Chapter 8 Key Terms, Summary & Review Questions Flashcards
bilingual
understanding two languages
Broca’s aphasia
condition characterized by difficulties in language production
fixation
(a) in vision, a period when the eyes are stationary; (b) in Freud’s theory, a persisting preoccupation with the pleasure area associated with that stage of psychosexual development
language acquisition device
built-in mechanism for acquiring language
morpheme
linguistic unit of meaning
phoneme
linguistic unit of sound
productivity
ability to combine words into new sentences that express an unlimited variety of ideas
saccade
quick eye movements from one fixation point to another
transformational grammar
system for converting a deep structure into a surface structure
Wernicke’s aphasia
condition marked by impaired recall of nouns and impaired language comprehension
Williams syndrome
genetic condition characterized by mental retardation in most regards but surprisingly good use of language relative to other abilities
word-superiority effect
tendency to identify a letter more accurately when it is part of a word than when it is presented by itself
In a pioneering study, Shepard and Metzler concluded that imagining how something would look from a different angle is something like actually watching something rotate. They drew this conclusion by measuring what?
A-The delay of people’s responses
B-The accuracy of people’s responses
C-Brain activity
D-People’s self-reports of how they answered the question
A-The delay of people’s responses
Suppose you are in a field of brownish bushes and one motionless brown rabbit. You will find it by . If the rabbit starts hopping, you will find it by .
A-an attentive process … an attentive process
B-an attentive process … a preattentive process
C-a preattentive process … an attentive process
D-a preattentive process … a preattentive process
B-an attentive process … a preattentive process
What does the Stroop effect demonstrate?
A-Familiarity with a word can interfere with saying the color of its ink.
B-An item that looks different from all the others captures attention automatically.
C-We often fail to detect visual changes that occur slowly or during an eyeblink.
D-People find it possible to deal with categories even when they are hard to define.
B-An item that looks different from all the others captures attention automatically.
Other things being equal, which children in a class are most likely to be treated for ADHD?
A-Children who are taller than average for the grade in school
B-Children who are younger than average for the grade in school
C-Children whose parents have low expectations for their school performance
D-Children with greater than average athletic ability
B-Children who are younger than average for the grade in school
Priming a concept is responsible for which of the following?
A-Change blindness
B-The Stroop effect
C-The stop-signal task
D-Spreading activation
D-Spreading activation
Two types of thinking.
We often make decisions quickly and automatically, using System 1. When we recognize a problem as being more difficult, we do calculations, ponder the evidence, or in other ways engage effortful processes, using System 2.
Algorithm and heuristics.
People solve problems by algorithms (ways of checking every possibility) and heuristics (ways of simplifying a problem).
Maximizing and satisficing.
The maximizing strategy is to consider thoroughly every possible choice to find the best one. The satisficing strategy is to accept the first choice one finds that is good enough. People using the maximizing strategy usually make good choices but are often not fully pleased with them. The maximizing strategy is especially problematic when many choices are available.
Representativeness heuristic.
If something resembles members of some category, we usually assume it too belongs to that category. However, that assumption is risky if the category is a rare one.
Availability heuristic.
We generally assume that the more easily we can think of examples of some category, the more common that category is. However, this heuristic misleads us when items in rare categories get much publicity.
Other errors.
People tend to be overconfident about their judgments on difficult questions. They tend to look for evidence that confirms their hypothesis instead of evidence that might reject it. They answer the same question differently when it is framed differently. They sometimes take unpleasant actions to avoid admitting that previous actions were a waste of time or money.
Expertise.
Becoming an expert requires years of practice and effort, but a given amount of practice benefits some people more than others. Experts recognize and memorize familiar and meaningful patterns more rapidly than less experienced people do.
Near and far transfer.
Developing skill at a task aids performance of a similar task. It seldom helps much with a dissimilar task.
