400 midterm

content, form, use

3 domains of language

expected to be known

content

semantics (meaning)

lexicon

use

pragmatics - using language to communicate effectively

form

phonology, morphology, syntax

place, manner, voicing

classification of consonants

speech vs language

-Speech- motor sounds, Language- actual communication

-language is much broader than speech

-speech is 1 of many ways that 1 mode of language can be communicated

nativist/biological theory

-humans naturally have an innate process to learn language

-learning to speak is instinctive

-only humans learn true/complex/generative language

language acquisition device

diffuse/irregularly shaped collection of neurons in the brain responsible for language processing

Chomsky

opposing evidence for nativism

-nearly all caregivers do teach language to some extent

-languages are continuously evolving over time

-feral children

-speech is not static

evidence for nativism

-common milestones in early language development

-linguistic universals across language and cultures

-fMRi and other studies showing language

-heritability of speech and language disorders

feral children

Individuals who were not raised with human contact or care

dani (girl in the window), oxen, genie

behaviorist/conditioned response theory

-humans are actively taught language,

-a child is encouraged to make certain sound combinations or follow directions by their caregivers who reinforce them

-BF Skinner

behaviorist supporting evidence

-feral children

-speech therapy of all kinds

-wide range of outcomes for children in terms of their language proficiency

behaviorist opposing evidence

-children say sentences that adults never do, so they cannot be simple imitations (that mines)

-caregivers don't always correct/provide feedback about the accuracy of grammar

-humans can create and understand novel sentences that may never have been said before

-language becomes very complex as children grow

interactionist theory

-both biology and experience make important contributions to language development

-innate ability works tg with exposure

-basic neural building blocks exist before language develops in an infant, also there for cognitive and other development

interactionist supporting evidence

-infants and children are clearly driven to communicate both for wants and needs as well as desire for mastery

-recognized the role of the child and an active participant

-existence of partenese

-differences of outcomes in which language is acquired and the richness of language that is eventually used by the child

language acquisition support structure (LASS)

concept of the interactionist view that language acquisition is a product of children's early social interactions with the important people in their life

use it or lose it

failure to drive certain functions can lead to loss

parentese

-High-pitched style in which parents speak to their children,

-how speech-language pathologists commonly describe "baby talk"

-most parents who use parentese are not aware of it

characteristics of parentese

-longer conversational latency (pauses between utterances)

-simplify comprehension

-teach language (repeat/expand utterances)

-maintain engagement and active conversational role

interactionist opposing evidence

-infants have innate capacity, why is language different?

-if we are older and learning an additional language, we may initially be more conscious of what we are doing/rely on feedback

other thoughts

-importance of innate capacity vs environmental influence may depend on individual and situation

-some infants w genetic luck are born with great linguistic promise, don't need as rich as an environment

-some are born with ASD and lack neurological structures or developmental plans

-may be a learnability issue

learning requires 3 things

1. innate capacity to learn

2. an environment to learn

3. some stimulus to learn from that comes from the learner themselves

more other thoughts

-when we are learning our native language, we employ more of a nativist mechanism

-or if there is a delay/issue, intentional teaching of conditioned responses/behaviorist methods may be important (speech therapy)

most thoughts

occur in the form of language

thinking and language

-strong relationship between the 2

-at our current level of development, we think in words

-not necessarily complete and grammatical sentences

-hard to think without language

types of thoughts not requiring language

-think in pictures

-encountering something we fear

-music

-visual arts

-math

chomsky

-concepts there first, then layering of language

-general thoughts and concepts arise in brain first

-grammar rules of our native language is applied

-thoughts are then transformed to follow the rules and be understood by others

perceptive prerequisites of language development

receive signals

process signals

cognitive perquisites for language development

object permanence

causality

imitation

representation

ability to categorize

working memory

executive functioning

theory of mind

object permanence

the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

causality

-need cause and effect to have language

-communication can occur whether intentional or not

-in typically developing adults, communication is driven by intentions

-early on (4-8 months)

imitation

-4-8 months

-begins with imitation of motor movements

-imitation can be an early form of labeling

-toddlers may be willing to imitate many things

-speech depends on a huge inventory of internalized models

immediate imitation

-A baby's immediate imitation of the modeled target response which shows a few days after birth; simple facial expressions like protrusion of the tongue.

-the child repeats the target directly after the clinician's model of the target

delayed imitation

a child can witness an event, form a mental representation of it, and imitate it later in the absence of the model

recognitory gestures

gestures that represent the functions/uses of objects

representation/symbolisms

-this stands for that, need to understand symbols for language

-symbolic behaviors

-being able to grasp that a word/symbol/picture stands for something else is essential

-without that, never reach displacement

symbolic behaviors

Behaviors that appear during representational play, as when children use materials to represent something else

-play: language beings to play a key role during play as it becomes more interactive

-language

-drawing: drawing ppl good proxie for cognitive development

-dreaming

ability to categorize

-critical to achieve equilibrium between assimilation and accommodation for effective categorization

-shape bias: categorizing items by shape

-later form categories based on how things look/sound

-need to be able to perceive regularities in language forms and organize language

generalization

1. apply what is known to new items encountered for the 1st time

2. apply new information to something already known

schemata

Mental models of the world that we use to guide and interpret our experiences

assimilation

adding new info to a existing schema

accommodation

creating a new schema to adjust old ones

working memory

a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory

working memory

-focused processing

-maintenance of task relevant information

-ability to hold information and process it is critical for speech and language comprehension + production

phonological loop

the part of working memory that holds and processes verbal and auditory information

executive function

conscious control of thoughts, emotions, and actions to accomplish goals or solve problems

executive function

-4-8 months: goals are made only after an activity has begun, no planning

-8-12 months: actions are internal, reflect planning

-ability to pay selective attention and plan appropriate effective communication is critical for speech and language success

selective attention

the ability to focus on only one stimulus from among all sensory input

zone of proximal development

phase of learning during which children can benefit from instruction

tasks a child can complete but needs help to do so

private speech

-speech by children that is spoken and directed to themselves

-key concept to vygotsky, saw as gateway to more cognitive skills

-children of more effective scaffolders use more private speech

scaffolding

adjusting instruction to what a child knows and can do

be prepared to reintroduce more supports if reaching frustration

theory of mind

-people's ideas about their own and others' mental states—about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict

-ability to reason about what other people know or believe

vision

-newborns can focus on things 7.5 inches away

-attraction to faces is innate, show more interest in people than object

infants

-typically developing infants show a greater interest in speech than other sounds

-as baby's listening improves, they begin to create an auditory representation of people/things before coming into physical contract with them

-infants develop a mental image of people/things without them actually being clearly present

representation

ability to use words in place of things

symbolic play

use objects to represent other objects

children who can do it development language more quickly

why don't we remember our earliest years

-lack of awareness of ourselves

-lack of anything to map experiences on to

-use it or lose it

-exploring and making efforts to control

central nervous system

brain and spinal cord

peripheral nervous system

the sensory and motor neurons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body

meninges

three protective membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord

corpus callosum

the large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them

sensory strip

band running down the side of the parietal lobe that registers and provides all sensation

processes from opposite side of the brain

motor strip

band running down the side of the frontal lobe that controls all bodily movements

opposite side of the body

brocas area

controls language expression - an area, usually in the left frontal lobe, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.

arcuate fasciculus

a bundle of axons that connects Wernicke's area with Broca's area; damage causes conduction aphasia

Wernicke's area

controls language reception - a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe

pyramidal pathway

Descending direct motor neurons that originate in the cerebral cortex and terminate in the spinal cord (corticospinal) or brainstem.

extrapyramidal pathway

-indirectly regulate and modulate involuntary and postural movements

-consists of UMNS and is multisynaptic and involved in automatic motor movements

-facial expression

cerebellum

the "little brain" at the rear of the brainstem; functions include processing sensory input and coordinating movement output and balance

brainstem

The oldest part and central core of the brain, responsible for automatic survival functions.

cranial nerves

12 pairs of nerves that carry messages to and from the brain

spinal nerves

carry impulses to and from the spinal cord

3 major activities controlled by the brain

movement

sensation

cognition/language

mirror neurons

-show significant activity when we are watching others perform actions

-significant implications for learning to speak

hemispheres and language

left: controls language in most people

right: prosody/rate/rhythm, pragmatics

Neurotransmitters

Chemicals that transmit information from one neuron to another

-axons annouce, dendrites detect

steps of communication

speech despite complexity

parallel rather than serial seems likely due to speed despite complexity

neonate

born 1 month or less ago

perinate

around the time of birth

learning

a change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience

non nutritive sucking procedure

-uses a response recording pacifier

-sucking is under infants voluntary control

-conditioning and habituation

-demonstrated preference via above procedure

conditioning vs habituation

c: teaching infant to suck more for preferred sound

h: education in response to repeated stimulus

demonstrated preference

maternal voice

native language mom spoke during gestation

familiar nursery rhymes mom read during gestation

conditioning

the process of learning associations between environmental events and behavioral responses

habituation

an organism's decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure to it

Dishabituation

increase in responsiveness after presentation of a new stimulus

habituation dishabituation response

reduction in response to repeated stimulus

followed by motor and cardiac response after stimulus is changed

transnatal auditory learning

learned responses to sound carrying over from gestation to after birth

may support the rapid typical rate of speech and language development

requirements for learned response

-fetal ability to detect/hear

-recurrent exposure

-fetal ability to learn

fetal ability to detect/hear

-acoustically rich environment

-sounds include maternal cardiovascular, gastrointestinal

-most prominent is generally lateral voice carries by conduction

fetal indications of potential attention/interest depend on

fetal state

maternal state

reactivity of fetus in general

time of day

blood sugar

fetal state

resting vs nonresting

maternal state

recently speaking, moving, etc.

may see a brief startle response is pregnant person was silent beforehand

near term fetuses require 3 elements to show evidence of learning

-ability to detect stimulus/stimuli

-recurrent exposure

-ability to learn (cognitive support present)

why sample speech or language

-to see if intervention is needed (data to compare to norms)

-validity

-help diagnose communication disorder

-to guide target selection

-document progress

morphemes

The smallest units of meaning in a language

-some phrases initially appearing to be 2 morphemes are actually 1

-to be 2 morphemes they must also be used independently

likely first words

-easiest to form (simple syllable words/single syllables)

-whatever is important to toddler

-people, objects, actions

-coincides with toddling

-girls tend to talk earlier than boys

could also be

-social greetings

-action requests/actions

-negation/denial

-relational

-modifiers