Chapter 9A-Student PDF

Chapter 9 Language and Intelligence Sample Footer Text 1 Chapter 9A Cognition & Language Sample Footer Text 2 Topics Covered Cognition Language Problem Solving What is Cognition? Cognition = Thinking Involves processes of perception, knowled...

Chapter 9 Language and Intelligence Sample Footer Text 1 Chapter 9A Cognition & Language Sample Footer Text 2 Topics Covered Cognition Language Problem Solving What is Cognition? Cognition = Thinking Involves processes of perception, knowledge, problem solving, judgement, language, and memory Scientists aim to understand how we integrate, organize, and utilize cognitive experiences with and without conscious awareness What is Cognition? Cognitive Psychology Field of psychology dedicated to examining how people think. Aims to explain how and why we think. Cognitive Psychologists Study: Interactions between thinking, emotion, creativity, language, problem solving Various types of intelligence Organization of thoughts/information into categories Concepts and Prototypes o Our brain synthesizes and utilizes information from the external environment, memories, and emotions o Concepts: categories of information, images, ideas, or memories o Prototype: the best representation of a concept Concepts and Prototypes o Natural concepts: developed through one’s direct/indirect experiences o Artificial concepts: defined by a specific set of characteristics Schemata o Schema: mental construct consisting of a cluster of related concepts o help to organize information to help the brain work efficiently o Role schema: assumptions about how people in certain roles will behave. o Event schema: a set of behaviours that resemble a routine.  Also called cognitive scripts  Automatic, and difficult to change Topics Covered Cognition Language Problem Solving What is Language? o Language is a communication system o Includes words, and rules for organizing words in a way that conveys information to someone else o NOT ALL communication = language Components of Language o Two main components: o Lexicon: words of a given language o Grammar: rules used to convey meaning through the use of the lexicon Purpose of Language Functions of language: o Convey thoughts of one person to others o Supports creative and progressive social interaction  Sharing of innovations (ideas) throughout a culture and preserves them across generations o Facilitates thinking, problem solving, and decision making  Closely related to thinking Language Structure - Phonology o Phonemes: the smallest distinctive sound units of speech  Do not necessarily convey meaning  Psychology: S-ie–K-o-l-o-g-ee Language Structure - Morphology o Morphemes: the smallest unit of language that conveys meaning or function  May be a word (e.g., cat)  OR a sound(s) that when added to a word alters its meaning Language Structure - Semantics o The process of deriving meaning from morphemes and words o Meaning is not always literal  E.g., “it’s raining cats and dogs” Language Structure - Syntax o The rules used to order words (or phrases) in a sentence.  e.g., in English, adjectives precede nouns (“He’s a nice guy!” not “He’s a guy nice”) o Note: Generally, syntax does not affect meaning as much as semantics Language Development oPrevocal learning: 0-6 months  Babies distinguish all phonemes they will later use for language  Cooing ~ 2 mos. (vocalization of vowel-like sounds) o Babbling: 5-6 months  Production of meaningless speech sounds, repetitively or mixed (e.g., bababa gagaga dadada)  Not imitation! Non-native phonemes are produced initially, then unused phonemes are pruned o One Word Stage: 12-18 months  Utter single words (mostly nouns, e.g., mama, dada)  Single words carry meaning.  Can understand many more words than they can produce (~150) Language Development oTelegraphic speech: 18-24 months  Simple (two-word) sentences omitting all but essential words (e.g., Want mommy)  First evidence of sentence formation  Note: Syntax consistent: e.g., adjective before noun – big doggie, not doggie big o Sentence phase: 2-3 years  Basic understanding of practical information regarding language (e.g., pauses after sentence, raise voice at end of sentence for question).  ~1000 words oComplex sentences: 3-5 years  Basic rules of grammar are understood without formal education Language Development o Overgeneralization: extension of a language rule to an exception to the rule o Indicates that language rules are understood by young children Language Development Critical or Sensitive Periods o Developmental period in childhood during which language is readily acquired o Beyond that period, capacity for language is greatly impaired (or lost) o Developing brain requires proper stimulation at the right developmental stage o Ends at roughly 12 years old. Theories of Language Development o Nature vs. Nurture o Human brains pre-wired to learn language o Acquire learning through principles of learning Theories of Language Development o Nature: Ease with which children learn language suggests we are genetically programmed to learn language o Generativity: ability to compose new sentences/ideas that they were never exposed to Theories of Language Development o Language acquisition device (Noam Chomsky): A pre- wired (biologically innate) universal ability to develop a language o Includes a universal grammar that underlies all language Theories of Language Development o Nurture: language, like all other behaviours, is entirely learned o Occurs through association, reinforcement, and observation Theories of Language Development o Nature and nurture (interactionist perspective)  Both theories are important o Evidence of environment influences on language development Language and the Brain o Several distinct regions of the brain cooperate in language production and comprehension o Much understanding of brain systems comes from brain damage cases o Aphasia: an impaired use of language (different types depending on area of damage) Language and the Brain Broca’s area: a brain region located in the frontal lobe – important for speech production Broca’s aphasia (“expressive” aphasia) o Characterized by deficiencies in speech production, o Meaning of words remains intact, problem is mostly in syntax Language and the Brain Wernicke’s area: a brain region located in the temporal lobe important for language comprehension Wernicke’s aphasia (“receptive” aphasia) o characterized by profound deficits in language comprehension and in generating meaningful speech o deficits in semantic, not syntax, processing, e.g., understanding meaning of words Do Animals have Language? o Communication… definitely  Whales and dolphins “make calls”; crows call to each other; Honey bees (“waggle dance”) o 1969: Washoe the Chimp taught to name objects in American Sign Language (Gardiners)  161 signs in total  Occasionally combine 2 signs: Swan = “water” and “bird”  Passed on 68 signs to adopted infant (Loulis) Do Animals have Language? Koko the Gorilla (Patterson): modified ASL, 1000 signs Do Animals have Language? Can Koko speak? No. Does Koko have language? Maybe, like a 1 year old human. Does Koko use language to think? Doubtful. Do we? Language and Thought o Language and thought are interrelated as much thinking is internalized language o However, there are non-language based types of “thinking” o Mental imagery: internal visual representations of stored visual memories  Example: spatial navigation (visual imagery - picture location of things in your mind) o However, much “thinking” does involve internal language Language and Thought Does language shape thoughts and actions Or Do our thoughts and beliefs shape our language? Language and Thought o Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis: Argues language dictates thoughts (Edward Sapir & Benjamin Lee Whorf)  The more words we know relating to an object or concept, the more detailed and complex our thoughts about that object or concept can be  Conversely, if we have no word to describe something, we have no thoughts about it Language and Thought o BUT  Research suggests language has less influence on thinking.  Linguistic Relativism may be too extreme. o Dani tribe (Papua New Guinea) have only two words for colour, light and dark, yet they perceive many colours (Eleanor Rosch, 1973). Language and Thought o Best to appreciate that language does influence thinking, but that language also follows new thoughts (experiences) o Something new occurs, then vocabulary is expanded to include new idea Topics Covered Cognition Language Problem Solving Problem Solving o Problem solving is triggered by a desire to reach a goal. o We face challenges and problems to our goals routinely o Task is to determine how to get from our current (unsatisfactory) state to the desired end state Problem Solving Step 1: Defining the problem o First step is to determine exactly what the problem is o Some problems are well-defined, but others are ill-defined Problem Solving Step 2: Find a Strategy o Problem solving strategy: plan of action used to find a solution o Three main strategies: 1. Trial and error 2. Algorithms 3. Heuristics Problem-Solving Strategies o Trial and error: Haphazard approach devoid of systematic reasoning. o Something might happen to work Problem-Solving Strategies o Algorithms: Exhaustive step-by-step procedure that guarantees a correct solution. o Very time consuming, exhaust all possibilities before arriving at a solution o Computers use algorithms Problem-Solving Strategies o Heuristics: a shortcut thinking strategy o Heuristics often make it easier to arrive at solutions to problems. BUT they do not guarantee a correct answer Problem-Solving Strategies o Heuristics: a shortcut thinking strategy o Working Backwards: start with a solution and work backward through the problem  Works well for problems with well-defined goals o Forming subgoals: current position is compared with the desired goal and a series of steps are formulated to close the gap between the two  Divide a larger problem into smaller ones and accomplish a series of sub-goals Pitfalls to Problem Solving Mental set: Tendency to approach a new problem with thinking strategies that worked in the past. o Functional fixedness: Failure to use familiar objects in novel ways Decision Making o Each day we make many decisions o We like to think we are rational o But most decisions are made with limited information and under other constraints (bounded rationality) o We are prone to emotional influences o We often rely on mental short-cuts, our friendly heuristics Decision Biases o Anchoring bias: focus on one (usually the first) piece of information when making a decision or solving a problem. Decision Biases o Confirmation bias: Search for information that confirms our expectations or existing beliefs (and not seek information that does not). Decision Biases o Hindsight bias: belief that an event that just happened was predictable, when really it was not. Decision Biases o Representativeness Heuristic: Judging what category a thing or a person belongs to based on how well they seem to represent, or match, our concept of that category  If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it must be a duck  Example: He is tall so he must be a basketball player Decision Biases o Availability Heuristic: Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in your memory Reasoning o Inductive reasoning: drawing general conclusions from specific information  E.g., my dog barks. This means that all dogs must bark. o Deductive reasoning: general principles applied to specific instances  E.g., All vertebrates have a spine. Therefore, a dog has a spine.