chapter 9 Flashcards
Mental representations
includes images, ideas, concepts and principals
Adaptive functions of language
- Language use evolved as humans adopted a more socially orientated lifestyle and formed larger social units (flinn)
- Language made it easier for humans to adapt to these environmental demands
Hierachal structure of language:
- phoneme
- morphemes
- discourse
phoneme
the smallest unit of speech sound in a language that can signal a difference in meaning
morphemes
the smallest unit of meaning in a language
discourse
in which sentences are combined into paragraphs, articles, books and conversations and so forth
semantics
the meaning of words and sentences
Generativity
means that the symbols of language can be combined to generate an infinite number of messages that have a novel meaning
Bottom up processing:
Individual elements of a stimulus are analysed and then combined to form a unified perception
Top down processing:
Sensory information is interpreted in light of existing knowledge, concepts, ideas, and expectations
Speech segmentation:
- perceiving where each word within a spoken sentence begins and ends
- auditory breaks in speech
pragmatics
a knowledge of the practical aspects of using language
- depends of the aspects of the social context
- type of top down processing
Brocas area
speech production
Werinkers area
speech comprehension ‘
Aphasias
an impairment in speech comprehension and or production that can be permanent or temporary
what Susan Rossel find
men and woman language task in which words and non words were presented on each side of a computer screen. Men exhibited greater left hemisphere activation during the language task where as womans brain activation occurred in both the left and right hemipsheres
Chomsky
- proposed that from out birth our genetic endowment innately led us to interpret part of the environment as linguistic experience
- we were born pre wired to understand the general grammatical rules common to all languages
- unfolding of a biologically primed process within a social learning environment
skinner
- children’s language development is strongly governed by adults positive reinforcement of appropriate language and non reinforcement or correction of inappropriate verbalisations
Bilingualism
- The ability to translate print into sound
- As children acquire speech they not only learn how to manipulate phonemes to produce different words but also into more basic sound elements
- Phonological awareness: to refer to this overall awareness of the sound structure of ones language
Linguistic relatively hypothesis
that language not only influences but also determines what we are capable of thinking
Propositional thought
it expresses a proposition or statement
Imaginable thought
consists of images that we can see, hear or feel in our mind
Motoric thought
relates to mental representations of motor movements
Propositions
statements that express ideas
Concepts
are basic untis of semantic memory – mental catergories into which we place objects, activities and abstractions and events that have essential features in common
Prototypes
the most typical and familiar members of a category or class
Reasoning
helps us acquire knowledge, make sound decisions, solve problems and avoid hazards and time consuming efforts of trial and error
Deductive reasoning:
- We reason from the top down that is from general principals to a conclusion about a specific case
- Can be certain on results
Inductive reasoning:
- We reason from the bottom up starting with specific facts and trying to develop a general principal
- Cannot be certain on results always room for error
Things that impair effective reasoning:
- Distraction by irrelevant information:
- Belief bias: is the tendency to abandon one’s logical rules in favour of our own personal beliefs
- Emotions and framing. Framing: refers to the idea that the same information, problem or options can be structured and presented in different ways
Generating potential solutions from problems:
1- Determine the procedures and strategies that will be considered
2- Determine which solutions are consistent with the evidence that has been observed thus far. Rule out any solutions that do not fit the evidence
3- Testing the solutions: Mental set: the tendency to stick to solutions that have worked in the past
4- Evaluating results:
- Deciding if there was an easier or more effective way to accomplish the same objective
Mental set
the tendency to stick to solutions that have worked in the past
Algorithms
are formulas or precise sequences of procedures that automatically generate solutions
Heuristics
are a general problem solving strategies, similar to mental rules-of-thumb that we apply to certain classes of situations
Means ends analysis:
involves identifying the differences between the present situation and a desired goal and then making changes that reduce these differences
Sub goal analysis
formulating sub goals or intermediate steps towards a solution
Availability heuristic:
In which people base judgements and decisions on how easily information is available to memory
Representativeness heuristics:
We think about how closely something fits our prototype for that particular concept, or class, and therefore how likely it is to be a member of that class
Confirmation bias
tending to look for evidence that confirm what they currently believe rather than look for evidence that will disconfirm their beliefs
Overconfidence
the tendency to overestimate one’s correctness in factual knowledge, beliefs and decisions
Schema
is a mental framework concerning sequence of events that usually unfolds in a regular almost standardised order
Metacognition
refers to your awareness and understanding of your own cognitive abilities
Improving metacognition:
Mental imagery
is a representation of a stimulus that originates inside your brain rather than from external sensory input
