current situation based on what they previously invested

Optimism Bias

believe more likely to experience pos events & less likely to experience neg events compared to others (cultural factors influence)

Prospect Theory

choose to take on risks when evaluating potential losses & avoid risks when evaluating potential gains

Assumptions About Prospect Theory

• certainty effect: when making decisions greater weight given to guaranteed outcomes

• compare choices w reference point

• more willing to take risks to avoid losses than to achieve gains

• pre frontal activated w risky decisions

Ill vs. Well Defined Problems

• I: wo clear goal/well defined path to solution

• W: clearly specified goals & solution paths

Means-Ends Analysis

=searching for steps to reduce differences b/w current situation & desired goal

steps:

1. analyze goal state (desired outcome)

2. analyze current state

3. list differences b/w current & goal state

4. reduce differences by direct means, subgoals, similar problem w known solution

Analogical Problem Solving

=solve problem by finding sim problem w known solution & applying to current problem

through:

• learn principles underlying particular problem types

• solve lots of problems (recognize types/generate effective solutions)

Insight

=UCS processes contribute to insight problem solving

• pattern of clues in problem UCS activates relevant info in mem → activation spreads through mem gaining more info → enough info= cross threshold of awareness

• front R temp active right before insight info

Functional Fixedness

perceive funcs of objects as unchanging (constricts our thinking)

Reasoning vs. Logic

R: organizing info/beliefs into series of steps to reach conclusions

L: system of rules that specify which conclusions follow from set of statements

Belief Bias

= judgements about whether to accept conclusions depend on how believable conclusions are

Syllogistic Reasoning

whether conclusion follows from 2 statements assumed to be true

• difficult to inhibit preexisting knowledge when reasoning about syllogisms

Belief Neutral Reasoning vs. Belief Laden Activated

BNR: parietal lobe (associated w math reasoning)

BL: L temp lobe (retrieve facts from LT mem) & R prefrontal

Illusionary Truth Effect

error in reasoning occurring when repeated exposure to statement increases likelihood that people will judge true

• increase familiarity (accept as evidence of truth)

Illusion of Explanatory Depth

illusion occurring when people overestimate depth of their understanding