Week 4 Lecture Cognition & Language 2023 PDF

Psychology in Everyday Life PS4031 Dr. Paul J. Maher Lecture 4: Cognition and Language Learning Outcomes  Learn of the approach taken by cognitive psychologists  Understand models of attention and memory  Appreciate the special role of language in human psychology  Learn about the rese...

Psychology in Everyday Life PS4031 Dr. Paul J. Maher Lecture 4: Cognition and Language Learning Outcomes  Learn of the approach taken by cognitive psychologists  Understand models of attention and memory  Appreciate the special role of language in human psychology  Learn about the research methods used by cognitive psychologists (online)  Gain knowledge of perceptual biases (online) Aims Cognitive Psychology To understand complex cognitive behaviours:  Measure observable behaviour  Make inferences about underlying cognitive activity  Consider what this behaviour says about how the mind works Cognitive Psychology Information-processing approach  An approach created from insights associated with the digital computer  Early computers (1950s) processed information in stages. Research Questions How much information can the mind absorb? How does the mind attend to some incoming information over other information? Information Processing Alan Turing Analogy between computers and human minds  Hardware (brain), Software (mind)  Thinking can be described in terms of algorithmic manipulation of some information  These ideas gave rise to the information processing paradigm – cognitive psychology Noam Chomsky  His critique of the behavioural account o language acquisition heralded the end of behaviourism as dominant paradigm.  Posited the existence of an innate (.i.e. genetically programmed) “Language acquisition device” Information Processing Methods Example: Dichotic Listening Colin Cherry (1953) When a number of auditory messages are presented at once (as might occur at a noisy party, for example), can a person focus on just one of these messages? Information Processing Results  Participants were able to focus only on the message they were shadowing  When asked about the message in the unattended ear, observers usually cannot report anything about it. Information Processing Broadbent’s filter model of attention Flow diagram for an early computer Memory Memory: Internal representation of prior events, experiences, information or skills learned. Memory Processes: Encoding  The process of coding information for immediate use or storage. Consolidation  The process of stabilising the newly encoded memory, initially quite fragile, for long-term storage and future use. Retrieval  The process of re-accessing events or information from the past that has been previously encoded and consolidated. Memory Structure Sensory Memory The brief retention of the effects of sensory stimulation for initial processing Capacity: Large Modality Specific: Separate storage of visual (iconic) and auditory (echoic) information; echoic Short-Term Memory Short-Term Memory stores small amounts of information for a brief duration  Capacity: limited 5-9 items (7 +/-2)  Can  Duration of preservation: about 30 seconds  Can  be increased by chunking be increased by rehearsal Coding: not specific to the sensorial modality of entry Episodic Buffer  Backup store that communicates with LTM and WM components  Hold information longer and has greater capacity than phonological loop or visuospatial sketch pad  Evidence derives from chunking Long-Term Memory Function: Storing information about events or knowledge learned for a very long period of time ranging from what happened 5 minutes ago to events form 80 years ago  Capacity: large, relatively unlimited  Duration: relatively permanent  LTM works closely with both STM and WM while receiving the encoded information for consolidation or providing it for retrieval as needed by current activity Primacy/Recency Primacy Bias (First impressions):  Long: Last a long time  Strong: Resistant to change  Built upon: We selectively attend to information that supports an initial hypothesis Recency Bias (weighting):  Recent information is more readily accessible  Disproportionately weighted  Influenced by individual differences Language Acquisition Is it Simple or Complex?  Appears to happen easily for most children, without explicit teaching… BUT  to appreciate the complexity of this task, need to understand the components of language…. Nature vs Nurture Emergentism - Karmiloff-Smith (2001)  Focus instead on dynamic interaction between both  K-S claims Language IS Special – but not by hardwiring complex linguistic representations into the neonate mind  Evolution has produced long period of postnatal brain development in humans  SO THAT environmental input can ‘shape the structure of the developing brain’ Tabula Rasa? Innate learning mechanisms, not Domain-Specific but some are Domain-Relevant – relevant to language  ‘Minimal predispositions’ to attend to faces and voices.’  These interact with input and environment to become more domain-specific with time.  Language functions (Matychuk, 2005): Show what children do with language. Results in adult brain’s specialized language areas Milestones: 0-1 Listening  Segmenting speech stream  Recognising certain words  Building comprehension of those words Producing sounds  From Coos to babbles to words  Intonation: learning tune before words Dialogue  Turn taking – conversation building Listening:Newborns Neonates prefer to  Look at faces (Johnson et al 1990)  Listen to voices (Friedlander 1970)  Distinguish Mother from a strange woman (3 days old; De Casper & Fifer, 1980)  Study faces and mouths than other shapes  Imitating tongue protrusions, mouth opening, blinking (Kugiumutzakis 1993) Newborn Speech (Coos to Words) 0-1 month Startle response to sound; cries, burps etc. Quieted by human voice Cries for help 2-3 months Coos Produces vowel sounds Responds to child directed speech First vowels 4-6 months Babbles and laughs More vocal with eyecontact Varies pitch and loudness Exploring & gaining control of vocal organs 6-9 months Babbles strings of syllables(bababa) Increased imitation of speech Parents scaffold Comprehends some words Becoming more social 10-12 months Produces one or more words Understands “no” Responds to own name Understands simple commands(sitdown) First words First Words About First Birthday Early words tend to name: • People (e.g. dada) • Animals (e.g. bowwow) • Objects which children can handle (e.g. shoe) • Objects that move (e.g. car/ /ball/ /tractor) Large objects that simply exist for a child do not tend to appear in their early vocabularies (e.g. ‘sofa’ ‘floor’ and ‘lamp’) Vocabulary Spurt After first words appear,  New words added slowly (1/week)  UNTIL: 50 words @ 18-24 mons  1 or 2 words/DAY Bloom (1973) ‘I was diligently keeping a diary of Igor’s growing vocabulary. And just after he was able to say about 45 words, I noticed that something different was happening. Igor started learning new words at lighting speed. I could no longer keep up with him!’  Bertha, Mother quoted in Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek (1999) Child Directed Speech (CDS) Also known as ‘Motherese’ in older literature  Slow  High-pitched  Repetitive  Short utterances  Exaggerated intonation  Babies need direct talk with care-giver-not overheard language  Most effective when child leads and adult elaborates/reframes Child Directed Speech Huttenlocher et al (1991) Language input: more words earlier  Most talkative Mothers used 10 times more words than least talkative mothers  Aged 16 mons: Children of talkative mothers had 33 more words compared to children of least talkative  By 24 months the gap has widened to 100 Telegraphic Speech Examples  Questions: ‘where doggie?’ ‘dada gone?’  Requests ‘more milk’  Describe locations ‘book here’  Describe actions ‘baba fall’  Negate ‘no dirty’ ‘no bath’  Possess ‘mama dress’, ‘baba book’ Not clear word order has grammatical role at this stage, but children reflect the order they hear The Great Leap Forward Telegraphic to Grammatical D at 2;2 D. at 1;6 /it sink down/ /key door/ /make it sink up/ /put ball/ /where my orange cup? /me chair/ /big people don’t wear bibs/ /pyjamas off/ /I taking food out of my hair/ Clark (2003) Overview: Birth-3 1. Study of child language important to a range of disciplines, and to theory as well as applied research 2. Task is challenging when viewed as abstract system, but develops embedded in social interaction 3. Milestones (rough guide)  Birth to 1 year coos, babbles, first words  1-2 yrs: words to 50+ Vocab Spurt, Combos  2-3 yrs: Grammatical morphemes to complex sentences Cognition- Methods Behavior approach measures relationship between stimuli and behavior Physiological approach measures relationship between physiology and behavior Both contribute to our understanding of cognition Working Memory Visuospatial sketch pad: Holds visual and spatial information for a brief time Evidence: Brooks (1968) asked participants to memorize a sentence and then consider each word (mentally).  Phonological: say “yes” if it is a noun and “no” if it is not  Visuospatial: point to Y if word is a noun and N if word is not Results  Pointing was easier than speaking  Two verbal tasks overloaded the phonological loop Working Memory Evidence for Visuospatial sketch pad: Brooks et al (1968) asked participants to visual the letter F and mentally move around image indicating inside and outside corners.  Phonological: say “out” for outside corner, “in” for inside  Visuospatial: point word “out” or “in” Results  This time speaking was easier.  Conducting two visuospatial tasks overloaded the visuospatial sketch pad. Language: Critical Period According to Lenneberg’s Critical Period:  Onset of Language is at age 2 (development of syntax)  Terminus is at puberty – decline in language capacity Lenneberg’s lateralization  Argued hemispheres are equipotential at birth  LH & RH are not specialized for language at birth  Then, with brain maturation, LH matures to have a specialization for language Language Laterelization Dichotic Listening Different stimuli are presented simultaneously to each ear.  Since dominant neural connections are contralateral => Information from the Right Ear reaches Left Hemisphere FASTER than info from Left Ear gets to LH  But note this is an issue of speed – there is a faster connection between Right ear and LH than Left ear and LH, BUT info from both ears does still get to LH in milliseconds. Procedure  “BA” and “GA” played into each ear simultaneously  Left earphone plays /ba/ and right earphone plays /ga/ at exactly the same time If Listener Reports Hearing ‘Ga’ First, which of their hemispheres is Dominant for Language? BA to LEFT ear (and RH) GA to RIGHT ear (and LH) Plasticity The Nature of Neural Plasticity  Baby arrives with nearly all the neurons it will ever have in place  Connections grow and synaptic pruning occurs  Experience shapes the brain (Kolb, 1989) Linguistic abilities in young children recover better after brain damage compared to adults Evaluation Lenneberg’s critical-period proposal is compatible with 1. Evidence on recovery from unilateral damage (i.e., the difference between children and adults with comparable injuries) 2. The difficulty that adults display in acquiring a second language without accent 3. Wild children and specifically Genie’s case Isabella Modern case of language deprivation  Born in 1932.  Her mother was deaf mute.  Both were kept in seclusion in a dark room from the day Isabella was born.  Escaped when Isabella was 6 years old.  IQ of an 18 month old Isabella In care, Isabella received extensive language training: Within 9 months:  She could identify written words & sentences  She could retell a story after hearing it  She could write well & add to 10 and Within 2 years:  Vocabulary of 1500-2000 words and was asking questions By age 8 she was performing at a normal range Genie Discovered in 1970 at age 13  Case of severe abuse and neglect  Father concluded she was mentally retarded  From 20 months kept in social isolation  Strapped to toilet/crib  Severely malnourished Near total isolation provided a unique chance to study human development Genie’s Language Began informal language training in 1971.  By mid 1975 she had wide-range vocabulary.  Disparity between vocabulary use and ability to use grammar.  Didn’t use question words or auxillary verbs (e.g. be, has/have).  No inflectional morphology (adding morphemes to change tense of verbs of make nouns plural)  Couldn’t transform syntax e.g. The dog chased the cat = the cat was chased by the dog Critical Period and wild children  Evidence from linguistic deprivation not as clear-cut as we might expect.  Lateralization does not occur fully within the critical period  Isabelle found at 6 and acquired normal language (however closely reared by mother).  Genie learned some linguistic abilities but no syntax.  Children need exposure to language in normal social contexts. Different views of language & cognition 1. Cognitive development determines language development in children- Piaget. 2. Cognition and language have separate origins but become interdependent during development - Vygotsky 3. Language determines or influences how we think - Whorf Piaget Piaget: Cognitive development determines language development.  Knowledge is a precursor to language  Language becomes more advanced because thinking has becoming more advanced  Language is one way knowledge is represented in the mind  Children could not use words like “more”/”bigger” correctly without first understanding conservation of volume Vygotsky Vygotsky: Cognition and Language have separate origins but become interdependent 1) In the speech development of the child, we can establish a pre-intellectual stage. 2) In his thought development, a pre-linguistic stage. 3) At a certain point these lines meet, whereupon Thought becomes verbal and speech rational (Vygotsky, 1962) Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Do different forms of language lead to different forms of thought? Edward Sapir & Benjamin Lee Whorf  The form of our language determines how we think  Language affects how we perceive and remember Two Forms: 1. Strong Form: Linguistic Determinism 2. Weak Form: Linguistic Relativity Linguistic Relativism As languages encode the world in different ways, they generate differences in their speakers’ cognitive representations of concepts.  So differences in languages will lead to differences in ways of thinking  Language has a more subtle effect on our thoughts in that it influences what we perceive and how we remember Strong claims Whorf on time: English treats time as countable chunks (groups) • Three days, four minutes, half an hour • NOT as a smooth unbroken stream. • Thus time can be saved, wasted or lost Hopi: Units of time not represented by nouns • Grammar does not allow durations of time to be counted like objects • They think about it differently - a continuous cycle. • Whorf did not mean that the Hopi do not understand what time is Criticisms of Whorf Studied native American tribes (e.g. Apache, Shawnee, Hopi)  Whorf used translations of their grammars as basis of claim that because they speak differently they must think differently.  BUT no evidence of different thought Lenneberg argued Whorf’s a circular argument:  Because languages differ, thinking differs -then tried to prove it by showing that languages differ! Thought can occur without language • Karen Wynn (1993) ‘magic show’ method: 5 month old infants expect to see correct number of objects revealed after being displayed then covered (babies stared longer at violations of number they expected to see). • Goldin-Meadow & Mylander (1990) study of deaf children of hearing parents who invent some signs to convey their thoughts. Grammatical Differences Carroll & Casagrande (1958): English v Navaho  Navaho Verb codes for shape & rigidity  Sample: Navaho-dominant and Engdominant bilinguals to see if differences  Hypothesis: Navaho-dominant speakers would categorise by features of shape and rigidity more Results: Navaho-dominant children DID group by shape not colour Grammatical Differences Boroditsky et al (2011): English v Mandarin A non-linguistic task to measure how participants think about time:  Participants shown 2 images and asked if 2nd image is earlier or later  They responded by pressing an earlier of later button Canonical horizontal: Left button = earlier Canonical vertical: Upper button = earlier Reading Textbook Psychology 2E: Chapter Chapter 7 & 8; specifically 7.1; 7.2 & all of chapter 8. Additional Boroditsky, L., Fuhrman, O., & McCormick, K. (2011). Do English and Mandarin speakers think about time differently?. Cognition, 118(1), 123-129.