Thinking and Language Organizing Our Thoughts Making cognitive

Thinking and Language

Organizing Our Thoughts…. (Making cognitive sense out of our world…) Cognition Concept Category Hierarchies We form concepts by… ØDefinition Øprototypes

Problem Solving With Cognition Cognitive Problem Solving: ØAlgorithms ØHeuristics ØInsight ØTrial and error

Limitations of heuristic judgments… Heuristic problem solving: hugely useful, but sometimes leads us astray… ØAvailability heuristic ØRepresentative heuristic

Obstacles to problem solving… Overconfidence Belief Bias Belief Perseverance Framing

Obstacles to Problem Solving… Confirmation Bias Fixation ØMental sets / Rigidity ØFunctional Fixedness

Creativity and Cognition Definition? Correlation between intelligence and creativity? ? ? Types of Creativity ØConvergent Thinking ØDivergent Thinking

Language is…. “…the Jewel in the Crown of Cognition. ” “…complexity built of simplicity. ”

Defining Language What component distinguishes language from other forms of communication? ØWords (spoken, written or signed) 3 Factors of language development: Genetic predisposition, environment, maturation

Language Structure 3 Building Blocks of Language ØPhonemes (Ssss, P, T) ØMorphemes ØGrammar (semantics and syntax)

Language Structure Phonemes Ø Smallest units of sound in language Ø 40 in English language ( 869 in human speech) Ø Do changes in phonemes produce changes in meaning? Why? (Try an example…) Morphemes Ø Smallest units of meaning (includes prefixes, suffixes) Ø 100, 000 in English language = 615, 000 words in Oxford Dictionary!

Language Structure Grammar: System of rules that govern language v. Semantics: the study of meaning for morphemes, words, sentences. . Adding ed suffix = past tense v. Syntax: rules for combining words into sentences o adjectives comes before nouns

Language Development Month 4 Stage Babbles speech sounds (receptive language/ 10 12 24 Babbles household language one-word stage Two-word stage (telegraphic speech) (“I hitted my head. ”= overgeneralization) rapid development into complete sentences 24+ universal adaptability)

Theories of Language Development Skinner vs. Chomsky

B. F. Skinner Language – Operant Conditioning (nurture) ØAssociation pairing objects with words ØImitation Words and syntax modeled by others ØReinforcement Praise

Noam Chomsky Language occurs naturally / Nature Universal grammar underlies all human language (nouns, verbs etc. ) Language Acquisition Device: (switchbox) Brain is prewired for universal grammar- thus ready to learn any of 6, 000 languages (switches will be set to specific language over time) ØSurface structure: organization of language ØDeep structure: meaning

Language Development Babies- a built in readiness to learn grammatical rules Critical period o Childhood: best / only time to master certain elements of language (accent etc. ) o 2 nd language: those who learn it early learn it best o (Chomsky: L. A. D. - grammar switches set early) Learning window- closes gradually after age 7 o Hearing children / deaf children: parallel results o No language as child / language learning capacity never fully develops

Language and Thinking Linguistic Determinism Hypothesis ØLanguage determines (limits? ) how we think…(facilitates cognition) ØExamples? To expand language is to expand the ability to think. ”

The Bilingual Advantage… Studies suggest that bilingual children… ØAre more advanced in school ØAre better at following complicated instructions ØDemonstrate better mental flexibility ØTend to perform better on tests of creativity

Language deprived… 2/3 of the world’s children are bilingual 7% of U. S. children are bilingual

Vanishing Languages… 6, 800 languages in the world today 250 spoken by 1, 000 or more people 600 have speaking populations robust enough to last beyond the century Africa- birthplace of 1/3 of the world’s languages- 54 are extinct and 116 are near extinction South America: 640 languages- 80% spoken by 10, 000 or less What’s causing accelerated language extinction? ? ?