Cognition, Language, and Intelligence

These flashcards cover key concepts related to cognition, language, and intelligence, including definitions and significant theories in these fields.

The mental process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.

Cognition

Categories of linguistic information, images, ideas, or memories used to see relationships among different elements of experience.

Concepts

The best example or representation of a concept.

Prototype

Concepts created naturally through either direct or indirect experience, such as the concept of snow.

Natural Concepts

Concepts defined by a specific set of characteristics, like properties of geometric shapes.

Artificial Concepts

A mental construct containing a collection of related concepts used to form assumptions about a person, object, or situation.

Schema

Assumptions about how individuals in certain roles will behave, which can vary widely among cultures.

Role Schema

A set of routine or automatic behaviors, often referred to as cognitive scripts.

Event Schema

A communication system involving words and systematic rules to organize them for meaningful interaction between individuals.

Language

The words of a given language.

Lexicon

The set of rules used to convey meaning through the use of the lexicon.

Grammar

A basic sound unit of language.

Phoneme

The smallest unit of language that conveys meaning.

Morpheme

The meaning derived from morphemes and words.

Semantics

The way words are organized into sentences.

Syntax

A theoretical mechanism proposed by Noam Chomsky that suggests humans are born with an innate capacity for language.

Language Acquisition Device

A time frame in which proficiency in acquiring language is maximal, with deprivation during this time hindering language ability.

Critical Period

The view that language influences how we think.

Linguistic Determinism