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Cognition > Chapter 11: Language > Flashcards

Chapter 11: Language Flashcards

1
Q

Language

A
  • System of communication using sounds or symbols

- Express feelings, thoughts, ideas, and experiences

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2
Q

Hierarchical System

A

Components that can be combined to form larger units

- Words—> phrases—>sentences—>story

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3
Q

Rule-based Nature of Language

A

Idea that there are rules in language that specify permissible ways for arranging words and phrases
- Language is governed by rules

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4
Q

Universality of Language

A
  • Deaf children invent sign language that is all their own
  • Pidgin/ creole languages
  • All humans with normal capacities develop a language and learn to follow its complex rules
  • Language is universal across cultures
  • Language development is similar across cultures
  • Languages are “unique but the same”
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5
Q

Pidgin languages

A

2 non-overlapping languages are forced together to communicate
- Not as many grammatical rules

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6
Q

Creole language

A

Next generation of Pidgin, but have rules of grammar

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7
Q

B.F. Skinner- Verbal Behavior

A

Language learned through reinforcement

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8
Q

Noam Chomsky- Syntactic Structures

A
  • Human language coded in the genes
  • Underlying basis of all language is similar
  • Children produce sentences they have never heard and that have never been reinforced
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9
Q

Psycholinguistics

A

Discover physiological process by which humans acquire and process language
- Field concerned with psychological study of language

  • Comprehension
  • Speech production
  • Representation
  • Acquisition
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10
Q

Comprehension

A

How do people understand spoken and written language

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11
Q

Speech production

A

How do people produce language

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12
Q

Representation

A

How is language represented in mind

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13
Q

Acquisition

A

How do people learn language

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14
Q

Lexicon

A

Person’s knowledge of what words mean, how they sound, and how they are used in relation to other words

  • All words a person understands= “mental dictionary”
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15
Q

Semantics

A

The meaning of language (words and sentences)

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16
Q

Lexical Semantics

A

Meaning of words

  • Each word has one or more meaning
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17
Q

Word Frequency

A

Relative usage of words in particular language

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18
Q

Word Frequency Effect

A

Demonstrates how past experiences with words influences our ability to access their meaning

- we respond faster to high-frequency words
- Rayner and Duffy fixation and gaze times
- Eye movements while reading
- Look at low-frequency words longer
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19
Q

Lexical Decision Task

A

Task is to decide as quickly as possible whether strings of letters are words or non words

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20
Q

Variable Word Pronuniciation

A

Use context to understand words with unfamiliar pronunciations

Ex. “Didjoo?”, “Gonna”

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21
Q

Speech Segmentation

A
  • Perception of individual words even though there are no silences between spoken words
  • Context
  • Understanding of meaning (known vs unknown language)
  • Understanding of sounds and syntactic rules
  • Statistical learning
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22
Q

Lexical Ambiguity

A

When a word can have more than one meaning

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23
Q

Lexical Priming

A

Priming that involves meaning of words

  • Tarenhaus: N-N condition and V-N condition
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24
Q

Parsing

A

Mentally groups the words into phrases

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25
Garden Path Sentences
Sentences that begin by appearing to mean one thing, but then end up meaning something else
26
Temporary Ambiguity
When the initial words are ambiguous, but the meaning is made clear by the end of the sentence
27
Meaning Dominance
Some meanings of words occur more frequently than others
28
Biased Dominance
When a word has more than one meaning, and one meaning is more likely
29
Balanced Dominance
When a word has more than one meaning and all meanings are equally likely
30
The garden path model of parsing
Model of parsing that emphasizes syntactic principles as major determinant of parsing - Listeners used heuristics (rules) to group words into phrases - Grammatical structure of sentence determines parsing - Late closure
31
Heuristics
A “rule of thumb” that provides a best-guess solution to problem
32
Late Closure
Parser assumes new word is part of current phrase
33
Constraint-based approach to parsing
Approach to parsing that proposes that semantics, syntax, and other factors operate simultaneously to determine parsing Combines: - Syntax - Word meaning - Story context - Memory load - Subject-relative and object-relative sentence construction
34
Subject-Relative Construction
Sentence construction in which subject of main clause is also subject in embedded clause
35
Object-Relative Construction
Sentence construction in which subject of main clause is object in embedded clause
36
Tabenhaus and Trueswell (1995)
- Visual word paradigm, the context of a scene - Eye movements change when info suggests revision of interpretation of sentence is necessary - Linguistic and nonlinguistic information used simulataneously
37
Visual World Paradigm
In experiments an language processing, determine how subjects are processing info in a scene as they respond to specific instructions related to scene
38
Nonlinguistic information
Info provided by scene
39
Inferences
In language, process by which readers create info that is not explicitly stated in text
40
Narrative
Story that progresses from one event to another
41
Coherence
Representation of text or story in reader’s mind so that info in me part of text/story is related to info in another part
42
Anaphoric Inference
An inference that connects an object or person in another sentence
43
Instrument Inference
An inference about tools/ methods that occur while reading text or listening to speech
44
Causal Inference
Inference that results in conclusion that events described in one clause or sentence were caused by events in previous clause/ sentence
45
Situation Model
Mental representation of what text is about
46
Limits on biological preparation for language
- for example, “wolf children” - none could be rehabilitated to use language normally - ex. Genie the Wild Child - Critical periods
47
Given-New Contract
In conversation, speaker should construct sentences so that they contain both given info and new info
48
Common Ground
Knowledge, beliefs, and assumptions shared between two speakers
49
Referential Communication Task
Task in which two people are exchanging info in conversation, when this info involves reference- identifying something by naming or describing it
50
Entrainment
Synchronization between partners in conversation
51
Syntactic Coordination
Process by which people see similar grammatical constructions when having conversation
52
Syntactic Priming
Hearing statement with particular syntactic construction increases chances that statement that follows will be produced with same construction
53
Theory of Mind
Ability to understand what others think, feel, or believe
54
Broca’s area
Difficulty in understanding sentences with complex syntax | - Nonfluent
55
Wernicke’s aphasia
Fluent
56
Linguistic Relativity
Linguistic relativity is the hypothesis that people who speak different languages think differently
57
Bilingualism
Children raised in bilingual homes learn both languages as quick;y as monolingual children learn one language
58
Prosody
The pattern of intonation and rhythm in spoken language | - Often creates emotion in spoken language (a speaker’s “soaring oratory”)
59
Music as the “language of emotion”
Music creates emotion through sounds that have no meaning
60
Language combines words and music combines tone to create […] that unfold over time
Language combines words and music combines tone to create structured sequences that unfold over time
61
Tonic
Key of musical composition | - Tonic note is first note of scale in particular key
62
Return to the Tonic
In musical composition, coming back to tonic note that was at beginning of composition
63
Congenital Amusia
People have problems with music perception, including tasks such as discriminating between simple melodies or recognizing common tunes

Cognition (11 decks)

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