AP Psychology

Cognition
Essential Task 6-5: Synthesize how biological,
cognitive, and cultural (linguistic determinism) factors
converge to facilitate the acquisition (critical periods,
Universal Inborn Grammar, and Victor/Genie)
development (One-word stage, telegraphic speech)
and use of language (phonemes,
morphemes, syntax and semantics).
 Algorithms Heuristics Compensatory Representativeness
Models Heuristic

Problem
Problem Decision
Decision
Solving
Solving Making
Making
Techniques
Techniques Techniques
Techniques
Availability
Heuristic

Unit
Unit 6:
6:
Obstacles to Cognition
Cognition Obstacles to
Problem Solving
Decision Making

Biological
Factors
Acquisition
Acquisition Memory
Memory Information
and
anduse
use of
of Processing
Language
Language Model

We are
here
Encoding Storage Retrieval
Cognitive Cultural
Factors Factors
Essential
Outline
Task:
• Language
– Universal Characteristics of Language
– Phonemes
– Morphemes
– Syntax
– semantics
– linguistic determinism
• Process of Language Acquisition
– Babbling
– One-word stage/Holophrastic Speech
– Telegraphic speech
• Acquisition Theories
– critical periods
– Universal Inborn Grammar
– Important Case Studies - Victor/Genie
Building Blocks of Thought

Images
– Nonverbal mental representations of sensory
experiences
• Language
– A flexible system of symbols that enables us to
communicate our ideas, thoughts, and feelings
– Nonhumans communicate primarily though
signs
Universal Characteristics of
Language
1. Semanticity
2. Arbitrariness
3. Flexibility of symbols
4. Naming
5. Displacement
6. Generativity
Thinking in Images
To a large extent cognition is
language-based. When alone, we
may talk to ourselves. However,
we also think in images.
Images and the Brain

Watching a physical activity activates

the same brain regions as when
actually performing the activity.
Language Structure
Phonemes: The smallest distinct
sound unit in a spoken
language. For example:

bat, has three phonemes b · a · t

chat, has three phonemes ch · a ·
t make by varying the vowel
How many meanings can you
phoneme between B and T?
Generally _____________ phonemes carry more
information.
Answers
• Bait, bat, beat/beet, bet bit, bite, boat,
boot, bought, bout, and but.

• The consonant phonemes. The treth

ef thes stetement shed be evedent
frem thes bref demenstretien.
Language Structure
Morpheme: The smallest unit that
carries a meaning. It may be a
word or part of a word. For
example:

Milk = milk
Pumpkin = pump . kin
Unforgettable = un · for · get · table
Structuring Language
Basic sounds (about 40) …
Phonemes ea, sh.
Morpheme Smallest meaningful units
s (100,000) … un, for.
Meaningful units (290,500)
Words … meat, pumpkin.
Composed of two or more
Phrase words (326,000) … meat eater.
Composed of many words
Sentence (infinite) … She opened the
jewelry box.
Grammar
Grammar is the system of rules in a
language that enable us to communicate
with and understand others.

Grammar

Semantics Syntax
Semantics
Semantics is the set of rules by which
we derive meaning from morphemes,
words, and sentences. For example:

Semantic rule tells us that adding –ed to the

word laugh means that it happened in the past.
Syntax
Syntax consists of the rules for
combining words into grammatically
sensible sentences. For example:

In English, syntactical rule says that

adjectives come before nouns: white house.
In Spanish, it is reversed: casa blanca.
Structure of Language

• Surface structure
– How we order the sentence
– English: “She at an apple”
– Japanese: “She an apple ate”
• Deep structure
– Underlying meaning of a sentence
Language Development
Children learn their
native languages
much before
learning to add
2+2.
We learn, on
average (after age

Time Life Pictures/ Getty Images

1), 3,500 words a
year, amassing
60,000 words by the
time we graduate
from high school.
When do we learn
language?
Babbling Stage:
Beginning at 4
months, the infant
spontaneously
utters various
sounds, like ah-goo.
Babbling is not
imitation of adult
speech.
When do we learn
language?
One-Word Stage: Beginning at or around
his first birthday, a child starts to speak
one word at a time and is able to make
family members understand him. The word
doggy may mean look at the dog out there.
When do we learn
language?
Two-Word Stage: Before the 2nd year a
child starts to speak in two-word
sentences. This form of speech is called
telegraphic speech because the child
speaks like a telegram: “Go car,” means
I would like to go for a ride in the car.
When do we learn
language?
Longer phrases: After telegraphic speech,
children begin uttering longer phrases
(Mommy get ball) with syntactical sense,
and by early elementary school they are
employing humor.

You never starve in the desert because of

all the sand-which-is there.
When do we learn
language?
Theories of Language Development

• Imitation
• Operant Learning
• Inborn Universal Grammar (Critical
Period)
Imitation
• Don’t they just listen to what is said around them
and then repeat it?
• But, sentences produced by children are very
different from adult sentences
– Cat stand up table
– A my pencil
– What the boy hit?
– Other one pants
• And children who can’t speak for physiological
reasons learn the language spoken to them
• When they overcome their speech impairment
they immediately use the language for speaking.
Operant Learning
• Language acquisition is governed by
operant learning principles
• Association of the sight of things with
sounds of words
• Imitation of the words/syntax modeled by
others
• Reinforcement by the caregiver
• This assumes that children are being
constantly reinforced for using good
grammar and corrected when they use
bad grammar (Seldom occurs)
• Cute mistakes?
Inborn Universal Grammar
• Linguist Noam Chomsky
• Language is almost entirely inborn
• Language will naturally occur
• We are hard wired to learn language
• Children acquire untaught words and grammar at a
rate too high to be explained through learning
• Productivity? “I hate you daddy”
• Many of the mistakes children make are from
overgeneralizing grammar rules they picked up on
• Universal Grammar
• But children do learn their environment’s language
Universal Grammar

• All human languages have the same

grammatical building blocks, such as
nouns and verbs, subjects and objects,
negations and questions.
• We all start speaking mostly in nouns
• We all follow language development
stages
Critical Period
• Language Machines - A one year old’s brain is
statistically analyzing which syllables most often
go together to discern word breaks
• Can we keep it up?
• No, childhood seems to represent a critical period
for mastering certain aspects of language
• Once the critical period is over mastering the
grammar of another language is very difficult
• When a young brain does not learn language its
language-learning capacity never develops.