1
Q
most complex form of communication
A
language
2
Q
criteria for outlining true language
A
- regular: governed by rules/grammar
- arbitrary: lack of resemblance btwn words and meaning
- productive: limitless ways to combine words to form descriptions (seen in infants)
3
Q
sapir-whorf hypothesis
A
language influences our thoughts and the way we perceive/experience world
- bc thoughts take the form of language
4
Q
what supports the sapir-whorf hypothesis?
A
- piraha tribe (hunter-gatherers from brazil)
- native language has only three counting words: 1, 2, and many
- tribe asked to order groups objects into the groups
- did well w/ one or two but did worse on sets w/ greater than three objects
5
Q
what evidence counters sapir-whorf hypothesis
A
- french uses same word for mother in law and step mom
- english language uses same word for all uncles
- both still know difference
6
Q
what question remains about the sapir-whorf hypothesis?
A
can you have abstract thought without language?
7
Q
what forms the structure of human language and thought
A
grammar
8
Q
how many languages active today
A
3000+
9
Q
morphemes
A
- oral languages: smallest unit of sound that contains information
- manual/sign languages: units of sign, not sound
- often a word
- some words have many morphemes
10
Q
what do all languages have in common?
A
- use words/sounds/symbols to transmit info
- symbols are called morphemes
11
Q
example of morpheme
A
table has 1 morpheme
tablecloth has 2 morphemes
12
Q
can all morphemes be added as individual words?
A
- no, some must be combined with another morpheme
- i.e. tables has two morphemes: table and “s”
13
Q
example of how morphemes indicate occurrence of other morpheme
A
clean-ing
- ing is taking place in present
- ed would mean past
14
Q
what can morphemes be broken down into
A
it’s constituent sounds: phonemes
15
Q
phoneme
A
- smallest unit of sound in speech
- i.e. dog has 3 phonemes
16
Q
how are phonemes combined?
A
- diff. languages have diff rules
- in english, we don’t combined certain letters
17
Q
syntax
A
- also known as grammar
- rules that govern how words and sounds are combined in sentences
- relates to regularity
18
Q
differences in syntax across language
A
- french uses gender for nouns
- english only uses it for living things
19
Q
semantics
A
- meaning of each individual word in a sentence
- i.e a sentence could have perfect syntax but have no semantic meaning = makes no sense
20
Q
babbling
A
- after early activities
- drawn-out sounds w/ vowel/consonant combos
- inflection/rhythm makes it sound like real sentence
- combinations eventually become words that they repeat
21
Q
how do young infants show language related skills?
A
- responding to presence of another
- smiling socially
22
Q
what happens at 1.2 to 6 years of age?
A
- language explosion
- vocab increases rapidly
- major aspects of language is mastered
23
Q
why do we think people speaking other languages are talking fast?
A
we don’t know how to segment their speech
24
Q
can early proficiency at speech segmentation predict later language proficiency
A
- newman and colleagues did a study where infants were familiarized with a target word
- they were later read stories w/ target word to see if they could segment the target word
- found that good speech segmentation skills showed strong correlation w/ large expressive vocabularies
25
implications of studying speech segmentation ability in children
infant screening tests to predict later language dvlpmt problems and start early treatment interventions
26
who is more capable of distinguishing btwn phonemes?
infants more than adults
27
how do children develop phonemic sensitivity?
- based on language they grew up with
- raw/law sounds different to english speakers, but not to japanese
28
universal phoneme sensitivity
- ability of infants to discriminate between all sounds they're tested on
- includes sounds from non-native languages
- adults can't do this
29
how can researchers test universal phonemic sensitivity in pre-verbal infants?
head-turn procedure:
- training phase: infant learns to discriminate btwn two diff phonemes and turn head towards speaker, when done for new sound they get reward
- second phase: same phoneme played over and over until infant stops looking
- new test phoneme played, if infant turns head = they can discriminate two sounds
30
effects of discriminating between foreign phonemes in infants vs adults
- adult english speakers didnt perform well at recognizing hindi phonemes
- adult hindi speakers and english infants performed similarly
31
when does universal phoneme sensitivity disappear?
by the end of first year of life, most ability is lost
32
social learning theory
- children learn language through combination of imitation and instrumental conditioning
- mom responds excited when kid says "mama" = reinforcement
33
what supports social learning theory?
- case study of genie
- isolated as kid, struggled to develop language
34
what do opponents of social learning theory claim?
- that children's language development is too fast to be driven by just reinforcement and imitation
- kids make language errors (over/under extensions) through novel combinations
35
overextension
- children apply rule too broadly based on meaning or syntax
- i.e. using "dog" for many animals = meaning
- add "-ed" to "runned" = overregularization
36
overregularization
- type of overextension
- syntactical error: grammatical rule applied too broadly
37
underextension
- apply rule to specific object only
- i.e. child refers only to pet dog as "dog"
38
alternative to social learning theory of social development
- nome chomsky
- language develops rapidly due to innate mechanism: language acquisition device
39
chomsky's language acquisition device
- innate mechanism present only in humans that helps language develop rapidly according to universal rules
- bc all languages follow fundamental underlying rules
40
what evidence supports the innate mechanism theory/language acquisition device?
CONGENITALLY DEAF CHILDREN
- deaf children were never exposed to sign language, but spontaneously use sign to communicate
- all sign with consistent grammatical rules
- grammatical rules don't necessarily match parents native language = grammar was not learned, it is rather innate/automatic
NEUROLOGICAL DATA
- young infants show neurophysiological responses to first language they're exposed to
- they prefer listening to speech over non-speech sounds
- suggests that infants are pre-wired to adapt sounds with associated meanings
41
one major point in discussing social learning theory vs innate mechanism theory?
- lack of support for one = support for the other
- i.e. genie's case: innate mechanism theory would mean she'd naturally develop language. she didn't = social learning theory
- i.e. language errors (overextensions/generalizations) support innate mechanism theory bc. the unique errors can't be predicted by SLT (they don't mimic adult's speech errors)
42
most elegant form of animal communication
- honey bees are social creatures
- waggle dance: two phases to indicate where source of food is
- waggle phase: if food is in line w/ sun, waggles straight upward. if at angle, waggles done at angle. distance of waggle also indicates how far food is
43
why do birds use complex song?
mate attraction and competition
44
where are differences btwn human and non-human communication best understood?
- in experiments where animals were taught human language
- early experiments relied on instrumental conditioning
45
washoe the chimpanzee
- taught ASL
- washu was able to communicate simple requests and combine them to make complex requests
- she didn't communicate using systematic grammar, so it wasn't language
- not regular
46
sarah
- taught to use plastic symbols to communicate demands
- could answer simple questions
- could not combine them in novel combinations
- not productive
47
kanzi the chimpanzee
- complete immersion, not instrumental conditioning
- taught to use lexigrams on keyboard (geometric figures)
- could combine lexigrams, make demands, respond to Qs, and responds to completely unfamiliar Qs
- had limited grammar, didnt understand plural/noun/verb, could make SOME novel combos to express new ideas
- most successful attempt
- not regular
48
how does slang impact communication?
makes communication btwn generations difficult
49
why is it hard to learn languages?
- exceptions
- nuance
- shifts in meaning/slang
50
what does the frequency of word usage show?
- values within a community
- i.e. community-based vs. individualistic based on usage of give/get
51
what part of the brain do taboo words activate?
- saying swear words: right basal ganglia
- hearing swear words: right amygdala
52
tourettes and language
sometimes, right basal ganglia is overactivated = swearing
53
contents of swearing
- supernatural
- body effluvia/organs
- disease/death/sickness
- sexuality (crude parts)
- family/heritage
- hate speech
54
euphemism vs dysphemism
- euphemism: to avoid thinking about uncomfortable topic
- dysphemism: to think about uncomfortable topic
55
emphatic swearing
swearing for emphasis/to drawn attention
56
cathartic swearing
- makes us feel better
- rage-circuit theory: mammals emit noise to startle attackers, humans say aggressive words
- can also reduce pain
57
study of how humans use words reveals that...
1. all species communicate, but language is special
2. slang adds level of complexity to generational communication
3. swear words r fundamentally different than regular words
4. humans are guided by emotions
58
damage to this area of the brain leads to difficulty in the production of fluent speech
- broca's area
- small area in the left frontal lobe
59
damage to this area of the brain allows individuals to speak fluently, but their speech makes no sense
- wernicke's area
- left temporal lobe
60
what happens in FAS?
- accent doesn't change
- perception is caused by simple but consistent changes in the way they speak
psych 1x03
flashcards
Decks in class (14)
# Cards
-
research methods 138
-
research methods 236
-
classical conditioning29
-
instrumental conditioning37
-
problem solving and intelligence58
-
language60
-
categories and concepts58
-
science of learning35
-
ages12
-
attention74
-
forming impressions61
-
influence of others56
-
influence of others, pt. 281
-
development 117
