Topic 6B: Language

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Theories of Language Development:

Learning/behaviorist theory: proposed by B. F. Skinner, states children learn language by observing and imitating what they see, and this is reinforced by adult responses. Proposes that brain structures can grow as a result of external experiences

Nativist theory: proposed by Noam Chomsky, states language has innate properties and does not require teaching or reinforcement. Language acquisition in children occurs similarly across cultures.

proposes that infants have an innate neurological construct, the language acquisition device (LAD), which allows children to quickly learn language from the speech they hear daily

Initially Chomsky stated language was unique to humans but this was later disproved

Supported by children finding ways to communicate despite speaking different languages

Assimilation and accommodation: proposed by Piaget, states children use assimilation and accommodation to learn language

Assimilation: the ability to change one’s environment to put information into a pre-existing schema

Accommodation: process of changing one’s schema to adapt to a new environment

he believed children must create schemas in their mind 1st and mentally develop before being able to learn language

Interactionist: based on social interaction theory, posits that language I acquired and perfected through interactions with fluent speakers

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influence of language on cognition:

children tend to start speaking around the same age cross culturally and experience a vocabulary spurt ~1-2 years of age.

Bilingual children tend to have greater analytical ability, selective attention, and cognitive flexibility, but slower language-processing speed as compared to monolingual children

overextension: a mistake children make while assigning meaning to words, where a categorical definition is applied to a larger group than it can or should describe (kitty to describe a lion)

children begin to learn language ~4 months, and continue to learn until age ~9

Language can alter how one interacts with the world

linguistic relativity: interaction of language and cognition

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: grammatical structure of a person’s language influences their world perception

Has been abandoned, not much experimental support ---> their theory would suggest that speakers of languages with less words for different colors would perceive colors differently than other humans, however science has shown color perception is a biological and physical process

Cognitive-behavioral therapy: discusses the interplay between emotion, behavior, language, and thought

Internal dialogue, as a form of language can influence our daily life

Cognitive distortions: problems with internal dialogue that can lead to negative behaviors or serious emotional problems

Behavioral economics: studies the effects of psychological and cognitive factors on individuals’ behavior in an economic context

The more vividly an event is described, the more likely people will belie it is true; people will make different choices based on the language used to describe a situation

“critical period”: hypothesis that states the optimal time to learn a language that exists in children and if a child is not exposed to that language in early stages of life, that person will never have full intuitive command of that language

Supported by study of Genie, a child that due to abuse and neglect, grew up as a “feral child” and never learned language, and then was never able to completely learn it later in life

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Brain areas that control language and speech:

aphasia: a disorder where there is loss of the ability to speak or understand language due to damage or injury of brain areas specific to language processing and production

multiple areas of the brain must function together for a person to use language

Broca’s area: in the L frontal lobe, responsible for speech production and language comprehension

if this area was damaged, the person would have productive aphasia ---> understand language but would have trouble producing the words to response

Wernicke’s area: located in the cerebral cortex, responsible for understanding written and spoken language

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​if this area was damaged, person would have receptive aphasia ---> produce words but they would not make sense together and also that person would have trouble understanding speech

Other areas of the brain involved in language processes:

Angular gyrus: in parietal lobe, responsible for number processing, spatial recognition, and attention

Primary auditory cortex: identifies loudness and pitch of sounds