PSY Learn and Cog test 3

perception

rqeuires both bottom-up and top-down processing

Why is it difficult to conduct research on imagery?

researchers cannot directly observe mental images because they fade so quickly; mental imagery is based on subjectivity and prior knowledge

processes that give rise to ability to create mental images

exclusively top-down processing

what areas of the brain activate during mental imagery?

The primary visual cortex, frontal lobe, and occipital lobe

visualizers

Individuals who can create detailed mental images.

verbalizers

Individuals who represent information through language rather than imagery.

Nishimura and MEG findings

when asked to visualize an object; visualizers produced more activity in occipital regions of cortex and verbalizers, on the other hand, produced more activation in areas often associated with linguistic processing, such as frontal cortical areas.

mental imagery

utilizes information stored in long-term memory to create internal images of sounds and objects that are not physically present

visual imagery

mental representation of visual stimuli

auditory imagery

mental representation of auditory stimuli

imagery debate

do our mental images resemble perception (analog code) or language (propositional code)

analog code

representation that closely resembles the physical object; mental imagery is close relative of perception

propositional code

language-like representation; storage is neither visual nor spatial and doesn’t resemble original stimulus; mental imagery is a close relative of language

auditory imagery

mental representation of sounds that are not physically present

pitch

characteristic of sound stimulus that can be arranged on a scale from low to high

timbre

sound quality of a tone

cognitive map

mental representation of geographic information, including the environment that surrounds us

spatial cognition

our thoughts about cognitive maps, how we remember the world we navigate, how we keep track of objects in a spatial

border bias

people estimate the distance between two specific locations is larger if they are on different sides of a geographic border

landmark effect

general tendency to provide shorter estimates when traveling to a landmark, rather than a nonlandmark

90-degree-angle heuristic

people represent angles in a mental map as being closer to 90 degrees than they really are

rotation heuristic

a figure that is slightly tilted will be remembered as being either more vertical or more horizontal than it really is

alignment heuristic

a series of separate geographic structures will be remembered as being more lined up than they really are

psycholinguistics

interdisciplinary field that examines how people use language to communicate ideas

phoneme

basic unit of spoken language; a-,k-, th-

morpheme

basic unit of meaning; reactivated: re-,active,-ate,-ed

morphology

study of morphemes, how we create words by using morphemes

syntax

grammatical rules that govern how we organize words into sentences

grammar

encompasses both morphology and syntax; it examines both word structure and sentence structure

semantics

examines meaning of words and sentences

pragmatics

refers to our knowledge of the social rules that underlie language use. It takes into account the listener's perspective

surface structure

represented by the words that are actually spoken or written.

deep structure

underlying, more abstract meaning of a sentence

cognitive-functional approach

emphasizes that the function of human language in everyday life is to communicate meaning to other individuals

incremental implementation

refers to the observation that when processing language, we do not wait until an entire sentence is spoken (or read) before making judgments about what it means

syntactic complexity

strong determinant of the amount of processing difficulty an individual will experience during language processing

lexical ambiguity

refers to the fact that a single word can have multiple meanings

syntactically ambiguous sentences

Sometimes a sentence structure is ambiguous, especially if it contains no punctuation

good enough approach

we frequently process only part of a sentence

neurolinguistics

discipline that examines the underlying neurological structures and systems that support language and language‐related processes

aphasia

has difficulty communicating, typically as a result of damage to the brain caused by a stroke or a tumor

Broca’s area

located toward the front of the brain, and usually in the left hemisphere

Broca’s aphasia

expressive‐language deficit—or trouble producing language

Wernicke’s area

located toward the middle side of the brain

Wernicke’s aphasia

such severe problems with language comprehension that they cannot understand basic instructions such as “Point to the telephone”

language-localizer task

compensates for the problem of individual differences in brain size; placed participants in an fMRI scanner and asked them to perform several relatively complex language tasks that lasted 10 to 15 minutes

lateralization

each hemisphere of the brain has somewhat different functions

mirror system

a network involving the brain's motor cortex; mirror neurons are activated both when you watch someone perform an action and when you perform the action yourself

saccadic eye movement

bring the center of your retina into position over the words you want to read

fovea

very small region in the center of the retina that has better acuity than other retinal regions

perceptual span

refers to the number of letters and spaces that we perceive during a fixation

parafoveal view

readers can access information about upcoming words even though they are currently fixated on a word to the left (in English) of those words

dual-route approach to reading

skilled readers employ both (1) a direct‐access route and (2) an indirect‐access route

direct access route

you recognize this word directly through vision, without “sounding out” the words.

indirect access route

we often translate visual stimuli into sound during reading

whole word approach

readers can directly connect the written word—as an entire unit—with the meaning that this word represents

phonics approach

readers recognize words by trying to pronounce the individual letters in the word

whole language approach

reading instruction should emphasize meaning, and it should be enjoyable, to increase children's enthusiasm about learning to read

slips of the tongue

errors in which sounds or entire words are rearranged between two or more different words

sound errors

occur when sounds in nearby words are exchanged—for example, snow flurries → flow snurries

morpheme errors

occur when morphemes are exchanged in nearby words—for example, self‐destruct instruction → self‐instruct destruction

word errors

occur when words are exchanged—for example, writing a letter to my mother → writing a mother to my letter

sentence pronunciation

1.) message planning; 2.) grammatical encoding; 3.) phonological encoding

prosody

the rhythm and intonation in speech that conveys meaning and emotion

narrative

the type of discourse in which someone describes a series of actual or fictional events

embodied cognition

people use their bodies to express their knowledge

prewriting

begin a formal writing project by generating a list of ideas

Noam Chomsky’s approach to language

the theory that humans have an innate ability to acquire language, emphasizing universal grammar.

parts of the brain that process language

include Broca's area and Wernicke's area

Dell’s theory of speech errors

a model that explains how slips of the tongue occur due to competing words and phonemes in the brain.

iconic gestures

nonverbal hand movements that convey meaning or complement speech.

deictic gestures

gestures that indicate or point to specific objects or locations in the context of conversation.

beat gestures

nonverbal movements that emphasize or highlight elements of speech, often used to accompany verbal communication.

how do students typically revise their writing

Students typically revise their writing by reviewing for clarity, coherence, and grammatical accuracy, often incorporating feedback from peers or instructors.

who is best at proofreading

A skilled proofreader is usually someone with a strong command of language, attention to detail, and experience in identifying errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

simultaneous bilingualism

The ability to acquire and use two languages at the same time, often from early childhood

Flege’s study on pronunciation skills findings

Flege's study found that individuals who were exposed to a second language during early childhood exhibited better pronunciation skills compared to those who learned it later in life. This suggests that age of acquisition plays a crucial role in language phonetic development.

simultaneous interpretation

The process of translating spoken language in real-time, allowing the audience to hear the translation simultaneously with the original speech.