Chapter 8 Key Terms, Summary & Review Questions

Question 1

bilingual

Answer 1

understanding two languages

Question 2

Broca’s aphasia

Answer 2

condition characterized by difficulties in language production

Question 3

fixation

Answer 3

(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

Question 4

language acquisition device

Answer 4

built-in mechanism for acquiring language

Question 5

morpheme

Answer 5

linguistic unit of meaning

Question 6

phoneme

Answer 6

linguistic unit of sound

Question 7

productivity

Answer 7

ability to combine words into new sentences that express an unlimited variety of ideas

Question 8

saccade

Answer 8

quick eye movements from one fixation point to another

Question 9

transformational grammar

Answer 9

system for converting a deep structure into a surface structure

Question 10

Wernicke’s aphasia

Answer 10

condition marked by impaired recall of nouns and impaired language comprehension

Question 11

Williams syndrome

Answer 11

genetic condition characterized by mental retardation in most regards but surprisingly good use of language relative to other abilities

Question 12

word-superiority effect

Answer 12

tendency to identify a letter more accurately when it is part of a word than when it is presented by itself

Question 13

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

Answer 13

A-The delay of people’s responses

Question 14

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

Answer 14

B-an attentive process … a preattentive process

Question 15

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.

Answer 15

B-An item that looks different from all the others captures attention automatically.

Question 16

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

Answer 16

B-Children who are younger than average for the grade in school

Question 17

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

Answer 17

D-Spreading activation

Question 18

Two types of thinking.

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

Algorithm and heuristics.

Answer 19

People solve problems by algorithms (ways of checking every possibility) and heuristics (ways of simplifying a problem).

Question 20

Maximizing and satisficing.

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

Representativeness heuristic.

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

Availability heuristic.

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

Other errors.

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

Expertise.

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

Near and far transfer.

Answer 25

Developing skill at a task aids performance of a similar task. It seldom helps much with a dissimilar task.