Attention & Language Flashcards
1
Q
Selective Attention
A
- focusing on one part of the sensorium while ignoring other stimuli
- acts as a filter between sensory stimuli and our processing systems
2
Q
Cocktail Party Phenomenon
A
phenomenon of being able to focus one’s auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli
3
Q
Divided Attention
A
ability to perform multiple tasks at the same time
4
Q
New or complex tasks require undivided attention and utilize ____ _____
A
controlled (effortful) processing
5
Q
Familiar or routine actions can be performed with ____ _____
A
autonomic processing (permits the brain to focus on other tasks with divided attention)
6
Q
What are the 5 basic components of language?
A
- phonology
- morphology
- semantics
- syntax
- pragmatics
7
Q
Phonology
A
- refers to the actual sound of language
- there are about 40 phonemes in english
8
Q
Morphology
A
- refers to the structure of words
- many words are composed of multiple building blocks called morphemes, each of which connotes a particular meaning
9
Q
Semantics
A
refers to the association of meaning with a word
10
Q
Syntax
A
refers to how words are put together to form sentences
11
Q
Pragmatics
A
- refers to the dependence of language on context and pre-existing knowledge
- manner in which we speak may differ depending on the audience and our relationship to that audience
12
Q
Prosody
A
- the rhythm, cadence and inflection of our voices
- affects pragmatics
13
Q
Language acquisition at 9 - 12 months:
A
babbling
14
Q
Language acquisition at 12 - 18 months:
A
about one word per month
15
Q
Language acquisition at 18 - 20 months:
A
“explosion of language” and combining of words
16
Q
Language acquisition at 2 - 3 years:
A
longer sentences (3 words or more)
17
Q
Language acquisition at 5 years:
A
language rules largely mastered
18
Q
Errors of Growth
A
- occurs around 3 years of age when the child creates longer sentences but these sentences have a lot of grammatical errors
- child applies a grammatical rule in a situation where it does not apply
19
Q
Nativist (Biological) Theory of Language
A
- largely credited to Noam Chomsky
- advocates for existence of some innate capacity for language
- human’s innate ability to produce language is called the language acquisition device (LAD) which is a theoretical pathway in the brain that allows infants to process and absorb language rules
- belief in a critical period (btw 2 years and puberty) for language acquisition
20
Q
Sensitive Period
A
- time when environmental input has maximal effect on the development of an ability
- for language development this period exists before the onset of puberty
21
Q
Learning (Behaviorist) Theory of Language
A
- proposed by B.F. Skinner
- explained language acquisition by operant conditioning
- parents reinforce sounds that sound most like native language of parents leading to infants perception that sounds that are not reinforced are of little value and are not part of parent language
- theory does not explain the explosion of vocabulary that occurs in early childhood
22
Q
Social Interactionist Theory of Language
A
- focuses on the interplay between biological and social processes
- language acquisition is driven by child’s desire to communicate and behave in a social manner
- reinforcement of certain brain circuits as child interacts with others while other circuits are de-emphasized and atrophy
23
Q
Whorfian Hypothesis (Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis)
A
- our perception of reality is determined by the content of language
- language affects the way we think rather than the other way around
- Ex. Inuit language has many names for different types of snow meaning that Inuits are better at discriminating subtleties between different types of snow compared to the English
24
Q
What are the main brain areas involved in language?
A
- Broca’s area
- Wernicke’s area
- Arcuate fasciculus
25
What hemisphere is language primarily located in the brain?
left hemisphere
26
Broca's Area
- located in the inferior frontal gyrus of the frontal lobe
| - controls motor function of speech via connections with the motor cortex
27
Wernicke's Area
- located in the superior temporal gyrus of the temporal lobe
- responsible for language comprehension
28
Arcuate Fasciculus
- connection between Broca's and Wernicke's area
| - bundle of axons that allows appropriate association between language comprehension and speech production
29
Aphasia
deficit of language production or comprehension
30
Broca's (Expressive) Aphasia
- result of damage to Broca's area
- speech comprehension is intact but patient has reduced or absent ability to produce spoken language
- person left with sensation of having every word on the tip of their tongue
31
Wernicke's (Receptive) Aphasia
- result of damage to Wernicke's area
- motor production and fluency of speech is retained but comprehension of speech is lost
- patients speak nonsensical sounds and inappropriate word combinations devoid of meaning
32
Conduction Aphasia
- result of damage to arcuate fasciculus
- speech production and comprehension are intact
- patient is unable to repeat something that ha been said because the connection between broca's and wernicke's area is lost
33
What happens if the corpus callosum is split?
- communication is disrupted resulting in a split brain patient (axons between the two brain hemispheres are severed)
- if patient sees something in right visual field, they will not be able to say the word of what they see out loud
34
In typical child, language competence with native fluency is usually achieved by age __.
5
35
What are the 3 evidences of the Nativist Theory?`
1. even under extreme conditions people can acquire language
2. neurological evidence -> language function localized in the brain (Broca's area for production of language, and Wernicke's area for comprehension of language)
3. even though children hear imperfect/partial/grammatically incorrect sentences they are still able to learn language correctly (ex. deaf/blind children, ASL)
36
Critical Period Hypothesis
length of time in which a person can acquire a skill, but if they do not acquire that skill in that period of time then they will not be able to acquire it later on
37
Language Acquisition Device is formed in which theory of language?
Nativist Theory
38
What is a Language Acquisition Device?
- we are able to pick out the universal grammar governing how we speak our native language
- mental capacity which allows us to acquire language
39
Universal Grammar
-all languages share some kind of structure and because of those common grammar rules and patterns we can learn how to speak without ever being formally taught
40
Nativist Theory criticism
Genie had a very traumatic upbringing and hard to isolate these effects to a critical period; too many confounding variables
41
What hemisphere is language primarily in?
Left
42
Social Interactions Theory says that language is acquired and perfected by interactions between ___.
people
43
Social Cognition Model
- observational learning
| - our cognition is shaped by our interactions (Bandura)
44
Vygotsky: Sociocultural Model
| [Proponent of Social Cognition Model]
1. child observes
2. develops ability to do what he observes (speak/communicate)
3. most learning comes from problem solving
45
Bruner: Discovery Learning Theory
| [Proponent of Social Cognition Model]
- learn best when discovering things yourself
| - even before you see fruits of interaction, child is building up a foundation for communication later
46
Vygotsky believed children learned language best by ____.
observation
47
Bruner believed children learned language best by ____.
discovery
48
Latent Learning
when you are learning something earlier you don't know that you are learning it until you use it later
49
Language can influence ___ ____.
spatial reasoning
50
Where in the brain is Broca's area found?
left frontal lobe
51
Where in the brain is Wernicke's Area found?
left temporal lobe
