Chapter 9 - language and thought

Question 1

what is language?

Answer 1

system of symbols and rules for combining symbols for the purpose of communication

Question 2

what is language production?

Answer 2

structured and conventional expression of through through words

Question 3

what is speech?

Answer 3

expression of language through sounds

Question 4

what is language comprehension?

Answer 4

process of understanding spoken, written or signed language

Question 5

what is a sentence?

Answer 5

a coherent sentence of words that express meaning

Question 6

what is a word?

Answer 6

smallest free form in a language

Question 7

what is a morpheme?

Answer 7

smallest unit of sound that carries meaning

Question 8

what is a phoneme?

Answer 8

smallest unit of sound that can distinguish words in a language

Question 9

what does communication using language involve?

Answer 9

syntax and pragmatics

Question 10

what is a syntax?

Answer 10

systems of rules for arranging words to convey a specific meaning

Question 11

what is a pragmatic?

Answer 11

practical aspect of language use, such as pace, gesturing, tone and body language

Question 12

what is the prelinguistic period?

Answer 12

period prior to the production of the first word
infants show early sensitivity to speech
initial vocalizations similar across languages

Question 13

what is fast mapping?

Answer 13

can link words and meaning after only 1 or 2 exposures

Question 14

what are the common errors with fast mapping?

Answer 14

overextension
underextension

Question 15

what is overextension?

Answer 15

specifics used to describe broader set

Question 16

what is underextension?

Answer 16

general word used to describe a specific instance

Question 17

what is telegraphic speech?

Answer 17

simple 2 word sentence that contains only the crucial content
eg. more milk, where ball

Question 18

what is pragmatics by the age of three?

Answer 18

basic understanding of practical information regarding language

Question 19

what is grammar by the age of 4?

Answer 19

basic rules of grammar are understood without formal education

Question 20

what is the behaviourist theory on language development?

Answer 20

adults shape child’s speech through reinforcement
children learn by imitating adults
use of child directed speech

Question 21

what are some cons with the behavourist theory of language development?

Answer 21

difficult to reinforce all utterances
grammar not shaped
early errors creative, not imitative

Question 22

what is the nativist theory of language development?

Answer 22

certain universal features common to all languages that are innate
human biologically programmed to acquire language

Question 23

what are the cons of the nativist theory of language development?

Answer 23

ignores contribution of the environment
language learning is a gradual process
difficult to account the wide variety of languages

Question 24

what is the interactionist view?

Answer 24

both nature and nurture are important for language acquisition
- kids biologically prepared to learn language
- may be a sensitive period for learning language

Question 25

what are the 2 regions of the brain that are associated with language?

Answer 25

broca's area wernicke's area

Question 26

what is broca's area?

Answer 26

critical for speech production

Question 27

what is wernicke's area?

Answer 27

critical for language comprehension

Question 28

what is problem solving?

Answer 28

process which one begins with a goal and seeks steps that will lead to that goal

Question 29

what is a well defined problem?

Answer 29

the goal and operators are clearly specified

Question 30

what is an ill defined problem?

Answer 30

the goal and operators are not clearly specified

Question 31

what are problems inducing structure?

Answer 31

require you to discover the relationship among numbers, words, symbols, or ideas

Question 32

problems of arrangement?

Answer 32

requires you to arrange the parts of a problem to satisfy some criterion

Question 33

what are anagrams?

Answer 33

rearrange the letters to make an english word

Question 34

what is a string problem?

Answer 34

how to tie the strings together

Question 35

what are problems of transformation?

Answer 35

requires you to carry out a series of transformations in order to reach a specific goal

Question 36

what is an algorithms?

Answer 36

systemic trail and error effective when relatively few possible solutions exist but impractical otherwise

Question 37

what is a heuristic?

Answer 37

no guaranteed solution but they effectively narrow the range of possible solutions

Question 38

what are the different types of heuristics?

Answer 38

forming sub goals hill climbing strategies working backwards searching for analogies using mental imagery

Question 39

what is forming sub goals?

Answer 39

breaking the problem onto a bunch of intermediate steps and then solve each step

Question 40

what is the hill climbing theory?

Answer 40

the heuristic that always moves you in the direction of the goal however many problems require you to move away from the goal

Question 41

what is working backwards?

Answer 41

when the solution has a well specified end point it may be easier to solve the problem by starting at the end point and working backwards

Question 42

what is searching for analogies?

Answer 42

sometimes in solving a problem, we can make an analogy with another problem we have previously solved

Question 43

what is using mental imagery?

Answer 43

visualizing the problem

Question 44

what is irrelevant information?

Answer 44

people often incorrectly assume that all the information given in the problem is relevant to solving the problem

Question 45

what is functional fixedness?

Answer 45

the tendency to perceive an item only in terms of its most common use

Question 46

what is a mental set?

Answer 46

when people get locked into a particular line of thinking when trying to solve a problem

Question 47

what is unnecessary constraints?

Answer 47

when people impose their own constraints on the problem when those constraints don't exist

Question 48

what is decision making?

Answer 48

evaluating alternatives and making choices among them

Question 49

what is the availability heuristic?

Answer 49

basing the estimated probability of an event on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind

Question 50

what is the representativeness heuristic?

Answer 50

basing the estimated probability of an event on how similar it is to the typical case of that event

Question 51

what is the ignore base rates?

Answer 51

ignoring information about the broad likelihood of a particular category or type of event

Question 52

what is conjunction fallacy?

Answer 52

occurs when people estimate the odds of 2 uncertain events happening together as greater that the odds of either even happening alone

Question 53

what is conformation bias?

Answer 53

the tendency to be more responsive to evidence that confirms one's beliefs and less responsive to evidence that challenges one's beliefs

Question 54

what is the framing effect?

Answer 54

the fact that decisions are based on how the issues are presented or how choices are structured