Chapter 10 – Thinking and Language Reading Map

Chapter 10 – Thinking and LanguageReading Map • Thur, Jan 12 chapter 9 SG & Cards • Thur, Jan 12 385 – 395 • Fri, Jan 13 395 – 401 • Mon, Jan 16 401 – 417 • Tues, Jan 17 SG and Cards due (no quiz) • Wed, Jan 18 review for Final Assessment

Thinking (385) • Cognition – mental activities associated with processing, understanding, remembering and communicating • Cognitive Psychologists study cognition and the logical/illogical ways we create concepts, solve problems, make decisions and form judgments

Concepts (386) • Mental groupings of similar objects, events and people • Simplify our thinking and expression

Concepts (386) • Concepts are formed by • Definition • Prototypes

by definition A dog has four legs and hair. by prototype The best example of a dog is a labrador retriever. Concepts (386)

Solving Problems (387) • We are rational because we can solve problems to cope with new situations.

Methods to Solve Problems (387) • Trial and Error – try every possible (puzzle pieces) • Algorithm – follow set steps that guarantee a solution (lego instructions) • Heuristics – use strategies (finding ketchup) – faster but more errors happen • Insight – sudden flashes of inspiration (Eureka!)

Confirmation Bias - Tendency to search for information that confirms our ideas Fixation Inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective Past success can help us solve new problems but it might also interfere with finding new solutions Obstacles to Problem Solving (388)

Mental Set (389) • Is the tendency to repeat solutions that worked in the past • Is a type of fixation • A perceptual set predisposes what we perceive. A mental set predisposes how we think.

Functional Fixedness (389) • The tendency to see an object’s function as fixed and unchanging.

Making Decisions & Forming Judgments (389) Do we use systematic reasoning? Do we follow our intuition?

Overconfidence (391) • Overestimating the accuracy of our knowledge and judgments • Overestimating what our performance was, is or will be • Being more confident than correct • Overconfidence is adaptable

Representative Heuristic - We judge the likelihood of something in terms of how well it represents a prototype. - We assume the professor is the poetry lover not the truck driver. Availability Heuristic - We base our judgments on the availability of information in our memories. - The faster we can remember something, the more likely we expect it to reoccur. Using and Misusing Heuristics (389_

Risks/What do We Fear? (392) • What our ancestors feared. • What we can’t control. • What is immediate. • What is most available to our memory. • What are most vivid memories.

Framing (394) • Framing is the way we present information. • Framing has a huge effect on our thinking. • Do you want 75% lean beef or 25% fat beef? • Do you wonder if the original price is fair, or are you swayed by the 10% OFF SALE PRICE.

Belief Bias (394) • is the tendency to seek confirmation of our hunches or existing beliefs. • We more easily see the illogic of conclusions that counter our beliefs. • Our beliefs distort our logic and make invalid conclusions seem valid.

Belief Perseverance Phenomenon (396) • The tendency to cling to beliefs in the face of contrary evidence. • We are more ready to accept evidence that supports our belief (and reject evidence that counters our beliefs). • 9 minute clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoCqftOYHX4

Artificial Intelligence (397) • The aim is to design computers to perform operations that mimic human thinking and “do” intelligent things. • 2 goals of AI • Practical – robots that can sense their environment • Theoretical – computers that mimic human thinking • Computer neural networks mimic the brain’s interconnected neural units.

Language Structure (401) Phonemes – basic sounds – “ch” – “t” Morphemes – smallest unit of language that has meaning – “s” – “un” - 100,000 morphemes and 616,000 words in English “UN” “DESIR” “ABLE” “S”

Semantics Rules to give morphemes, words and sentences meaning Ie, adding “ed” makes a verb in the past tense Syntax Rules used to order our sentences. Ie. Adjectives come before the noun Grammar (401)

Language Development (402) • Children acquire simple then complex language. • At 4 months, children discriminate speech sounds, read lips to match sound and babble. • Babble is not based on the baby’s home language. Clip ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RqUTJAfy48 • At 10 months the babble reflects the house’s language and the baby loses the ability to recognize and say phonemes from other languages.

Language Development (402) • 1 year old ----- 1 word stage • 18 months ---- learn a word a day • Twin clip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JmA2ClUvUY&feature=relmfu • 2 years -------- 2 word stage ---- telegraphic speech (mostly nouns and verbs) ‘want juice” --- use nouns and verbs in correct syntax (order) • There is no 3-word stage. Most kids go directly to rather complex longer phrases. • Clip on Apraxia of Speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqMZ2musuoQ

Explaining Language Development (404) • 3 theories of language development • Skinner – Operant Conditioning theory • Chomsky – inborn universal grammar theory • Cognitive Neuroscientists – Statistical Learning theory

Skinner Operant Conditioning Theory of Language (404) We learn language by: • Association - of things to words • Imitation - of words/syntax modelled by others • Reinforcement – rewards for saying words

Chomsky’s Theory of Language (404) • Says children have inborn, universal grammar • Children learn their environment’s language, however, they acquire untaught words and grammar at too extraordinary of a rate to be explained solely by learning principles – therefore the grammar is considered to be “inborn” • Children make over-generalization mistakes – “I hurted myself”

Cognitive Neuroscience Statistical Learning Theory of Language (405) • Says that there is a critical period for mastery of grammar (1 to 7 years of age) • Says that the mind is a blanker slate than Chomsky claims • Language develops through a gradual change of network connections based on experience • Second language learned early in life activate the same frontal lobe areas as the first language does

Thinking & Language (409) • Linguist Benjamin Whorf - linguistic determinism - language determines the way we think • Different languages impose different concepts of reality ---- ie there are lots of English words for angry and lots of Japanese words for sympathy

Thinking Without Language (411) • Procedural Memory – we have a mental image of how to do something (turning tap on) but we can’t explain it in words • We can mentally practice and improve our performance on tasks. • We can mentally imagine a result (1989 Grey Cup)

Thinking without Language • Much of our information processing occurs outside of consciousness, beyond language. Processing happens in parallel – functioning automatically – remembered implicitly – only occasionally to surface as words.

Animal Thinking and Language (413) • Monkeys can do numbers • Monkeys have insight not just conditioned learning – use a stick to reach food • Bee dances show the way to honey

The Case of the Apes (415) • A chimp’s closest relative is a human not an ape • Gardner (1969) taught Washoe the chimp 132 signs by age 4 and 181 by age 32 – “water bird” • Koko clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5tsSyrTy0g&feature=related • We think that speech evolved after gestures • For apes and humans and chimps communication involves gestures

Can Apes Really Talk? (415) Skeptics say: • Not like children who effortlessly soak up language • Just behavior and reward • Syntax problems • Just mimicking their trainers • Humans have a perceptual set and interpret ape language how they expect it to be

bullets

columns

Big picture

Chapter 10 – Thinking and Language Reading Map