Week 5 - Language and Thought Flashcards
According to the video, how was Koshik able to speak?
a) He used a combination of low frequency rumbles and cries to convey information.
b) He used his mouth the same way humans do.
c) He had to use his trunk to manipulate his mouth.
d) He used his trunk to gesture, or sign, information.
c) He had to use his trunk to manipulate his mouth.
Which option below would best match your prediction for how children’s search techniques will change if they had a blue wall as an orientation cue?
a) They relied on the shape of the room to find the object and show no improvement.
b) They search all corners equally and are guessing.
c) They choose the correct corner because the blue wall acts as a cue.
d) They do worse than before the blue wall is disorienting.
a) They relied on the shape of the room to find the object and show no improvement.
why?
Children at this age have not yet developed language and associative skills and are therefore less capable of naturally creating representations or fully linking one thing (blue wall) to another (reward corner) at this stage.
The child in the video, Xander, is eventually able to map the dots on the paper to the buckets in the room. Dr. Spelke is arguing that Xander is able to do this because language is already operating as:
a) Mental patterns
b) Internal explanations
c) Symbols
d) Sensory stimulation
c) Symbols
Researchers believe that Koshik primarily used language to do which of the following?
a) Observing the behaviour of trainers and making suggestions
b) Discussing his emotions of loneliness and need for connection
c) To mimic sounds that he overheard
d) All of the above
c) To mimic sounds that he overheard
Similar to Koshik, Chaser is good at identifying words his owner speaks and knows 1000 English words. If Chaser is only memorising words, never creating or conveying new pieces of information, Chaser is not demonstrating:
a) Memory
b) Productivity
c) Representations
d) Grammar
b) Productivity
Other non-human animals, such as chimpanzees, have been shown to name objects. If chimpanzees can name things, recognise objects, and remember symbols for items, which aspect of our language are they failing to exhibit?
a) Concept representation
b) Object naming
c) Persuasion
d) Concept transformation
a) Concept representation
Vietnamese is a tonal language that primarily rely on pitch and inflection for which of the following?
a) Specifying word meaning
b) Conveying emotional information
c) For indicating who the speaker is talking to
d) For emphasising importance
a) Specifying word meaning
grammar
The general rules of a language
syntax
Structure and order of words within a language
Birth - 3 months
Makes cooing and gurgling noise
Orients towards noise
4 - 6 months
Babbles and cries expressively
Mimics other sounds
Responds to their name
Early signs of vowel and consonant sounds
7 - 18 months
Copies gestures
Gestures meaningfully (pointing finger)
Less sensitive to nonnative vowel and consonant sounds
Responds to simple gestures and comprehends “no”
Tries to mimic words
Simple one-word phrases (“bye-bye” or “mama”)
Will have learned approx. 50 words and gain approx. 6/day
2 - 3 years
Matches objects to name Uses 2-4 word sentences Follows multi-step instructions Understands prepositions (“the ball is in the box) Uses full sentences to communicate
4 - 5 years
Correctly uses simple grammar rules (“he/she”, “was/will be”) Memorises and recites simple songs (“Patty Cake” or “Months of the Year”) Speech becomes more clear Uses full sentences and can tell short stories
Genie Wiley, a subject of a notorious case study, was an adolescent girl, isolated most of her young life with limited exposure to language or motor movement (Frompkin et al., 1974). A group of psychologists intensively worked with Genie to teach her language and communication skills; however, it was ruled that Genie would never progress to a level typical for her age. If her limitations were caused from the lack of exposure during early development, her inability to learn from exposure later in life reflects her missing a _____ in development.
a) Sensitive period
b) Critical period
c) Generalisation period
d) Acquisition stage
b) Critical period
Match the belief statement regarding language development to the correct field.
- behaviourist, emergentist, nativist
“A person will express a verbal behaviour if they are rewarded for it.”
“Humans’ language development is constrained by the biological structure of the brain”
“Humans have a unique¸ biological capacity for language and exposure¸ social pressures¸ and culture can interact with how language develops.”
Behaviourist - “A person will express a verbal behaviour if they are rewarded for it.”
Nativist - “Humans’ language development is constrained by the biological structure of the brain”
Emergentist - “Humans have a unique¸ biological capacity for language and exposure¸ social pressures¸ and culture can interact with how language develops.”
Congresswoman Gabby Giffords has a difficult time producing motor movements to form language; she is suffering from:
a) Alanguage aphasia
b) Broca’s aphasia
c) Mutism
d) Atypical language development
b) Broca’s aphasia
non-fluent aphasia
If Giffords is primarily experiencing language difficulties, which hemisphere of the brain was damaged?
a) Left
b) Right
c) Neither
d) Both hemispheres were damaged, incapacitating all of her language processing
a) Left
According the video, how is Giffords able to improve her speech?
a) The brain mainly needed time to heal from the physical damage.
b) Language is an isolated function, so doctors had her relearn words to improve rote memorisation.
c) The language difficulties were caused by facial muscles not working, as the muscles her heal, her speech returns.
d) Therapists capitalised on the representational nature of language and incorporated music therapy to guide her speech.
d) Therapists capitalised on the representational nature of language and incorporated music therapy to guide her speech.
In the video, Byron is able to produce language sounds easily, but his ____ is impaired.
a) Memory
b) Speech memory
c) Vocal tracts
d) Word production
b) Speech memory
Wernicke’s aphasia primarily disrupts speech ____, whereas Broca’s aphasia primarily disrupts speech ____.
a) Prosody, production
b) Production, prosody
c) Meaning, production
d) Production, meaning
c) Meaning, production
According to the video, which non-language area of the brain is connected to Broca’s area and might help explain why patients with Broca’s aphasia struggle to physically produce speech?
a) Wernicke’s area
b) Motor cortex
c) Temporal lobe
d) Sensory cortex
b)Motor cortex
After suffering from a stroke, Marie can process sounds and understands spoken language but struggles to produce sentences in her normal, rhythmic pattern. Which hemisphere was most likely damaged?
a) The left side
b) The right side
c) Both hemispheres
d) The left temporal lobe
b) The right side
isn’t this the left? check this one
Match the examples below with their appropriate role in word classification
Phoneme, Morpheme, Mental lexicon
The word atypical can be separated into its prefix¸ a-¸ and root word¸ typical.
The word blue might be stored in connection with the color or the emotion.
The vowel ‘a’ can be pronounced as “ah”.
Mental lexicon:
The word blue might be stored in connection with the color or the emotion.
Phoneme:
The vowel ‘a’ can be pronounced as “ah”.
Morpheme:
The word atypical can be separated into its prefix¸ a-¸ and root word¸ typical.
If someone is arguing “semantics”, they are being particular over the word’s
____
Meaning
Your job is to sort the new plastic figurines created at a toy factory. There are two types, Flows and Gorks. You have been trained on three examples of Flow characters and three examples of Gorks (as below). Suddenly, you encounter a new character you are unfamiliar with. How will you sort the new character?
hint - new character looks more like flows
a) Into Gorks because of accessing your mental lexicon
b) Into Flows due to the family resemblance
c) Into the Gorks because of his family resemblance
d) Into Flows because of accessing your mental lexicon
b) Into Flows due to the family resemblance
Linguistic relativity
means that the structural differences in language can alter one’s perception and understanding of reality.
The theory that using multiple, precise words for different shades of blue influence Russian’s interpretations of colours is called _________.
a) Family resemblance theory
b) Colour-matching theory
c) Linguistic relativism
d) Language Specificity Hypothesis
c) Linguistic relativism
The video discusses different Russian terms for dark and light blue. Why should this not be strange to English speakers?
a) English speakers have words for light blue (e.g. “robin’s egg” blue), they’re just not used.
b) English speakers have different terms for shades of red (e.g., red and pink).
c) English speakers also commonly distinguish between blues but it hasn’t been well researched.
d) Linguistic relativism is commonly experienced and therefore cannot feel strange.
b) English speakers have different terms for shades of red (e.g., red and pink).
You hear Greg say that there are 50 Inuit, or Eskimo, words for “snow.” He is excited because he believes this allows for a cultural advantage in perceiving differences in the precipitation. Greg is unknowingly arguing in support of ____.
a) Alternate realities
b) Linguistic relativity
c) Kappa effect
d) Family resemblance
b) Linguistic relativity
While taking an exam, you have a song repeating in your head. You also realise that you are mouthing the words to the song as you read your test. After a few moments, you notice that you’re struggling to answer the next question. Based on research examining problem-solving and language, what do you decide to do?
a) Continue singing the song because the music calms you, freeing attentional resources.
b) Stop mouthing the words to allocate language processing skills to the current problem.
c) Read the question to the tune of the song.
d) None of the above because language likely has little influence over thought processes.
b) Stop mouthing the words to allocate language processing skills to the current problem.
bc of dual task interference -disrupt one’s language processing when simultaneously attempting to complete tasks that compete for mental/physical resources
Functional fixedness (Set effect)
Fixation limits us to use objects for purposes outside of their normal use
- example, How often have you been trying to reach something on the top shelf, wishing for a stool, only to realise minutes later that you can you use a nearby chair instead?
Mental set
Expectation of how to solve a problem
- Past experience and expectations can influence how we approach a problem and narrow our ability to conceive of novel solutions
have to think “outside the box”
Luchin’s Jar Problem illustrates the hindrance of a fixed mental set on problem solving. How does this primarily limit our ability to solve problems?
a) It makes humans frustrated and we give up trying to solve the problem.
b) It exhausts valuable cognitive resources and makes finding a solution less likely.
c) It narrows focus and decreases ability to select and try to new strategies.
d) It eventually leads to functional fixedness.
c) It narrows focus and decreases ability to select and try to new strategies.
algorithms
An algorithm is a precise set of rules applied in order to solve a problem, and individual differences and environment will dictate which algorithm we apply.
heuristics,
The rules, or heuristics, are used to help short-cut the lengthy judgment and decision-making processes
- basically, instead of trying random options, we develop a consistent rule to apply
means-end heuristic,
involves the problem solver to envision the desired, goal-state and take whatever measures necessary to attain that goal
Based on the video, why would both humans and computers use heuristics?
a) The use of heuristics saves energy and resources.
b) Heuristics lead to more correct decisions.
c) The brute-force approach is just too simple.
d) The brute-force approach only works for computers; humans naturally need something more complex.
a) The use of heuristics saves energy and resources.
How did the inclusion of production systems help advance heuristics for artificial intelligence?
a) It combined the simplicity of brute-force with the ease of heuristics.
b) It used a new, fluid storage of memory that more closely mimicked humans’.
c) It allowed programmers to create a more complex, value weighting to decisions that resembles that of humans’.
d) It eliminated the need for the computer to have a programmer and created an independent problem processor.
b) It used a new, fluid storage of memory that more closely mimicked humans’.
representative heuristic.
involves us mentally comparing something to our stored prototype of an event, object, or person.
- We don’t need to sort through every possible option to find the best solution—sometimes we choose the one that is good enough. This cognitive settling process helps us solve everyday problems or make decisions quickly
availability heuristic
predicts that we make these judgments based on how easily instances of the same or related events are to retrieve from our memory, or how easily available those memories are.
Like many companies, when Apple first created their mp3 player, a “shuffle” function was installed. The goal of the shuffle was to allow listeners to have a random playlist created for them; however, customers were frustrated because an artist might be played twice in a row and complained that it didn’t “seem” random. The shuffle function violated their expectation of randomness, and Apple created a pseudo-random function that prevented any artist or album from being played sequentially. Apple’s original, true shuffle didn’t fit customers’ ____ of randomness.
a) Prototype
b) Availability
c) Exemplar
d) Pattern
a) Prototype
Jay is learning a lot about dog breeds in his dog-training class and tests Meryl’s knowledge on which dog is more dangerous: a Pitbull or a Golden Retriever. Meryl quickly remembers hearing about a recent Pitbull attack the night before and responds that she thinks this breed is more dangerous. Jay informs her that Golden Retrievers are the leading cause of dog-related hospital visits. Meryl’s estimate of danger was influenced by which of the following.
a) Hindsight Bias
b) Availability Heuristic
c) Representative Heuristic
d) Brute-Force Heuristic
b) Availability Heuristic
At the beginning of this chapter, we outlined a spatial navigation problem that rats and humans were asked to perform. The rats and young children struggled at solving this task. What did the researchers argue limited the participants’ ability to successfully solve the problem?
a) The inability to remember where an item was hidden
b) The inability to connect emotions with memories to map the world better
c) The inability to use faculties like language to form representations and connections between unrelated items in the environment
d) Limited problem-solving skills
c) The inability to use faculties like language to form representations and connections between unrelated items in the environment
preparation
The first step to a creative process is preparation. This stage involves gathering knowledge and proficiency with a topic
incubation.
Incubation requires the idea to sit on the back burner of your mind while you consciously work on something unrelated. It’s suggested that during incubation, your memory is helping you process the information and making helpful connections—a process that sleep has been shown to facilitate
illumination stage
This stage has been known to follow a period of slight pre-awareness but is often reported to come as a surprise - EUREKA moment
evaluate
The final stage of creativity comes when you evaluate your inspired idea and assess whether it is, indeed, a creative and worthy solution.
confirmation bias
tendency to seek out information that already confirms our ideas or beliefs
framing
form fixations and develop perceptual strategies for tacking problems, our choices and preferences are substantially altered based on the presentation, or framing, of option
According to Dr. Ariely’s research, what is causing our decision-making to be biased?
Humans are not 100% aware of the forces acting on their choices.
Humans are not aware of their actual preferences.
Humans are influenced by the way information is presented.
intuition
reliance on experience and emotions
“System 1” thinking
predominantly relies on emotional systems and stored experiences to guide thinking
- to help us make faster, intuitive decisions.
System 2,”
logical, thinking which countermands those initial instincts
- recruits thinking and reasoning areas of the brain
System 1 is synonymous with our ____thinking, while System 2 synonymous with ____thinking
a) Rational, intuitive
b) Calculated, rational
c) Intuitive, rational
d) Patient, impulsive
c) Intuitive, rational
mental set
tendency to only see solutions that have worked in the past.
wording effects
tendency for the way that questions are asked to impact the responses of participant
Problem solving strategies
- Trial and Error
- Algorithm
- Heuristic
