Language and Cognition Flashcards
From how long after onset can you identify words?
200ms
What is the segmentation illusion?
we feel like we hear pauses between words but this is an illusion
Why is there no definitive acoustical pattern for a phoneme?
coarticulation
What are content words and what are function words?
content words: convey meaning in a sentence i.e. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs
function words: words that do grammatical work of language eg. determiners and prepositions
What is the metrical segmentation strategy?
if you hear a strong syllable it is likely to be at the start of a content word, if you hear a weak syllable it is likely to be towards the end of a content word or start of a function word
What is categorical perception?
humans are better at hearing differences between categories of sound as opposed to within a category. (sensitive to difference between b and p. insensitive to difference between variations of b.)
What are factors that can influence categorial perception?
- individual differences: voice-onset time slightly different between people
-speech rate: perceptual system adjusts to fast rates of speech. sounds with short voice onset times that should be perceived as b will be perceived as p when spoken quickly
-context: we tend to report the phenome that creates a word if we are unsure
When does word recognition occur?
word recognition occurs after phenome recognition
explain template matching models
early models of word recognition. targets are stored as templates. a template is an exact description of word and sounds searched for. identification occurs when match is found
explain analysis-by-synthesis models
speech is recognised by referencing actions to produce a sound. upon hearing sound we produce or synthesize a succession of speech sounds until we match what we hear
Describe the top-down versus bottom-up theory that is debated today?
top-down processing involves knowledge coming from high levels e.g. context, experience. bottom-up processing involves processes that are data driven i.e. influenced by environmental stimuli
Explain Cohort model:
cohort- set of candidates that a heard word could possibly be.
uniqueness point: the point where a word could be distinguished uniquely from all other words.
What are the three stages of the cohort model?
Access stage: perceptual representation used to generate a candidate set of items
Selection stage: one item chosen from set
Interrogation stage: semantic and syntactic properties of word are accessed
According to cohort theory, what happens in the processing of words in late and early uniqueness words?
Late uniqueness words get stuck at access stage due to a large number of competitors. Early uniqueness words experience no competitors at the cut off point and can proceed to selection and interrogation stages
What was claimed by the early version of the Cohort model that was then disproved?
the idea that sensory and context information are used simultaneously (as an element of top down processing), and that we only listen to complete words when there is no useful sentence information. The later version found that context does not influence the cohort.
It was also said that activation of words are all or nothing meaning if the beginning of a word in mispronounced the cohort model cannot recognise it. It was the proved that the elimination of candidates are not all or nothing and that words can recover
Evidences of Cohort Model:
-listening for mispronunciation task. found that participants are more sensitive to changes at beginning of words than the end.
-semantic priming task. proved it was easier to recognise a word if you have just seen or heard a word related in meaning
What is the TRACE model of word recognition?
model involves computer simulations with many simple processing units. assumes that top down and bottom up processes interact flexibly using all sources of information and emphasises the role of context on word recognition.
what are concepts?
concepts are mental representations of categories, all words have an underlying concept and not all are labelled by a brown dog e.g. brown dog
Explain the dictionary definition approach:
proposed that members of a category have a family resemblance to each other and characteristic features. the more features an object has the more likely it is to be in a category
what is the average member of a category called?
protypes
are all prototypes strictly in a set category?
there are no strict boundaries, objects are more or less in the category. not all category members are equal
True or false: The assumption is that the memory search starts with the prototype and works outwards
true
What is the exemplar theory?
we categorise objects by comparing them to examples of a category in memory compared to a standard prototype
Which theory argues it is likely we use both prototype and exemplars?
Exemplar theory
What would developmental theory say happens when a child first encounters a dog?
there is a movement from exemplar to prototype reasoning
What is a problem with typicality?
Keil 1986 study with children found when they were asked to turn a toaster into a coffee pot they acknowledged int was possible. but, when they were asked to turn a skunk into a cartoon they understood you could paint a skunk as a racoon but would not accept it as a racoon.
What is the developmental perspective?
children evolve theories about categories through childhood
What are two limitations from word concept theories thus far?
-they don’t account for ability to understand novel combinations of concepts
-focus on literal language raising the question of how we understand metaphorical phrases
explain Linguistic determinism:
characteristics of our language determine the way we think, remember, and perceive
explain linguistic relativism:
as different languages map onto the world in different ways, different languages will generate different cognitive structures
What is an alternative hypothesis to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
language does not determine our perceptions of the world as it is merely the system we use to describe it
Describe the strong, weaker, and weakest version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Whish is mot believed today?
strong version: language determines thought
weaker version: language affects only perception
weakest version: language differences affect processing on certain tasks where linguistic coding is important
According to Whorf, since the language Hopi contains no words or grammatical constructions referring to time what does this mean for their perception?
they therefore had no general notion of times, time would be a flowing continuum in which the universe proceeds at and equal rate.
however in disproving this, the language does include examples of past present future, and unit of time as days and months
What is a focal colour?
prototypical colours which are easily categorised
define relative term and absolute system in spatial reference:
relative term- e.g. English, fork is left of knife
absolute system- e.g. Tzeltal;, fork is north of knife
What are the two interpretations (Levinson 1996) of Tzeltal language saying ‘fork is north of the knife’?
One: Tzeltal language has a system of describing relative to the terrain hence causing them to think that way
Two: Tzeltal speakers habitually reckon directions with respect to the terrain which is reflected in their language
What is the difference in number systems between English and Chinese? How does this effect language learning in children?
English has 13 primitive terms (0-12), plus teens and special ones beyond 100. Chinese has 11 basic terms (0-10) and three special terms.
English children struggle to learn teen numbers whereas Chinese children do not (Hunt and Agnoli, 1991)
How is Piraha (amazon) unique from other languages in the number system?
they have no words to describe numbers only one word for few and one for many. they can perform exact matches of large numbers implying language is not essential for numerical tasks, however the performance is inaccurate when information needed to be remembered
how does language impact performance in memory tasks?
Language does boost performance when memory is required
Due to Jahai speakers having specific words for smells, how was their performance in a smell describing task compared to English speakers?
Jahai speakers were able to use a word to describe abstract smells 99% of the time, which is as consistent as they are with colours. English speakers struggled to describe the same smells and gave long answers.
What are the three stages of memory?
encoding, storage, retrieval
What was found in early memory research by Carl Lashley about memory in brain regions ?
memory is not localised, it has equipotentiality which means parts all a cross the cortex contribute to memory.
Name the test that Hermann Ebbinghaus utilised in one of the first ever scientific studies of memory:
nonsense syllables as test materials
According to computational neuroscience what is the mathematical modelling of brain activity?
electrical activity is experienced in the form if sensory, motor and cognitive experiences. This causes neuronal and synaptic modifications leading to learning and memory. ‘cells that fire together, wire together’
Explain Long Term Potentiation:
The process of strengthening of synapses leading to a longer lasting increase in signal transmissions between neurons.
Name two brain areas associated with long term potentiation in memory and learning
hippocampus and amygdala
What are the steps of the multistore model (Atkinson and Shiffrin 1971) in order?
environmental input > sensory registers> short term store > long term store
what happens to sensory memory when it is not attended to?
info rapidly decays
What are the five types on sensory memory?
visual (sight)
auditory (sound)
olfactory (smell)
tactile (touch)
gustatory (taste)
On average, in George Sperling’s experiment on iconic memory, how many letters did the average participant recall out of 12 and why?
4.5.
if info in the iconic memory decays quickly, participants don’t have enough time to report it
In sperling’s partial; report technique regarding iconic memory, what conclusion did he come to?
participants have on average about 9 out of 12 letters available in their iconic memory
How long can iconic memory last?
about one second
In echoic memory, how long does partial report advantage last for?
four seconds
Which memory capacity is larger; echoic or iconic?
iconic memory
which memory lasts longer; echoic or iconic?
echoic, lasts about 4 seconds
Short term memory holds ——- info from ——– memory for further processing
short term memory holds *activated info from *sensory memory for further processing
explain 7=/-2 in context of memory
(miller 1956) magic number 7 plus or minus two as a rule for capacity in STM in chunks of information
what is a chunk?
groups of items that have been collected together and treated as a single unit
In what way do chunks rely on long term memory?
chunks rely on previous knowledge stored in long term memory
describe decay v interreference
in a memory duration task, forgotten factors are caused by decay or interference. while items may decay due to lack of rehearsal, they could also be interfered with during the retention interval
What is the difference between the role of the short term memory and the working memory?
working memory provides short term storage info however it also manipulates this information comprehensively
what is the rehearsal process and word length effect in the phonological loop?
rehearsal process: recall decreases when the words are phonologically similar
word length effect: recall decreases as word length increases
Two parts of the phonological loop:
- phonological store. holds auditory info passively online
-rehearsal process. phonological store item by item
patient PV acquires a phonological loop deficit as an adult. this results in having a digit span of two items. How does this affect her comprehensive ability, ability to learn a foreign language, and capacity to learn pairs of meaningful words?
comprehensive ability: very minor language comprehensive issues
foreign language learning: inability to learn a new language
words capacity: learning pairs of meaningful words was unimpaired, but still unable to learn foreign language vocabulary
two subcomponents of the visuospatial sketchpad:
visual cache- visual info about form and colour
inner scribe- processing spatial and movement info
What is the central executive in working memory?
the flexible system responsible for control and regulation of cognitive processes. this does not store information but is the most important component of working memory
What is the function of the episodic buffer?
holds integrated information from the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad and long term memory in unified representations with a maximum capacity of around 4 chunks
how will an aeroplane noise affect recall of a prose passage in a low WM individual?
these individuals will be interrupted more by the noise and recall will be harder
in a sustained attention task would a low or high WM individual sustain focus more?
low WM individuals will engage in more task unrelated thought than high WM individuals
What is a factor which can affect the capacity of the working memory?
fluid intelligence
What is the function of Executive Function?
mental processes for regulating and controlling other cognitive processes, in particular in relation to complex actions. manages task processing and is not actually involved in performing the task
Describe the three major executive functions:
inhibition- controlling ones behaviour, thoughts, and emotions. inhibition of attention and action
shifting- switch flexibility between tasks or mental sets
updating: monitor and engage in rapid addition or deletion of working memory contents
Which executive function is measured by the Stroop task (Stroop, 1935)?
inhibition of attention
which executive function is measured using the Stop Signal Task (Logan and Cowan, 1984)?
inhibition of action
Describe the number-letter task used for the executive function ‘shifting’:
participant see numbers and letters that appear on the top of the screen and say whether the numbers are odd or even. however, numbers and letters will also appear on the bottom screen and participant determines if they are consonants or vowels
How would the executive function ‘updating’ be tested?
tone monitoring task where three different tones are played, after the fourth tone of each particular pitch was presented participants had to raise their hand
what are the components of EF (executive functions) which make them alike but also differentiated?
each EF has a component common to all Ef and one that is unique to the particular EF
ability= unity + diversity
What is the component that all executive components have in common?
the ability to maintain task goal related information and use this to effectively bias lower-level processing
How is the unity/diversity framework tested for executive functions? what did the test reveal?
identify either global (large letter) or local (small letter) level on each trial as cued by colour.
there was considerable overlap in brain areas associated with inhibition and shifting
What symptoms might a person with dysexecutive syndrome display?
impaired response inhibition
impaired rule deduction and generation
impaired maintenance and shifting of sets
impaired information generation
How would someone with good executive functioning play the Iowa Gambling Task ?
they would recognise that some decks are good via rewards and that some are bad, and they would be able to distinguish which deck is good or bad
Briefly describe the two separate brain networks found during the Iowa gambling task:
Cognitive control network- associated with response inhibition, conflict monitoring and switching
Value-based decision-making network- associated with emotion and value judgements
During Kimberley and William’s (2004) executive function training task, which group out of karate group and traditional pe group led to greater gains?
The karate group achieved greater gains in all three domains, particularly cognitive and self-regulation via techniques such as meditation and self monitoring
When are executive function training tasks more likely to generalize to other executive function tasks ?
When the EF tasks are more demanding, pushing limits of one’s skills
How did bilingual infants react in comparison to monolingual infants in a test of inhibition of habitual responses (Kovacs and Mehler, 2009)?
after the switch rule change, monolingual infants hardly learned much whereas bilingual infants were able to significantly improve
How may bilingualism change responses to ageing in older adults?
-Bilinguals preserve executive functions longer during the aging process
-Age related increase in inhibition costs is greater for monolinguals than for bilinguals
True or False: Gathercole et al. 2014 found results that consolidated bilingualism reducing the affects of brain ageing in a card sorting task
False. These results actually challenged previous findings. The bilingual and monolingual group performed equally well
In the debate as to whether bilingualism has positive effects on executive functions during aging, what are two explanations of the conflict of such findings?
-publication bias where people are more likely to publish positive findings of bilingualism
-control groups are hard to match regarding background and status for both parties
In judgement tasks why do most people get the answer wrong?
people ignore base rate information (relative frequency where an event occurs in a population)
What is a heuristic?
a heuristic is the considerable rules of thumb people make using judgements. it is a mental shortcut that aids people to make judgement decisions quicker with less effort
Define representative heuristics:
when we estimate the probability of an event based on its similarity of a known situation/an existing prototype
Define availability heuristics:
people make judgements about the likelihood of an event based on how easily an instance comes to mind
Which judgement theory argues that more explicit descriptions increase subjective probability ?
support theory
Mandel 2005 asked people during the first week of 2003 Iraq war to assess the risk of a terror attack. One group were given brief info and another group were given more explicit info. Which group was more likely to assign a higher probability to terror attacks?
the group where explicit info was given
In what instance can explicit event descriptions reduce subjective probability?
if it leads people to focus on low probability causes
Name one strength and one weakness of support theory
strength: shows availability heuristics can lead to errors in judgement
weakness: does not take into account the role of emotion during judgement
What are fast and frugal heuristics?
rapid processing of relatively little information. take the best heuristic system where person rapidly uses own search cue and stops after finding a discriminatory cue before then choosing the outcome.
What is one strength and one weakness of fast and frugal heuristics?
strength: effective but simplistic
weakness: underestimates the value of local reasoning
Explain the systems in the dual process model and how they interact:
system one: fast, automatic, effortless, difficult to control, emotionally charged info.
system two: slower, serial, more consciously monitored, effortful, flexible information.
system 1 will first make intuitive judgements, then system 2 will monitor and evaluate the judgements
What assumption regarding the dual processing theory is incorrect?
the assumption that answers on base rate info always involve system 2 and that representative heuristics always involve system 1
What is one strength and one weakness of dual processing theory?
strength: evidence to support
weakness: unclear if system 2 can detect errors in system 1
