Chapter 8 Flashcards
cognition
- mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge
cognitive revolution
- a consideration of language
properties of language
- symbolic
- semantic
- generative
- structures
symbolic
- using symbols to talk about places, times, things, people, actions
- give us meaning or information
- used to represent things
semantic
- symbols have meaning that we can use to convey information
- the meaning of words and word combinations
generative
- we can take different symbols and words to create sentences that have nerve been used before
- we make up new words overtime
structured
- we have rules that tell us how to put words together to create sentences to convey meaning
phonemes
- smallest speech units in a language that can be distinguished perceptually
- younger=more phonemes heard
- 40 in English language
- sound units that make up language
- combine them to create morphemes
morphemes
- smallest unit of meaning
- combine them to create words
denotation vs connotation
- denotation: dictionary meaning of a word
- connotation: emotional meaning
ex: snake
syntax
- a system of rules for arranging and organizing words into sentences
- the swimmer, not swimmer the
language development: 6 months
- phonemes
- babbling resembling language
- beneficial to developing language
- children learning ASL will babble through sign
language development: 1 year
- first word
- similar cross-culturally (words for parents)
- receptive> expressive
receptive vs expressive
- receptive: what they can understand
- expressive: what they ca say/use
ASL benefit
- can increase expressive language
language development: 18-24 months
- vocabulary spurt, learn a lot of language at once
- fast mapping: pick up words after one exposure
- over extension: applying words to more cases than appropriate
- under extension: believe word only applies to certain/narrow set of cases
language development: end of 2 years
- combine words
- telegraphic speech: least words as possible (not all languages)
language development: end of 3 years
- complex ideas: pleural, past tense
- over regularization
over regularization
- across all languages
- certain words when we convert them into past tense they are unusual
- children are learning that you usually use -ed
- ex: “goed” instead of “went”
language development: 6 years
- metalinguistic awareness: reflect on language use, how we can play around with how we use language
- ex: sarcasm, jokes, word play, puns
bilingualism: disadvantages
- 2nd language more easily acquired early in life
- smaller vocabularies in each language, but combined = normal size
- slight disadvantage in terms of language processing speed
- can learn new languages when we are older but not to same extent (before 17)
bilingualism: advantages
- metalinguistic awareness
- attention/executive function
- dementia occurs later
- more grey matter that helps brain function + neurons
- benefits to white matter
greater acculturation facilitates acquisition
- language learning is not just cognitive
- being involved in social aspect and cultural events related to language helps your learning
Allen and Beatrice Gardner
- chimpanzee Washoe
- taught him words in ASL
- picked up 160 words and formed them into simple phrases
- didn’t acquire all the aspects they were trying to teach
- didn’t really acquire language
Sue Savage-Rumbaugh
- chimps can acquire language through LEXIGRAMS (tiny images associated with words)
chimps in PET scan
- area that resembles Brocas area
Steven Pinker
- argues language is a human specific trait
- language chimps are learning is equivalent to young child
Genie: the wild child
- neglected and tied to chair, no communication with anyone until 13
- learned words and 2-word combinations
- did not learn grammar to how to ask questions
- consistent with critical period
- did not become very verbal
critical period
- time during which learning/exposure to stimuli must take place
behaviourist theories: Skinner
- learning of specific verbal responses
- all about learning and environment
- learn language by parents using language and by child imitating what people around them said
nativist theories: Chomsky
- Language Acquisition Device
- not a case of imitation if we look at it as over regularization
- humans have language acquisition device
- neural circuitry in brain allows us to acquire language
- if we don’t have exposure we will not learn language and grammar
language acquisition device
- innate mechanism or process that facilities learning of language
interactionist theories: Whorf
- Linguistic relativity: ones language determines the nature of ones thought
- people exposed to a lot of snow have different view of snow
Whorf support and criticisms
- he downplayed the amount of words people have for snow
- support for a weaker version, not as all or none
problem solving
- active efforts to discover what must be done to achieve a goal that is not readily attainable
Greeno
came up with types of problems
- problems of inducing structure
- problems of arrangement
- problems of transformation
problems of inducing structure
- need to learn relationship amongst items
- ex: series completion and analogy
series: ABMCDM…
analogy: merchant-seller, customer-…
problems or arrangement
- need to re-arrange items to save the problem
- ex: string problem and anagrams
problems of transformation
- sequence of steps to reach an end goal
- ex: water jar, hobbits and orcs problem
well defined problem
- have a goal to reach and know somewhat what you need to do to solve the problem
ill defined
- steps are not clear
- not as straightforward
barriers to effective problem solving
- irrelevant information
- functional fixedness
- mental set
- unnecessary constraints
irrelevant information
- people assume all info in problem is important when it is not always
- socks example
functional fixedness
- tendency to perceive an item only in terms of its most common use
- string problem example
mental set
- when people persist in using problem solving strategies that have worked in the past
- eggs in basket example
unnecessary constraints
- assume constraints exist when they do not
- 4 lines through circles example
approaches to problem solving
- algorithms
- heuristics
- forming subgoals
- working backward
- searching for analogies
- changing the representation of a problem
- incubation
algorithms
- systematic trial and error
- go through every possible approach to solve problem
- guaranteed solution
- unscrambling words
heuristics
- shortcuts
- decreases number of possible combinations
- no guaranteed solution
incubation effect
- good to walk away from a problem and come back to it later
- going at it again and again is not very effective
- should be taking breaks
holistic vs analytic cognitive styles
- holistic: focus on the whole, Eastern
- analytic: analyze component, focus on key items, Western
decision making
- evaluating alternatives and making choices among them
decision making: Simon
- human decision making is not rational
- we don’t make the best choice, we let emotion get in the way
choice overload
- Schwartz
- too many options makes us paralyzed and we are unable to make a decision
- having many choices is bad for us
uncertainty
- when people don’t know what will happen due to their choice
- dislike
additive strategies
- rate each of the items and add them up to decide which one is better
- useful when we have a few options
- 2 cell phone plans
elimination by aspects
- deciding what the important features for you are and eliminating those that aren’t important
- good for huge amount of options
- coffee shop menu
expected value
- actual amount expected gain
- negative
subjective probability
- your personal estimate of how likely you thing you are to win
subjective utility
- what a win would mean to you
availability heuristic
- basing the estimated probability of an event on the case which relevant instances come to mind
- related to things that happen to people close to you
representativeness heuristic
- basing estimated probability of an event on how similar it is to the typical prototype of that event
- tom playing for major symphony or being a farmer
conjunction fallacy
- when people estimate that the odds of 2 uncertain events happening together are greater than happening alone
- professors and politician
Csomides and Tooby
- real world adaptive problems
- problems are solved better when put in terms of an actual experience someone may have
Gigerenzer
- quick and dirty heuristics
- making fast decisions under pressure
- just as effective as taking time
framing
- the way an issue is posed influences you thinking
- 90% lean vs 10% fat
planning fallacy
- we always thing we can do so much more than we can
optimism bias
- when someone believes they themselves are not as likely to experience a negative event
