PSY 3120 Exam 3

Many linguists argue that non-human species such as apes and dolphins do not have language because:

the communications of those species do not appear to be novel and generative.

The case of Genie demonstrated that there is no critical period for learning a language. T/F

False

The "cooperative principle", as defined by Grice, states that:

In conversations, we assume that everyone will follow the rules and make appropriate contributions.

Define and give an example of a morpheme.

A morpheme is the basic unit of meaning in a language. For example, "books" contains 2 morphemes: the concept of book, and "s" means "more than one".

What is an online theory of mind?

An online theory of mind is a mental model of what the person we are talking with knows.

In which type of aphasia does the patient have difficulty producing fluent speech?

Broca's aphasia

What is the difference between competence and performance, according to Chomsky?

Competence refers to the idea that everyone, even children, has an implicit knowledge of the rules of syntax. Performance refers to the actual expression of language, which is not always accurate. Chomsky argued that language competence is innate, but that children make errors in performance because language must unfold with maturity.

All languages use the same set of about 30 phonemes, or basic speech sounds. T/F

False

Define language and explain how it differs from communication.

Language is a form of communication that uses a shared symbolic system of rules and is generative. The more general term "communication" indicates a behavior that transmits information, and would include facial expressions, and hoots or howls from animals. Language is a type of communication, but it has to follow a set of rules, which allows for the production of completely novel sentences or ideas; knowledge of those rules allows others to understand novel communications.

Explain the characteristics of Wernicke's (or fluent) aphasia, including the part of the brain most likely to be damaged in patients with this disorder.

Patients with Wernicke's aphasia typically have damage to the left parietal lobe. They are referred to as fluent because they speak in whole sentences and without difficulty; however, sometimes their speech is not coherent and sounds like "word salad", with wrong words and neologisms (made up words). The primary problem for these patients, however, is in comprehension of speech, which is poor. They have limited repetition ability, but will say similar sounding things, suggesting the words they are to repeat don't have meaning to them. Naming is poor as well.

Define pragmatics and give an example.

Pragmatics refers to the social rules and world knowledge that allow people to communicate well with one another. For example, both speakers should try to shape their communications based on "common ground", or an understanding of what the other person knows.

Define and give an example of referential coherence.

Referential coherence refers to one way in which different sentences are shown to relate to one another by making reference to the same person or object. For example, consider the two sentences: "I was looking for a book. It was on the table." The words "book" and "it" refer to the same object, which makes it possible to comprehend the relationship between the two sentences.

Give an example of how higher level or abstract thought has been demonstrated in a non-human animal.

Some of the best examples come from the film clips shown in class. For example, Chaser the dog was able to retrieve a toy he had never seen before, apparently because he reasoned that it had to be the only toy he didn't know the name of. This seems to go beyond possible rote learning of each name with each toy. The dolphins seemed to show planning ability, by carrying multiple weights to put in the box, instead of retrieving them one by one. That is, they anticipated what would have to happen next, again producing a behavior they had not been explicitly taught. The dolphins also were able to come up with a new trick that both of them did together, when instructed to "create".

Which of the following processes is a control mechanism in Gernsbacher's structure-building framework of comprehension?

Suppression Enhancement

What is the dual route hypothesis of reading?

The dual route hypothesis of reading states that reading comprehension can occur through two possible routes. The indirect route involves recoding of visual information into phonological information in order to access word meaning. The direct route involves a direct activation of word meanings from the visual information. The dual route hypothesis says that words will be comprehended through whichever of these two routes is faster.

What is the eye-mind assumption?

The eye-mind assumption is used in the study of reading and states that the pattern of eye movements and fixations reflect the underlying comprehension processes.

During reading, when the eyes move backward to an earlier part of the text, this movement is called a regression. T/F

True

Language acquisition follows set developmental patterns across all cultures. T/F

True

Speakers in conversations typically adjust what they say and how they structure a sentence based on what they think the knowledge level of the listener is. T/F

True

Which of the following statements is true? a. Phonology is the system of rules about social communication. b. Children don't acquire the rules of syntactic structure until they learn them in school. c. Knowledge of syntactic rules is unconscious or implicit. d. All of the above.

c. Knowledge of syntactic rules is unconscious or implicit.

With respect to language lateralization:

for most people, language is primarily localized in the left hemisphere of the brain.