Language + Cognition Flashcards
Language
- implicit system of rules + words to talk about the world
- with dev, lang becomes automatic + makes US focus on certain aspects of the world
languages around the world are very different
- spatial Markers:
-> English: The train arrived early - Tense
-> Turkish The-train arrivedi early-evidence type
-vocab differences:
-> colour term: light + dark VS many terms - some lang don’t communicate many colours - > motion verbs : manner VS path
Relationship between lang + cog
- can lang specific characteristics shape our mental representations
- universal view ->
-innate, Modular view , lang can’t shape representations all humans have similar mental rep - Linguistic reIativity ->
-learning, interactive view, lang characteristics May shape our mental rep in some circumstances - more supported view: linguistic relativity
How do we know peoples mentaI rep?
-we cant see mental rep
- can compare performance of speakers of diff lang in tasks designed to elicit an influence of lang or non- linguistic tasks (Whorfian effect)
case of color: Munsell col0r system
- 3D system defined by values in hue, saturation + lightness
- saturation = now intense the colour is
- Hue = distinct colors
-value/chroma = how light or dark it is
-defines each col0r chip
the case of colour: English vS Berinmo - Davidoff et al
-ppts see a target chip
- Retention period = 30 seconds
- show them 2 chips, 1 they SaW t one they didn’t
- ASK them to identify which one they saw
- English speakers better for blue/green, Bernimo couldn’t distinguish
- Berinmo speakers better for not/wor but English just say its green
Davidoff colour study -results indicate?
- colour discrimination from memory is better when we have names to refer to the colour alternatives presented to us
- makes it easier to perceive colours When there are names
colour study -Winawer et al
- using reaction time + rapid responses in Russia VS English
- In Russia they distinguish between 2 shades of blue
- present a target then 2 shades flash on the left + right + ask them to identify which matches the target
-Russian are fast when alternatives have different names - English take longer to make a decision
- in dual response condition it eliminates effect of lang + response times are the same
Gilbert et al - colour t brain hemispheres
- manipulating which brain hemisphere receives visual info first
-Left processes words, right processes vision
-identify odd one out task - result = lang effect only when left hemisphere is first
- If odd one out is on right field because lang field gets visual info first then use verbal labels to distinguish
- it present in left visual field info goes into right hemisphere then passes corpus callosum to go to left hemisphere where words are processed
Gilbert -Hemisphere + Colour results indicate
- colour words don’t permanently alter perception
-we see an influence of lang on perception: when colour words are quickly activated in left hemisphere + when people rely on words to perform a memory task - consistent with linguistic relativity or Whorfian hypothesis
Lang + cog in motion events
- 2 types of motion verbs: manner + path
- English lang tells you what happens (in, up, out)
- other lang verb only means where you are going
- English combine Motion + manner (sneak, run) + add path (in, up)
-Spanish Greek combine motion path ( enter, exit) + add manner
motion events + eye tracking study - Gennari + Papafrogou et al
- 2 conditions: Linguistic description vS observation for later memory test
. Animation occurs for 3s then freezes for 2 - Greek don’t mention the manner of motion
- Did eye tracking
- Greek speakers looked more to the path/goal compared to English
- No lang difference whilst viewing
-when image freezes + commit to memory for later recall there are differences in % of fixation with greeks focusing on the goal more
Gennari + Papafrogou et al result impact
- Attention allocation depends on the task: observation Vs description
- describing elicits lang- specific pattern of eye movement
-lang might be used to MeMorise events
overall conclusion for everything
-lang may influence some cog rep depending on task + stimulus types
- lang may help memory or perceptual discrimination
- evidence consistent with lang relativity view
-Against universal view
- Learned word to word Assoc an be useful it it makes task performance more efficient
Do words reflect culturally important concepts?
- lack of words reflects lack of importance speakers place on the concept based on relationship between concepts + lexicon is not arbitrary
world to culture mismatches
- lang reflects a linguistic code that has accumulated over a long period of time
- most elements are preserved from one generation to the next
- New words intro to Meet cultures needs
whorf Hypothesis
- common assumption that a lang inventory of words has an effect on how its speakers perceive the world
kay + Kempten colour study
- chose 3 closely neighboring color chips from munsell chart
- Told ppts 1 was more distant from other 2 tasked to identify odd one out
- lang effected perceived distances between colours
- English said distance was bigger between blue + green chip than between 2 blue
- DistanCe was identical
- Tarahumara didn’t exaggerate distance
-labels may offer strategy to resolve a difficult perceptual task
fausey + Boroditsky - study of eyewitness memory
- difference between English + Spanish speakers describing accidental events
-English often mention agent, Spanish don’t
-when they looked at videos of accidental events Spanish less likely to remember agents - when remembering intentional both performed equally
- eyewitness memory affected by linguistic codes people activate at event
Lupyan + Dale- does culture shape grammar study
- connection between linguistic communities + overspecification
- overspecification = degree lang have rich morphological systems attaches semantic info about an event to a word stem
-lang falls on a continuum between exoteric + esoteric lang
-exoteric (English) spoken by lots of people, communicate with variety of backgrounds
. esoteric restricted to small number of native speakers to communicate amongst selves - lang is less overspecified ( simpler morphological systems) if they had features of exoteric lang
Deutsch et al- supercharged linguistic skills
-lang that uses tone to distinguish word meanings have better pitch perceiving skills
one mind, multiple lang
- evidence that multiple lang are all engaged even when in a monolingual env = situation different from monolingual speakers
-multilingual speakers are faced with range of choices fer expressing thought - use knowledge selectively during comprehension
Native lang can be influenced by later-learned lang
- No evidence adding a new lang diminishes capacity in current lang
- New lang can subtly reshape even a native lang learned in infancy
- Dussias + Segarra -> when native speakers with lots of experience with English used this more for resolving ambiguity
-Athanasopovlus et al -> Greek speakers who lived in UK longest showed signs of loosing sensitivity to shades of blue in Greek
Mixed lang
-speech mixing lang is extremely common among fluent bilinguals
- Fabbro et al said indiscriminate lang mixing is a symptom of brain damage
- possible suppressing. dom lang with extra force to make sure it doesn’t intrude= easy to switch back to it
- code-switching weighs cost + benefit of switching between lang
Activating cultural values
-multilinguals believe diff lang are in fused with diff cultural characteristics
-experiments found bilinguals exhibit different attitudes on which lang they are using
-Akkermans ->
-dutch people who spoke English played prisoners dilemma game
- subjects playing in English chose a more comp strategy
- English lang reminds people of cultural practices of English people
