Language
system of communication that combines symbols in a rule based way to create meaning
Functions of language
transmission of info, expression of thoughts medium for social interaction
Extralinguistic information
elements of communication that are not part of content of language like facial expressions or tone of voice
phonemes
sounds of our language
morphemes
smallest unit of meaningful speech- ish and re
syntax
rules for putting words into sentences
semantics
meaning of words
homesign
deaf children who created their own signs
Imitation account
we learn language by imitating others- parsimonious but cons are that language is generative and cannot just apply in any context
nativist account
children come into world withs one basic knowledge of how language works- pro is that overregularizatoin of errors but con is that it is hard to falsify
Social pragmatic account
children use context and social interactions to infer what words mean- con is that we assume children know a lot then- is pointing correlated with word meaning or object
General cognitive account
children't language learning results from developing cognitive skills through thought, experience senses pro is that down syndrome kids do have trouble with language but con is that children are better than adults in language sometimes
Linguistic determinism
language determines thought- language A has more words for certain event should know more about that event (inuit with many words for snow)
Linguistic relativity
language influences how we think and perceive world
Stroop effect
naming the colors- demonstrates automaticy of langauge- reading becomes automatic when fluent
whole world recognition
reading strategy that involves identifying common words based on their appearance without having to sound them out
Well defined
clearly specified goal- necessary info is spelled out like logical puzzles and proofs
Ill defined
not obvious when a goal has been reached- finding perfect mate and writing a novel
Top down processing
we fill in gap of missing info using our experience and background knowledge
functional fixedness
see an object as only have one function but can have more example of Candle problem
Overextending
referring to all adult men as daddy
Underextending
thinking your pet cat is the word cat
Algorithms
step by step procedure that is guaranteed eventually to produce a solution- example of replacing start on car-->depends on same basic steps to arrive to solution
Heuristics
mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that may or may not lead to a correct solution
Analogical reasoning
using representation of a problem with known solution to help solve novel problem (roll a ball through curved table what will trajectory be
Salience of surface similarities
we tend to focus our attention on the surface level properties of a problem and ry to solve problems the same way we solve problems that exhibited smiler surface characteristics
Mental sets
being stuck in a specific problem- solving first 8 problems with same mental set but having problem with ninth- hard to break free
Availability heuristic
heuristic that involves estimating the likelihood of an occurrence based not he ace with which it comes to our minds (ex-giving high number of murders for detroit but less for state of michigan)
representiviness heuristic
mental shortcut that involves making a probability judgement by comparing an object or event to a prototype- if a guy is shy, awkward, and a chess player, we might think he is a computer science major rather than a comm major