CLPS 0020- Lectures - Nature vs Nurture Flashcards
What is the nature perspective of cognitive science?
that we are innately endowed with specialized mechanisms
What is the nurture perspective of cognitive science?
that we are clean slates and only have the neural apparatus that, with experience and interaction with the environment, results in our shaping and learning; no specilized modules
What is most likley the right answer, a nature or nurture model?
A combination of both
How does deafness subvert the nature model?
If speech was already there, then we could subvert is and avoid a language problem!
What is the spectrum of opinions from nature ot nurture?
Nativism, constructivism, and empiricism
What is suggested by the kitten-blinding experiment?
There are critical periods! If there is an innate system, it is TIMELOCKED
What do birdsongs imply about nature vs nurture?
Not everything is innate: birds need a model tutor to learn their songs
What are the results of L unilateral lesions during the crystallized song stage, plastic stage, or even earlier before onset of song development?
sever pathology, some recovery of funciton, or normal song development; the earlier you lesion, the better prognosis before puberty for recovery than after puberty
What does the infant sucking with VOT continuum suggest?
Since they can identify small phoneme shifts even in unfamiliar languages, it supports the nature perspective; if you don’t use it you lose it, too, maybe
Is morality rational?
Not at all.
What is the difference between judgments of wrongness and punishment if intentional or not?
If it wasn’t intentional, we still judge the same level of wrongness but attribute less punishment
What is the two-process model of punishment determination?
Our decision of punishment is affected by the input of beliefs and desires AND consequences and consequences
What matters more when determining punishment, causality or intentionality?
Causality, by a little bit
How does luck/causation affect legal punishment?
Big difference: outcome matters more for punishment than intention
When determining punishment, what matters more, outcome or intention?
Outcome: less likely to punish selfish die roller for being selfish if he’s accidentally generous
Judging wrongness recruits what cognitive process?
theory of mind
Judging punishment recruits what cognitive regions?
executive control and emotion; whether or not to punish and how much
Executive control and emotion regions are activated for what kind of judgement, punishment or wrongness?
Punishment
Theory of mind is recrutied for what kind of judgment, punishment or wrongness?
Wrongness
How do we know there is a critical period for language?
Infants gradually lose sensitivity to speech sounds
Why are preterm infants more at risk for language delays than full term infants?
Autidotry system is not as functional yet, but under the stress of input that full-term infants receive later; much richer than the prosody they’re equipped for
What is the difference in visual vs temporal activation in deaf vs hearing signers?
In deaf, both areas activatied; but in hearing, only the visual area, because the temporal area is already recruited for speech rather than signing; whereas with the deaf signers, it’s also used for language signing
Do the blind recruit occipital cortical neurons for functions other than sight, such as tactile functions for reading Braille?
Yes! cross-modality plasticity
What does it mean that plasticity cuts across cognitive domains?
Langauge can cause areas to be activated for different stimuli: visual area activation for tactile, auditory for visual, etc.
