Language and Thought

Language

grouping of spoken, written or gestured symbols used to convey information

Social communication

One important role of language. Language's ability to allow us to share information and improve upon other ideas

Productivity

the creation of new messages. Humans can connect unrelated information to create new ideas.

Integrating information

location relies on more than memory to connect important and relevant search cues

18-month-old children experiment

hide a ball, they look in the corners to decide where the ball is. Could narrow down corners, but nothing about painted cue increased likelihood.

Children

have lower language development. They are not stupid, just slower or worse at picking up cues.
Cannot fully link one thing to another

Persuasion

conveying inner world, expanding, arguing and influencing through

Basic systems

develop prenatally

rapid development

post-natal. Early signs of development are valuable indicators of a child's development, comfort, and well-being.

2-7 year old females

outperform males

8 months

declined ability to recognize sounds not used in native language.
Evident in tonal languages and intonation languages

3-4 months old

show the ability to connect speech sounds with objects
Learn to associate objects and sound

Tonal languages

tone is used to specify word meaning

Grammar

systematic rules of a language. Includes words, tenses and syntax.

Syntax

structure and order of words within a language

Verbal behaviour

ideas from operant conditioning are applied to language to focus on language as a form of behaviour.

B.F. Skinner

argued that children begin to gesture or utter phrases and repeat them if reinforced. baby pointing at bottle.

Tone association

Adults use becomes associated with praise or admonishment
Higher pitch: used to encourage
Lower pitch: used to scold

Babies

Parents spoke slower to babies with stutters and they messed up their words less.
Play, praise and encouragement, children reach language milestones faster
You should have conversations with babies

Nativism

explanation for biological, predetermined nature of language. The belief that our abilities are built into our brains.

Critical period

ages 7-12 months until around 5 years, where children absorb words at a rapid pace. Children must receive environmental stimulation to promote healthy development.

Sensitive period

related to critical period. indicates that the neurological system is more malleable during early development but is still modifiable later in life

Emergentist

biological capacity and exposure and social pressure interact with how language develops

Broca's area

region of frontal lobe, for motor production of speech.

Wernicke's area

region in temporal lobe, for comprehension of language

Aphasia

inability or difficulty to produce speech

Broca's aphasia

non-fluent aphasia. Damage to lower frontal lobe difficulty producing speech.

Hemispheric lateralization

certain functions are more predominantly controlled by one side.
1) There may be a module in the brain controlling speech
2) Language production is predominantly controlled by the left hemisphere

FOXP2

gene suggested that humans have but non-humans don't

Wernicke's aphasia

fluent aphasia. Speech memory is impared. Intact physical production of speech, but words lack meaning. Prosody stays intact.

Prosody

melody or speech patterns of speech

Moto cortex

likely connected to Broca's area which is causing the issues

Human

produce 2-4 words/sec, store 50 000 to 100 000 words

Mental lexicon

storage of words and related concepts. Can be accessed to fully recognize a word within 80 milliseconds. Organized by phonemes.

Phonemes

smallest sound unit of language

Morphemes

smallest unit of language comprehension

Semantic

the meaning of a word

Semantic network

stored information allows us to put a word in context, retrieve relevant responses, and detect errors in usages

Prototype

most common, or typical, form a word assumes when imagine it.

Prototypical

seeing something similar to others you've seen of it in the past

Atypical

seeing something that is something you've seen but looks different so you can't discern what it is.

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

language can influence our perception. (linguistic relativity) Structural differences in language can alter one's perception and understanding of reality.

Problem solving

Initial problem state, strategy application, desired outcome (hopefully)

Mental set

a person's expectations on how to solve a problem. Influences by prior interactions and created a set effect or fixation.

Functional fixedness

tendency to believe an object has only one function, neglecting other uses or possibilities for it.

Algorithms

humans employ a variety in order to solve a problem. A precise set of rules applied in order to solve a problem

Heuristics

rules we consistently apply to create shortcuts. save energy and resources.

Means-end heuristic

problem solver should envision the end goal and take measures necessary to achieve this goal.

Representative heuristics

used to solve everyday problems or make decisions quickly. the problem solver mentally comparing our stored perception of something to current state.

Availability heuristic

we make judgments based on how easily instances of the same or related events are to retrieve from our memory. We asses likelihood of occurrence of an event.

Creativity

oftentimes relying on reusing old material in order to make new connections with it

Creative process

1) Preparation
2) Period of incubation
3) Illumination stage

Confirmation bias

only regard information that is consistent with pre-existing beliefs and ignore information that disagrees

Framing

our choices and preferences are substantially altered based on presentation or question and options

System 1 thinking

quick decisions. Relies on emotional systems and stored experiences.

System 2 thinking

logical, rational thinking that counteracts initial response and judgements.