Chapter 9 - language and thought Flashcards
what is language?
system of symbols and rules for combining symbols for the purpose of communication
what is language production?
structured and conventional expression of through through words
what is speech?
expression of language through sounds
what is language comprehension?
process of understanding spoken, written or signed language
what is a sentence?
a coherent sentence of words that express meaning
what is a word?
smallest free form in a language
what is a morpheme?
smallest unit of sound that carries meaning
what is a phoneme?
smallest unit of sound that can distinguish words in a language
what does communication using language involve?
syntax and pragmatics
what is a syntax?
systems of rules for arranging words to convey a specific meaning
what is a pragmatic?
practical aspect of language use, such as pace, gesturing, tone and body language
what is the prelinguistic period?
period prior to the production of the first word
infants show early sensitivity to speech
initial vocalizations similar across languages
what is fast mapping?
can link words and meaning after only 1 or 2 exposures
what are the common errors with fast mapping?
overextension
underextension
what is overextension?
specifics used to describe broader set
what is underextension?
general word used to describe a specific instance
what is telegraphic speech?
simple 2 word sentence that contains only the crucial content
eg. more milk, where ball
what is pragmatics by the age of three?
basic understanding of practical information regarding language
what is grammar by the age of 4?
basic rules of grammar are understood without formal education
what is the behaviourist theory on language development?
adults shape child’s speech through reinforcement
children learn by imitating adults
use of child directed speech
what are some cons with the behavourist theory of language development?
difficult to reinforce all utterances
grammar not shaped
early errors creative, not imitative
what is the nativist theory of language development?
certain universal features common to all languages that are innate
human biologically programmed to acquire language
what are the cons of the nativist theory of language development?
ignores contribution of the environment
language learning is a gradual process
difficult to account the wide variety of languages
what is the interactionist view?
both nature and nurture are important for language acquisition
- kids biologically prepared to learn language
- may be a sensitive period for learning language
what are the 2 regions of the brain that are associated with language?
broca’s area
wernicke’s area
what is broca’s area?
critical for speech production
what is wernicke’s area?
critical for language comprehension
what is problem solving?
process which one begins with a goal and seeks steps that will lead to that goal
what is a well defined problem?
the goal and operators are clearly specified
what is an ill defined problem?
the goal and operators are not clearly specified
what are problems inducing structure?
require you to discover the relationship among numbers, words, symbols, or ideas
problems of arrangement?
requires you to arrange the parts of a problem to satisfy some criterion
what are anagrams?
rearrange the letters to make an english word
what is a string problem?
how to tie the strings together
what are problems of transformation?
requires you to carry out a series of transformations in order to reach a specific goal
what is an algorithms?
systemic trail and error
effective when relatively few possible solutions exist but impractical otherwise
what is a heuristic?
no guaranteed solution but they effectively narrow the range of possible solutions
what are the different types of heuristics?
forming sub goals
hill climbing strategies
working backwards
searching for analogies
using mental imagery
what is forming sub goals?
breaking the problem onto a bunch of intermediate steps and then solve each step
what is the hill climbing theory?
the heuristic that always moves you in the direction of the goal
however many problems require you to move away from the goal
what is working backwards?
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
what is searching for analogies?
sometimes in solving a problem, we can make an analogy with another problem we have previously solved
what is using mental imagery?
visualizing the problem
what is irrelevant information?
people often incorrectly assume that all the information given in the problem is relevant to solving the problem
what is functional fixedness?
the tendency to perceive an item only in terms of its most common use
what is a mental set?
when people get locked into a particular line of thinking when trying to solve a problem
what is unnecessary constraints?
when people impose their own constraints on the problem when those constraints don’t exist
what is decision making?
evaluating alternatives and making choices among them
what is the availability heuristic?
basing the estimated probability of an event on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind
what is the representativeness heuristic?
basing the estimated probability of an event on how similar it is to the typical case of that event
what is the ignore base rates?
ignoring information about the broad likelihood of a particular category or type of event
what is conjunction fallacy?
occurs when people estimate the odds of 2 uncertain events happening together as greater that the odds of either even happening alone
what is conformation bias?
the tendency to be more responsive to evidence that confirms one’s beliefs and less responsive to evidence that challenges one’s beliefs
what is the framing effect?
the fact that decisions are based on how the issues are presented or how choices are structured
