Foundations of Psychology Review 4 Language Psycholinguistics Study of the cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms underlying the acquisition use and understanding of language 2 Components of language Symbols that convey meaning o Symbolizes something that we all agree upon o We label objects with words and those labels represent something and we can use those words to link to other objects or to distinguish them with other object Rules for combining those symbols o We have to agree how we will sequence organize the words so they have meaning o Rules for combining those symbols that can be used to generate an infinite variety of messages Language is Symbolic Sematic Generative Structured Structure of language Phonemes Morphemes Syntax sentences Language development 1 5 months o You have to learn the meaning of words Sematic meaning o Different words can represent the same meaning o There are rules to generate meaning o Basic units of sound in the spoken language o Smallest unit of meaning in a language a word o System of rules that specify how words can be arranged into phrases and o Random vocalizations crying o Universal Doesn t have to do with culture 6 12 months o Babbling sounds corresponds to phonemes o Approximates human speech patterns o Began to sound like their culture American indian etc o Improves significantly over time reflects maturation of the nervous system and vocal apparatus o Exposure to other human beings stimulus o Stimulates the development of vocal apparatus phonemes o In respond to sound 12 months 12 18 months o Use of words that refer to objects o 50 words slow development one word sentence stage o Excruciatingly slow o Holophrases single word utterances that appear to function like sentences o Use a single word to indicate a more complex thought Parents try to guess what the child is trying to say with that simple word o Not yet enter the fast mapping period 18 24 months o Vocabulary spurt o Fast mapping children map a word onto an underlying concept or object after only one exposure to the word o It can automatically map 10 20 words per day o Number of words grow rapidly o A child is exposed to words and learns very rapidly which words goes to which objects o Overextension error child incorrectly maps a word on a wider set of objects Lacks appropriate word to describe object When a child goes through vocabulary spurt o It sees object in which it does not know the name yet and uses the words it already knows to call it Use overall characteristic to name the object it does not know yet o Two word sentence stage use 2 words in a sentence o Telegraphic speech use of pronouns and verbs o Telegraphic speech try to reduce the number of words to a minimum to 2 years communicate meaning 2 years o Three word sentence stage speaks to listener o The ability increases but also speaks to another person o Speaks to someone in the outside world o The ability increases but also speaks to another person o Speaks to a listener but not considered a listener o Directs its communication to somebody else 3 5 years o Complete simple active sentence structure uses plurals o Speaks in present and past tense expanded grammatical forms o Children have difficulty to express their thoughts in the past tense o There s no logical way to explain the past tense there are rules buy bought o Overregulation Children learn to apply certain rules and make mistakes I hitted the ball I eated grammatical rules are incorrectly generalized to irregular cases where they do not apply o The mistakes are not likely a result of imitation o They don t imitate their parents because the parents don t speak like that o Imaginary speech conversation that children have 3 5 years with o Complex syntax 10 000 words o Metalinguistic awareness when children express say something that you don t expect them to o Behaviorist theory of language acquisition imitation and reinforcement syntax is learned by imitation adults make corrections o Criticism of behaviorist theory o Express themselves in a way that their understanding of the words are richer o As the person becomes mature shows maturation whom they speak Age 6 When you have Broca s aphasia difficulty with language you tend to be telegraphic use as few words as possible Wernicke s aphasia difficulty understanding language word salads grammar is messed up Holophrase by babies is normal Few words by old people are clinical neurological failure Theories of Language Acquisition Learning theories behavioral imitation o Imitation learn language by the presence of human in society o Conditioning learn by training parents sit with their children and teach them about language Biological o Humans are uniquely endowed to this process o It is hypothesized that there is language acquisition device in the brain o Nativist inborn Chomsky proposes the existence of language acquisition device Life Span Zygote Union of sperm and egg Prenatal development Germinal o First 2 weeks o Rapid cell division cell mass migrates through fallopian tube to uterine o Development of placenta allows for passage of oxygen and nutrients from mother to embryo waste is passed to mother wall Embryonic o Lasts 2 months o Most vulnerable stage of pregnancy Structural birth defects abnormal development o The embryo acquires many physiological structures o Necessary organs begin to develop in this stage Fetal o From second month to birth completes the 9 months of pregnancy o Muscles and bones develop physical movement noticeable o Last 3 months brain cells multiply vigorously o After about 6 months fetus is viable can survive premature birth Affect of mother to embryo or fetus Eating habits o Malnutrition Drug o Fetal alcohol syndrome Physical health o Measles cholera syphilis At birth Vision is very poor After 6 months acuity ability to see details is 20 100 sees object at 20 feet as sharp as normal adult does at 100 feet Age 2 almost the vision of an adult begins to have color vision acuity of 20 20 Hearing is a lot better Smell well developed easily recognize the caregivers necessary to develop trust Infant mortality of deaths in the 1st year of life per 1000 You can t alter the number but you can improve it by prenatal health care Motor development muscular coordination required for physical activity 1 Cephalo brain caudal trend back head to foot direction control the head region 2 Proximo distal trend center outward direction first control over torso movements then arms First gets control of
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