Language Flashcards
1
Q
Is reading a learned skill?
A
- Reading appears to be a learned skill, as it is a recent invention so there is no time for evolution
- Many people are illiterate, so you have to learn to read
- General learning mechanisms may mediate language learning
2
Q
Is Verbal language an instinct?
A
- Instinct is when specific and special purpose brain systems may support learning acquisition
- Verbal language may be an instinct as it is universal across cultures
- Brain damage can specifically impair language (e.g Broca’s aphasia) - there isn’t a disorder than will impair a skill e.g chess- htere’s a dedicated brain area for language
- A critical period is a specific time in an organ’s development when it is highly sensitive to environmental stimuli
- There’s a critical period for sign-language and phonology - highlights how verbal language may be an instinct
3
Q
Is language unique to humans?
A
- People that advocate that language is an instinct claim that language is unique to humans
- They believe animals can learn a small vocabulary, however human language seems to be learned differently than the way animals learn to communicate
4
Q
Why might people believe that language isn’t an instinct?
A
- Many things are universal e.g everyone claps, washes their hair etc however they aren’t instinctual things
- Specific deficits (e.g dyslexia) occur for cognitive skills that aren’t an instinct (e.g reading)
- If language is an instinct and evolved, then surely we should expect something related to human language in animals/monkeys.
5
Q
What is the final conclusion about language being an instinct/learned?
A
- Difficult to make any strong conclusions
- The best alternative is to say that language is the by-product of increased intelligence
- So Evolution has played a general role in supporting language by selecting a greater intelligence
6
Q
What sub-systems does language include?
A
- Semantics
- Orthography
- Phonology
7
Q
What key phenomena needs to be explained?
A
- Our ability to read regular words, and non-words
- The frequency effect, so how high frequency words read more quickly than low frequency words
- The regularity effect, so regular words read more quickly than irregular words
- And the frequency-regularity interaction, so the regularity effect is only found for low frequency words
8
Q
What are some acquired neuropsychological disorders in reading?
A
- Surface dyslexia is a difficulty in reading irregular words, but fine with non-words and regular words
- Phonological dyslexia is a difficulty in reading nonwords, but fine at regular and irregular words (double dissociation with irregular words and nonwords)
- Deep dyslexia is a difficulty with nonwords, irregular words and regular words, but better with high imageable than low imageable words. Often make semantic errors e.g read pig as horse
9
Q
What is orthographic knowledge, phonological knowledge and semantic knowledge?
A
- Orthographic knowledge is the visual knowledge or letters and words
- Phonological knowledge is the knowledge of how letters and words sound
- Semantic knowledge is the meaning of words
10
Q
What is lexical, sub-lexical and route?
A
- Lexical is word level-knowledge. It could be lexical-orthographic, lexical-phonological or lexical-semantic
- Sub-lexical is sub-word information e.g individual letters or phonemes or groups of letters (graphemes) or groups of phonemes (syllables)
- A route is a connection between representations. We focus on sub-lexical route, lexical-phonological route and lexical-semantic route
11
Q
What is the dual route model?
A
- Starts with an input of PRINT (letters) and there are 3 routes and the output is the pronunciation (phonemes)
- Regular words can be read by all 3 routes
- Irregular words can only be read by the lexical-routes (both)
- Non words can only be read by the sub-lexical grapheme-phoneme route
- Naming speed and pronunciation is based on the route that finishes first
12
Q
How can the dual route model account for the various acquired dyslexias?
A
- Surface dyslexia means damage to both lexical routes, so they are poor at reading irregular words
- Phonological dyslexia means there’s selective difficulty in using sub-lexical route so they are poor at reading nonwords
- Deep dyslexia means the patient can only read by the lexical-semantic route and the semantic route is partly damage, so they make semantic errors.
13
Q
What is the horse race account of frequency and regularity effects?
A
- The dual route model is viewed as a horse race against two different routes, the stronger route wins and determines pronunciation
- High frequency words are processed more quickly than low frequency words within the lexical routes
Regularity effects are due to conflicting pronunciations of irregular words derived from lexical and sub-lexical routes - Conflict is avoided for high-frequency words, as lexical route finished before sub-lexical route
13
Q
What other variables need to be considered when developing models of reading?
A
- Impact of word length?
- Impact of visual similarity on identifying words? (e.g crown/crow, does this help or hurt identification)
- Impact of age-of-acquisition on reading times? (words learnt earlier are processed faster than newly learnt words)
14
Q
What is developmental dyslexia?
A
- Developmental dyslexia is the difficulty in learning to read despite normal intelligence and opportunity to learn to read
- In most cases developmental dyslexia is due to a difficulty in phonological processing
-Need to be explained??
