Lecture 8: Origins of human language

Question 1

What is language?

Answer 1

A complex system of communication that involves the use of symbols that convey meaning
System of arbitrary symbols (sounds & words) by means of which social group cooperates
Storehouses of knowledge, glue that binds communities, the basis of human culture
The study of language is called linguistics

Question 2

What is a common debate in language?

Answer 2

Is language learned nature vs. nurture
Language shows evidence of both

Question 3

What is language generativity?

Answer 3

Ability to produce sentences never before said or heard e.g., dog to ind
e.g. “colourless green ideas sleep furiously”
One process often cited as underlying language generativity is response generalization

Question 4

What is verbal behaviour?

Answer 4

Behaviour, vocal or otherwise that is reinforced & mediated by another person
Skinner (1957) published verbal behaviour as functional interpretation of language as learned behaviour

Question 5

What did Skinner argue about the speaker & listener distinction?

Answer 5

Skinner argued the speaker influences the environment through the mediator of a listener is one who responds to another speakers behaviour
Critically, verbal behaviour, both listener & speaker, are shaped and sustained by a verbal environment reinforcement (they are learned behaviours)

Question 6

What did Noam Chomsky (1959) argue about language generativity?

Answer 6

Argued Skinner’s account and learning theory in general couldn’t account for language generativity

Question 7

What do behavioural scientists claim?

Answer 7

Behavioural science claims its easy to come up with theories - but we need the data to back it up

Question 8

How do people learn to read?

Answer 8

Sidman 1971) published first in the series of experiments about how we learn to read
-Taught a man w/ learning difficulties
-Results showed the participant emitted correct reading comprehension responses (matching words to pictures) WITHOUT being directly taught e.g., The participant emitted unlearned responses
- against Skinner!

Question 9

What is initial stimulus equivalence paradigm

Answer 9

relations among stimuli are determined by the choices of a learner. Specifically, the learner is shown a sample stimulus together with some other stimuli that are to be compared to the sample

Question 10

What is the theory of stimulus equivalence (SE)?

Answer 10

SE described the emergence of equivalence relations - how different stimuli become functionally equivalent
Exists when a learner correctly identifies a symbolic relationship. between two or more non-identical stimuli without specific training on that relationship
In other words, the learner makes untrained but accurate connections. between stimuli

Question 11

How did language generativity emerge?

Answer 11

3 theories:
Naming Theory - Horn & Lowe
Relational Frame Theory - Hayes
Genetic given theory - Sidman

Question 12

What is naming theory? (Horne & Lowe, 1996)

Answer 12

Names are given to objects or ideas to refer to or to signify the concepts around us
We can mediate each other’s behaviour through speaking
We can also mediate our own behaviour

Question 13

What is relational frame theory? (Hayes & Hayes, 1989)

Answer 13

Relational frame theory: we respond to language in a generalisable way - it’s a learned process
Relational responding is responding to a relationship between stimuli in one way or another
Relational responding is a response to one stimulus in relation to other available stimuli (relationship BETWEEN things)

Question 14

What is Generalized Relational Responding?

Answer 14

RFT describes how after initial training, people are able to generalize their responses to the relationships between arbitrary stimuli e.g, symbols/language
Even if you haven’t seen the stimuli before you can make a generalisation due to previous training

Question 15

What is generalised imitation?

Answer 15

Developed when the correspondence between the actions between the actions of the learner and the actions of a model becomes the single stimulus property that controls the child’s response
For example, if a child learns to imitate clapping in a structured context when asked to “do this,” generalization occurs when he or she can also imitate clapping with a different person, in a different location, and/or under different antecedent conditions (e.g., when told to “do the same as I do” or when imitation is
After a lot of trials, child learns the only invariant feature of the relationship between the modelled behaviour & the child’s behaviour is correspondence between parents & their actions

Question 16

What is a relational frame?

Answer 16

RFT is based on the idea that relating one concept to another is the foundation of all human language
-Composed of 3 features
Mutual entailment: if an individual notices that A leads to B, then A will be connected to B in his mind, but B will also be connected to A.
a. Example: if an individual always brushes his teeth before bedtime, then going to bed will naturally make him think of brushing his teeth as well

Combinatorial entailment: if A is related to B, and B is related to C, then A is related to C and vice versa.
a. Example: if a child is told that “angry” is another word for “mad,” and that “upset” is another word for “angry,” she will be able to make the unspoken connection between “mad” and “upset.”

Transformation of functions: if A and C are related and B, which is related to one or both A and C, is thrown into the mix, the relationship between A and C may change.
a. Example: a child associates an ice cream shop with tasty treats and a fun experience; if, one day, the cashier at the ice cream shop is mean to the girl, the relationship between going to the ice cream shop and her experience may change

Question 17

How do relational frames develop?

Answer 17

Throughout infancy children are presented w/ objects accompanied by their names
Initially each object word and word related object is explicitly trained but after multiple training trials generalised relational responding emerges

Question 18

What are derived relations?

Answer 18

In the context of applied behavioral analysis (ABA), derived relations refer to relationships between two stimuli that are formed without any prior learning. The three types of derived relations are symmetry, transitivity, and reflexivity.

Question 19

Transformation of a stimulus function?

Answer 19

• We’re trained to understand the relation of stimulus
• the role of a stimulus in evoking a response
• For example, the taste and texture of ice cream in the mouth function to elicit licking and swallowing
• This is a key concept of RFT
• Means the function of a stimulus can change based on its relationship to other stimuli in the environment
• Stimuli can take on other functions
• Transformation occurs when 1 stimulus acquires a new function or meaning based on its relationship to other stimuli which can happen through stimulus equivalence where two stimuli that aren’t directly related to eachother through a common contextual relationship or cue comes to be functionally equivalent in their meaning or use
• Understanding this transformation is useful b/c it helps to explain how humans use language to solve complex problems

Question 20

What is a generalized operant process ? (Special kind of operant conditioning)

Answer 20

What is the general process of operant conditioning?
The basic concept behind operant conditioning is that a stimulus (antecedent) leads to a behavior, which then leads to a consequence. This form of conditioning involves reinforcers, both positive and negative, as well as primary, secondary, and generalized. Primary reinforcers are things like food, shelter, and water.

Question 21

What is equivalence relation?

Answer 21

The emergence of equivalence relations provides a way to study experimentally what might be thought of as a kind of stimulus generalization
Subjects come to match stimuli that share no physical properties and that have never been paired with or directly related to each other
* In other words, the members demonstrate stimulus equivalence and hence may substitute for one another.
e.g., Lemon ——> Beetrang

Question 22

What are language networks?

Answer 22

a language network is fundamental to human history. It’s a way whereby ideas can be shared, passed on, built upon and so on. Without language, without some means of effectively communicating within their group, then the rest of human history becomes impossible.

Question 23

How does language lead to psychological suffering?

Answer 23

Human language allows us to bring threat/aversive stimuli into any moment
Psychological suffering is caused by how we respond to internal or private aversive events not the event themselves
Suffering starts when we try to alter the form, intensity or frequency of private events - experiential avoidance

Question 24

Why do we avoid private events?

Answer 24

We try to avoid or reduce external problems or threat
We do this in the real world but this sometimes doesn’t last long term

Question 25

What is experiential avoidance?

Answer 25

Experiential avoidance: the unwillingness to remain in contact with distressing internal experiences along with the attempts to control or avoid distressing internal experiences, has been associated with a range of psychopathological symptoms across a range of clinical presentations of anxiety and fear
Basically avoiding situations which cause fear and anxiety to arise