L5: Language and Thought

Language and Cognition: Independence (Chomsky)

LAD and UG, capcity to develop language exists at birth, is a separate module to cognitive processes

Language from Cognition (Piaget)

cognitive development happens in stages, language builds from preoperational stage ability to use symbols

Interdependence of Language and Cognition (Vygotsky)

language and thought separate at first, language and thought merge as child develops

Egocentric Speech

vocalizing solving problems and thinking, Piaget: not used for communicative or cognitive purposes, Vygotsky: cognitive, becomes inner speech once controlled, has social function

Modern Views on Private Speech

related to task difficulty, self-regulations, related to executive function development

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

the idea that cognition is affected by language, suggests that perception is affected by language

Linguistic Determinism

the form and features of the language we speak affect how we think, see, remembre

Linguistic Relativisim

because languages differ from one to another, people raised in different language environments will have differences in perception, cognition

Strong Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (Miller and McNeil, 1969)

language determines thought

Weaker Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (Miller and McNeil, 1969)

language affects perception, perception could be sensory perception or more like categorization

Weak Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (Miller and McNeil, 1969)

language differences affect performance in tasks in which linguistic encoding is important

Miller and Stigler (1987)

Mandarin speaking children learn 11-20 words quicker than English speaking, suggests that learning to name numbers is facilitated by number-word system

Gordon (2004)

studied people with language that only has words for one, two, and many, performance on non-verbal numeric tasks drops with increasing number, suggests estimation; suggest differences in how people reason about numbers based on language differences

Color and Language

having a word for something may create a new category, affects perception

Color Hierarchies

if only 2 colors will be black + white, basic colors have fewer morphemes, people remember focal colors better (red)

Space and Language

Boroditsky (2011): some children can point north easily, Levinson (1996): matching arrows after self-rotation, Dutch pick identical appearance, Tseltal speakers retain rotation

Language and Theory of Mind

verbs related to mental state acquired earlier in English speaking vs. Mandarin speaking children, amount of mental state talk by parents is linked to children’s understanding of false beliefs

Kennison and Trofe (2003)

words with gender stereotyping, longer reading times for subsequent pronouns not matching stereotype