Chapter 9 Cognition and MEMORY Copyright Allyn Bacon

How Do Children Acquire Language? Infants and children face an especially important developmental task

How Children Acquire Language Inborn Universal Grammar – Chomsky – nature stance – inborn- amazing rate of language growth Skinner / nurture– association of sights of things and sound and reinforcement Linguistic determinism – Whorf – language determines HOW we think Language acquisition device (LAD) – Structure in the brain innately programmed with some of the fundamental rules of grammar Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

How Children Acquire Language Early stages of language acquisition include the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. The babbling stage The one-word stage The two-word stage Telegraphic speech (short, simple sentences) The naming explosion Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

The Rules of Grammar n n n Grammar – The rules of a language Morphemes – Meaningful units of language that make up words Overregularization – Applying a grammatical rule too widely and thereby creating incorrect forms (e. g. using “hitted” and “feets”) Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

What Are the Components of Thought? Thinking is a cognitive process in which the brain uses information from the senses, emotions, and memory to create and manipulate mental representations, such as concepts, images, schemas, and scripts Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Concepts o Concepts – Mental representations of categories of items or ideas, based on experience n n • Natural concepts represent objects and events Artificial concepts are defined by rules We organize much of our declarative memories into concept hierarchies Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Animal Has skin Eats Breathes Bird Fish Has wings Can fly Has feathers Has fins Can swim Has gills Canary Ostrich Shark Can sing Is yellow Can’t fly Is tall Can bite Is dangerous Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007 Salmon Is pink Is edible

Thought and the Brain o Event-related potentials – Brain waves shown on an EEG

Schemas and Scripts Help you Know What to Expect o o Schema – A knowledge cluster or general framework that provides expectations about topics, events, objects, people, and situations in one’s life Script – A cluster of knowledge about sequences of events and actions expected to occur in particular settings Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

What Abilities Do Good Thinkers Possess? Good thinkers not only have a repertoire of effective algorithms and heuristics, they know how to avoid the common impediments to problem solving and decision making Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Problem Solving o Good problem solvers are skilled at n n Identifying the problem

Selecting a Strategy o o Algorithms – Problem-solving procedures or formulas that guarantee a correct outcome if correctly applied Heuristics – Cognitive strategies used as shortcuts to solve complex mental tasks; they do not guarantee a correct solution Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Heuristics o Useful heuristics include: n n n Working backward Searching for analogies Breaking

Working Backwards Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Obstacles to Problem Solving o o Mental set – Tendency to respond to a new problem in the manner used for a previous problem Functional fixedness – Inability to perceive a new use for an object associated with a different purpose Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Unscramble These Words o o o o nelin ensce sdlen lecam slfal dlchi neque

Unscrambled Words o linen scene lends camel falls child queen pears o o talks o o melon o o o colds o o shelf o groan o gates The algorithm you used to solve the first column probably kept you from seeing the multiple Allynthe & Bacon 2007 solutions for the Copyright words© in second column o o

Obstacles to Problem Solving o Other obstacles include: n n Self-imposed limitations Lack of

The Nine-Dot Problem . . Without lifting your pen from the page, can you

Judging and Making Decisions Confirmation Bias Hindsight Bias Anchoring Bias Representativeness Bias Availability Bias

Judging and Making Decisions Confirmation Bias Hindsight Bias o Ignoring or finding fault with information that does not fit our opinions, and seeking information with which we agree Anchoring Bias Representativeness Bias Availability Bias Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Judging and Making Decisions Confirmation Bias Hindsight Bias Anchoring Bias o Tendency, after learning about an event, to believe that one could have predicted the event in advance Representativeness Bias Availability Bias Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Judging and Making Decisions Confirmation Bias o Hindsight Bias Anchoring Bias Representativeness Bias Faulty heuristic caused by basing (anchoring) an estimate on a completely unrelated quantity Availability Bias Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Judging and Making Decisions Confirmation Bias Hindsight Bias Anchoring Bias Representativeness Bias o Faulty heuristic strategy based on presumption that, once a person or event is categorized, it shares all features of other members in that category Availability Bias Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Judging and Making Decisions Confirmation Bias Hindsight Bias o Anchoring Bias Representativeness Bias Availability Bias Faulty heuristic strategy that estimates probabilities based on information that can be recalled from personal experience Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007