Ch.8 Flashcards Im Unsure I Need
Thin slicing
referred to our ability to extract useful info from small bits of behaviours as “thin slicing”
linguistic determinism
view that all thought is represented verbally and that, as a result, our language defines our thinking.
-“can’t experience thought without language”
-many studies prove thought can occur without language
Linguistic relativity
view that characteristics of language shape our thought processes.
Some domains of thinking (spatial reasoning and memory) more influenced by language. And most influential when tasks are difficult. Yet in other cases language seems to have no influence. Like colour categorization.
Where language came from and the pros and cons
• Some evolutionary theorists argue that language evolved into a complex system as our early apelike ancestors began to engage in increasingly complex social organizations and activities.
• language must offer the human species a strong survival advantage to offset its many disadvantages.
Advantages:
- allows us to communicate extremely complex thoughts.
- language is generally arbitrary for good reason.
— allows us more flexibility to express complex ideas that do not have sounds naturally associated with them.
Disadvantages:
- language requires a lengthy learning period and hefty brainpower.
- possessing a vocal tract that allows us to make a wide array of sounds actually increases our chances of choking
dialect
language variation used by a group of people who share geographic proximity or ethnic background
Comprehension precedes production.
Children learn to recognize and interpret words well before they can produce them. B/c have only limited ability to coordinate sounds to produce recognizable words.
analysis of infants’ production of speech
Analysis of infants’ production of speech fails to replicate results from an analysis of their perception of speech.
— This mismatch between perception and production of speech may imply that the motor coordination required to produce distinct language-specific phonemes lags behind babies’ knowledge about how their native language should sound.
Bilingual
proficient and fluent at speaking and comprehending two distinct languages.
• Usually master a language more easily by living with native speakers of the language than by learning it in a classroom
• Motivation to learn a new language also plays a key role
• One language is dominant.
— Typically first language learned, heard most often as child, and one use most often.
• Best predictor of whether we’ll become fluent is the age of acquisition: All things being equal, the earlier, the better
Brian activation with language
• Bilingual individuals who learned a second language early in development process the two languages using similar brain areas
• Same brain areas involved in processing spoken languages become active in signers
• In contrast, those who learned their second language later in development use different brain areas.
— suggesting that the brain may segregate different, later-learned languages into different regions.
Alternative hypothesis: Distinct brain areas observed for later-age exposure to a second language are due to the fact that people who acquire languages later are less proficient and require more brain involvement to master their second language as a result
metalinguistic
awareness of how language is structured and used.
• bilinguals tend to perform better on language tasks in general b/c of this.
homesign
system of signs invented by children with hearing loss of hearing parents who receive no language input.
• Still, without being exposed systematically to a language model, homesigners never develop full-blown language.
• Pieces of the language puzzle are independent of experience, but to complete the whole puzzle, exposure to language is required.
— both nature and nurture play crucial roles.
Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area
•Broca’s area, involved in speech production
• Wernicke’s area, involved in speech comprehension.
“Less is more” hypothsis
• Children have more limited information-processing abilities, fewer analytic skills, and less specific knowledge about how language works than adults.
— As a result, they learn language more naturalistically and gradually “from the ground up.”
• In contrast, adults try to impose more organization and structure on their learning, ironically making learning a language more challenging.
Does speed reading work?
• The faster we read, the more we miss.
• Proficient readers tend to be both faster at reading and better at comprehending than poorer readers, but reading speed doesn’t cause comprehension.
• There are tutoring approaches that can increase reading speed, but only within the expected reading range of 200-400 words per minute.
• Students who increase their reading speed within this range typically also improve their comprehension.
— Why? Because they can cover more material in the same amount of time.
Six principles of scientific thinking
- Ruling out Rival Hypotheses
— Have important alternative explanations for the findings been excluded? - Correlation vs. Causation
— Can we be sure that A causes B? - Falsifiability
— Can the claim be disproved? - Replicability
— Can the results be duplicated in other studies? - Extraordinary Claims
— Is the evidence as strong as the claim? - Occam’s Razor
— Does a simpler explanation fit the data just as well?
