week 5: Learning Language Flashcards
Which of the following provides evidence against a blank slate associate theory of language development?
A. Children are born with the ability to detect all speech contrast from non-native languages.
B. Infants look at an image of a target (r.g. a picture of an apple) when the name of the target is spoken (e.g. the word “apple is said out loud)
C. Children over-regularize grammar rules and say things that they have never heard adults say before (e.g., “sticked”) and are often not corrected by adults.
D. When infants get bored of hearing a language their sucking declines. They start sucking more when the language changes because they notice the difference.
C. Children over-regularize grammar rules and say things that they have never heard adults say before (e.g., “sticked”) and are often not corrected by adults.
Explanation: This provides evidence against the blank slate since someone with a blank slate would learn by imitating what they have heard before (not make up things they have never heard).
Which of the following is an example of mutual exclusivity?
A. Upon seeing a duck and a novel object and hearing the word “blicket”, a child will learn that the novel object (and not the duck) is called a blicket.
B. A child understands an animal (e.g., “giraffe) could potentially be called something else (e.g., “caterpillar”) as long as everyone agreed.
C. After watching someone point to a novel animal and say “modi” a child will think “modi” is the word for the whole animal, not for its traits (e.g. horns) or its attributes (e.g. personaility).
D. Upon seeing a person look into a bucket and say “toma”, children learn that the word “toma” applies to whatever is in the bucket (and not to the bucket itself).
A. Upon seeing a duck and a novel object and hearing the word “blicket”, a child will learn that the novel object (and not the duck) is called a blicket.
Explanation: Yes- mutual exclusivity means that when one object is known, the novel label applies to the novel object.
What were the main findings of Kuhl’s study on phoneme discrimination?
A. Training infants on a foreign language with videos is sufficient for them to discriminate non-native phonemes.
B. It is not possible for infants to discriminate non-native phonemes beyond the age of 6 months.
C. Any forms of exposure to a foreign language is enough to extend the window of time during which infants can discriminate non-native phonemes.
D. It is possible to extend the window during which infants can differentiate non-native phonemes, but only when infants have a social interaction with a non-native speaker.
D. It is possible to extend the window during which infants can differentiate non-native phonemes, but only when infants have a social interaction with a non-native speaker.
Explanation: Yes, social interaction matters!
Which of the following is true regarding infant sucking and language processing?
A. Infants suck more (work harder) to hear a foreign language, because it is novel.
B. After being habituated to one language, infants suck less to a new language.
C. Infants are equally willing to suck to hear foreign or native languages.
D. Infants suck more (work harder) to hear their native language.
D. Infants suck more (work harder) to hear their native language.