Problem solving and language acquisition Flashcards
algorithm
a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier— but also more error-prone—use of heuristics
aphasia
impairment of language, usually caused by left-hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding).
availability heuristic
estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common.
babbling stage
beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language.
belief perseverance
clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.
Broca’s area
controls language expression—an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle move- ments involved in speech.
Cognition
all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
concept
a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people.
confirmation bias
a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.
convergent thinking
narrows the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution.
creativity
the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas.
divergent thinking
expands the number of possible problem solutions (creative thinking that diverges in different directions).
framing
the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments
grammar
in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. In a given language, semantics is the set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is the set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.
heuristic
a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms
insight
a sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions.
intuition
an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning
language
our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.
linguistic determinism
Whorf’s hypothesis that language deter- mines the way we think.
mental set
a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.
morpheme
in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix).
one-word stage
the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words.
overconfidence
the tendency to be more confident than correct— to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.
phonemene
in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.
prototype
a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories (as when comparing feathered creatures to a prototypical bird, such as a robin).
representative heuristic
judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular pro- totypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information.
telegraphic speech
early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—“go car”—using mostly nouns and verbs.
two-word stage
beginning about age 2, the stage in speech develop- ment during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements.
Wernicke’s Area
controls language reception—a brain area in- volved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe.
