Cognitive Processes and Language Learning

These flashcards cover key concepts related to cognition, thinking, problem-solving strategies, decision-making models, and language acquisition as discussed in the lecture.

Cognition

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

Thinking

The process of using one's mind to produce thoughts, involving cognitive processes and the use of mental images and concepts.

Mental Image

A visual representation of something that helps in understanding or working through concepts.

Concepts

Mental constructs or categories that help organize knowledge and experiences into broader categories.

Trial and Error

A problem-solving strategy that involves trying various methods until a successful solution is found.

Algorithms

Step-by-step procedures or formulas for solving problems that guarantee a solution.

Heuristics

General rules of thumb or strategies that simplify problem solving but do not guarantee an optimal solution.

Insight

The moment of clarity or sudden realization resulting from deep thought or problem-solving efforts.

Intuition

A gut feeling or instinct about a solution based on past experiences.

Functional Fixedness

A cognitive bias that limits a person to use an object only in the way it is traditionally used.

Single Feature Model

A decision-making strategy based on only one attribute or feature of the options available.

Additive Model

A decision-making framework where multiple factors are evaluated and weighed to arrive at a decision.

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

A theoretical pre-set mechanism in the brain that enables humans to acquire language naturally.

Holophrases

Single words used by babies to convey entire ideas or sentences.

Bilingualism

The ability to speak and understand two languages fluently.

Motherese (Infant Directed Speech)

A special way of talking to infants characterized by higher pitch, exaggerated intonation, and slower tempo.

Availability Heuristic

A mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method, or decision.

Representativeness Heuristic

A cognitive bias in which one assesses the likelihood of an event based on how similar it is to a prototype.