Chapter 9 : Language and Thought

Linguists define human language as?

An open and symbolic communication system that has grammar rules and allows people to express abstract and distinct ideas.

What does being open mean?

To be open means to have a dynamic system open to change.

When words in English change over time for example the difference between Shakespearean English and English now this is an example of?

Open

What does it mean to be symbolic?

When there’s no real connection between a sound and the meaning or idea associated with it.

The English word “book” can change depending on the language for example its “Libro” in Spanish, despite the word changing the fact remains a book is still a book this is an example of?

Symbolic

What is the purpose of syntax?

A language’s rules for arranging words and symbols in a sentence or parts of a sentence.

What are phonemes?

Smallest unit of sound in a language

Why is human language unique?

It’s the only language that can transmit abstract idea’s

What is proto-human language?

A rudimentary language also known as pre-language used by earlier species of humans.

As the human brain especially the frontal lobes grew larger over time this caused?

Humans to be capable of thinking and communicating complex and abstract thoughts.

Objects such as hammers or forks is an example of?

Concrete objects

The color white is an example of?

Abstract concept

It’s assumed that grammatical language started to emerge due to what?

Due to humans years ago needing to communicate more complex actions and ideas.

What is assumed that humans did years ago in order to start the process of creating grammatical language?

They used gestures initially, and then associated sounds with these gestures.

What is the one universal principle of language development?

Its the principle that our comprehension/ ability to understand a language comes first and our ability to speak it comes second.

What part of the brain does language comprehension occur?

Occurs in the left hemisphere of brain in the Werknickes region area.

What part of the brain does ability to speak a language occur?

Occurs in the left hemisphere of the brain in the Brocas region area.

Another principal of language development is that younger children for example a 6 month old can do what?

Have the ability to discriminate phonetic sounds outside their native language.

After 12 months young children are capable of?

Only discriminating phonetic sounds in their native language.

When an infants perception is shaped by their environment this is the process of?

Perceptual narrowing

When neutral networks in the brain’s language is committing and wiring themselves to one language (or two if the child is bilingual) this is the process of?

Pruning

The first sounds we as humans make besides crying for the first six months of our life that consists of mainly vowels is the process of?

Cooing

What happens if a child is not exposed to any human language before a certain age?

Their language abilities never fully develop

The sensitivity period comes to an end when?

Ends when neural pruning and neural wiring have reached their peak, at that point the plasticity and neural connections become less flexible.

When we learn how to speak due to hearing others speak this is an example of?

Sociocultural theory

Culture, socioeconomic status, birth order, school, peers, TV, parent and caregivers are examples of?

Sociocultural

When adults speak in a higher pitch, change the volume of their voice, use simpler sentences and use emotion to communicate to a baby this is an example of?

Child directed speech

What is the function of mirror neurons?

Its the clusters of brain cells that fire not only when a person performs a task such as sticking our their tongue but also when a person observes another person do the same task, which then shows social learning and imitation.

What does the Nativist theory believe?

It believes that it’s impossible to learn novel utterances through imitation and reinforcement.

Noam Chomsky believes we are born with a language acquisition device (LAD) which is?

An biologically based capacity to acquire a language

The nativist believes that we discover a language rather than learn it, since it believes we are born with it this is an example of what kind of point of view?

Nativist view of language

Why cant other primates use language at the same level of humans?

Because of physical reasons such as not having a vocal apparatus (voice box) that allows them to speak and neurological reasons such as not having a fully developed language center in their brain to speak and understand like humans do.

Where is mirror neurons located in primates?

In primates mirror neurons are located in the same area of the brain where the language center exist in humans.

What does the linguistic determinism hypothesis believe in?

Believes that our language determines our way of thinking and our perception on the world.

If there’s no words for objects or concepts in one’s language then it’s not possible to think to about those objects or concept this view is an example?

Linguistic determinism hypothesis

What is linguistic relativism?

Believes language influences rather than determines our thinking.

When a language like Spanish, label nouns as either masculine or feminine this is an example of?

Gendered language

When a language like English has gendered language such as she, he, mom, dad but no gendered nouns this is an example of?

Natural gender languages

When a language like Finnish, has no gendered words at all this is an example of?

Genderless language

What is type one thinking?

Fast and automatic processing necessary for survival and is found in most animals, including humans.

What is type two thinking?

Slower, more rational and reflective thinking that is nearly exclusive to humans.

Cognitive psychology is the science of?

How people think, learn, remember and perceive

What is mental representation?

The structure of the mind such as an image or idea in the brain.

Our ability to remember things in the past, and imagine things in the future is an example of?

Mental representation

What is the function of visual imagery?

It’s visual representations created by the brain after the original stimulus is no longer present.

The best fitting examples of a category is?

A prototype

When we mentally categorize ideas or things based on similarity this a form of?

Concept

When does deductive reasoning occur?

Occurs when we reason from statements of what is known and then combine this information to each a specific conclusion.

If a person says “all humans are mortal” (premise A), “Socrates is human” (premise B) “Therefore Socrates is mortal” (conclusion) this is an example of what kind of reasoning?

Deductive reasoning

What is inductive reasoning?

Reasoning to conclusions from specific evidence

When we make judgements about whether one thing causes another this is an example of?

Casual inferences

The tendency to selectively attend to information that supports one’s beliefs while ignoring information than contradicts one’s belief happens due to?

Confirmation bias

Using shortcuts to make complex and uncertain decisions and judgments is called?

Heuristics

When we estimate the probability of one thing based on how typical it is of another thing this demonstrates?

Representativeness heuristic

When vividness such as dramatic images from a possible brutal death pops into our head, personal experience and availability influence use to overestimate how likely certain events are to happen this is because of?

Availability heuristic