COGS 110 Final Flashcards
Thinking
going beyond the information given
Reasoning
drawing a conclusion based on some given information in accordance with boundary conditions specified by a task
Deductive Reasoning
Top down -test or confirm general statements -if;then;but;therefore
Inductive reasoning
bottom up approach -detect patterns -makes broad generalizations from specific observations
Formal Reasoning tasks
-all premises are supplied in the problem -problems are self-contained -there is typically one correct answer -unambiguous when the problem is solved -content of the problem is of limited, academic interest -problems are often solved for their own sake
Formal Reasoning
-Form of argument matters -logical -considered hallmark of mature and scientific thinking -piaget: hallmark of formal operational stage
Inductive Inferences
Depends on the number of observations and the nature of the property being projected
Analogical Reasoning
Understanding new problems in terms of familiar ones -ignore superficial similarities and focusing on underlying parallel relationships -piaget suggested that analogical reasoning didnt emerge until adolescence
Analogical Reasoning is impacted by:
Age Knowledge Meta cognition
Syllogistic Reasoning
logical connections between unrelated points -according to piaget, did not develop until concrete operational stage
Scientific Thinking
Thinking in terms of abstractions or symbols, being able to think about many variables or dimensions at the same time, being able to think in terms of probabilities and proportions
Bayesian reasoning
making decisions under uncertainty
Theories of Language Acquisition
Nativist Theories (Chomsky) Constructivist Theories (Tomasello)
Nativist Theories
-Chomsky -children born with innate kanguage skills (universal grammar) -Language Acquisition Device (LAD): hypothetical brain mechanism
Constructivist Theories
-Tomasello -kids acquire language through interaction with the environment, people, and usage of other cognitive and social processes
Beginning of cooperative communication
10-12 months -infants use joint attention ot communicate -often point to things
Theories of word learning
statistical learning social learning
Halophrase
one unit utterances with intonation and communicative purpose
Evidence for nativist theory (language is innate)
-novel phrases -children dont make certain grammatical errors -errors they do make are not likely learned —-but have not found LAD in brain
Evidence for behaviorist approaches: language is reinforced
-kids correct their mistakes -much learning is through association BUT kids generally correct their own errors, even without feedback
Innteractionist aprroach
language is both biological and social -kids are motivatied to learn lang through a desire to communicate with others
relationship between language and thought
symbolic function
Linguistic relativity hypothesis
language shapes and may even determine the way people of a certain culture perceive and understand the world
Cryptotypes
semantic differences were caused by the differences between each languages’ grammatical form classes -we dont think about them but they represent how we think about the world - Not a formal rule, but just something that you don’t say Ex: un — uncover, uncoil. But you don’t say unbreak