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61 Cards in this Set
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Myth: Key feature of dyslexia is reversing words |
- actually means difficulty with words and suffers have a hard time sounding out and identifying printed words -diagnose when overall intellectual ability is superior to reading ability 5% of American children have it Primary misconception- mirror reading in which words or letter are reversed two types 1. reversing letters ie b to d 2. reversing order of letters ie, rat to tar 70% of educators including (speech therapist and education teachers believe this) this is portrayed in movies Where the misconception came from? 1. Samuel Orton (1925) coined term strephosymbolia meaning twisted symbol, and thought reversing letters was primary sympton of dyslexia and that reading by looking at a book in a mirror would help Possible reason for dyslexia? difficulty processing phonemes or the smallest sounds that compose words in a language 100 worldwide english has 45, people with dyslexia have difficulty breaking down words into their constituent phonemes |
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What is language and its symbols? |
-a largely arbitrary systems of communication that combines symbols in rule based ways to create meaning symbols are linguistic units- combinations of letters, sounds, or higher order units like words and phrases, these typically stand for something or refer to something |
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Sign languages |
Is also a true language like spoken ones, they instead use visual symbols which have the same function as spoken symbols, and are as complex with syntax, grammer, and the ability to create infinite messages.
Use same brain region as spoken language |
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Six universal of language? |
1. Semanticity- language conveys meaning 2. Arbitrariness- no inherent connection between sound or written units and the meanings referred to by those units (must be learned) 3. Flexibility- connections between symbols are flexible and can be exchanged to invent new ones (automobile= car) (cool, awesome,sick) 4. Naming- assign names to objects in enviroment, feeling and emotions we experience, ideas and concepts etc. 5. Displacement- various tense of words allow past/present/future. 6. Generativity- language is creative or generative (from finite set of words-> infinite sets of sentences) |
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2 exceptions to Arbitrariness? |
1. Onomatopoeia- or words that resemble the sound to which they refer 2. phonesthemes- similar sounding words that have related meaning (sneeze, sniff, sneer, snore, snooze, snoop) |
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What is Phonology? |
the study of the patterns and distribution of speech sounds in a language and the rules for their pronunciation (phonemes) |
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What is morphology and morphemes? |
Morphology- study of word meaning through combination of morphemes Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units of a language- ie Dog+s=dogs use+re=reuse |
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What is semantics? |
The analysis of the meaning of words in a language some considerations are- individual word meaning, relationship between the words, and the meaning in this particular context |
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What is syntax? |
the grammatical rules that govern how words are composed into meaningful strings |
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What is a dialect? |
language variations used by groups of people who shape geographic proximity |
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Categorical speech perception |
Categorical speech perception- the ability to discriminate sounds belonging to same phonemic class (when babies first babble they can produce/discriminate all known phonemes) -called universal phonetic sensitivity -after 6-8 months they can produce and discriminate phonemes of their language community (through experience and nurture) |
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Theories of Language Acquisition? |
1. imitation account - operant and observational learning (problems with this- parents never give negative instances ie "don't toy take Jim from away", poverty of stimulus- not enough positive stimuli to know how to use all words in vocab, many cases where word use is correct without operant conditioning, creativity or generativity. 2. The Nativist account- Noam Chomsky- humans come prepared and biased to learn language |
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What is a learning theory? |
they state that specific language behvaiours are reinforced which leads to understanding and speaking of language, |
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Noam Chomsky |
proposed the nativist account of language acquistion, in which humans have a language section of brain known as language acquisition device, which comes preprogrammed to enable children to learn language. |
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1. brain structure and lateralization - much of semantics and syntax in left hemisphere, damage to left intrerupts language processing more then right, similar areas used in spoken and sign language. 2. Learning readiness- there is a critical period for acquisition which is before age 13 it is much easier to learn a language 3. Development of pidgins and creoles, when people of different languages work together they create a pidgin language which is a simplified language with very little syntax. Children however create a creole language (spontaneously) which have syntax and are stable |
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Do animals use language? |
communicate but not through language, apes don't have required vocal cords or diaphragm muscles. Some chimps/gorillas have been taught to communicate using sign language but not ever one taught has succeeded. ability appears similar to that of 1-2yr old (concrete,specific, ungrammatical) and this communication is non spontaneous -ie answers to a question Children produce lots of spontaneous language. showing chimps/gorillas aren't motivated to produce language unlike children. Chimp/gorilla language ability appears to be- highly individualistic (not culturally transmitted between chimps) - completely non creative- clever Hans effect? some researchers have questioned if the chimp language ability findings. |
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Steven Pinker |
"The language instinct"- which says no other animal has language as humans Vervet monkeys have 3 distress calls -rraup- warns for eagle -chutter- warns for snake -chirp- warns for leopard This displays 1. semanticity, and arbirariness but not flexibility, naming, displacement, generativity. |
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myth: men and women communicate in completely different ways |
Freud sayings despite 30 years of research he hasn't been able to answer what does a women want? John Gray- Pop psychologist, who wrote men are from mars, women from Venus. proposes (no evidence) that men and women have entirely different styles of communication leading to constant misunderstanding. Research into 4 aspects of communication small,medium, large effect sex has(d=.20 85% overlap, d=.50=67% overlap,d=.80 53% overlap) 1. Women talk more then men d=0.11 (maybe meaningful) 2. Women disclose more about themselves then men d=.18 (probably meaningful) 3.Men interrupt more then women d=.15, probably meaningful but social status comes into account 4.women perceive nonverbal cues better then men d=.40 indicating this is meaningful So yes we communicate slightly differently but not as much as John Gray proposes. |
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What is computational cognitive science |
Cognition is the manipulation of symbols via rules (information processing), these sysmbols are amodal, cognitive representations are abstracts code like symbols, much like those found in computers (0011001) or natural languages (strings of letters) Mind is sole object of study, brain/body enviromental interactiosn have not recieved much attention in CCS Thus cognition is disembodied. body doesn't matter |
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What is embodied cognitive science? |
movement in cognitive science that is committed to the idea that the mind must be understood in the context of its relationship to a physical body or cognition is embodied and bodies do matter. Researchers- George Lakoff, Art Glenberg, Rolf Zwaan, Paul Siakaluk "on line" cognition is situated, time pressured and for action. Cognition inherently involves perception and action. ie. function of mind is to guide action and should be understood in terms of their contribution to situation appropriate behavior "off line" cognition is body based -even when decoupled from environment (not used directly for action) activity of mind is grounded in mechanisms that evolved for interaction with the environment. |
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Evidence of embodied cognition |
lots of evidence that cognition is embodied- such as knowledge gained through bodily experience. for language comprehension 1. abstract metaphor comprehension 2. sentence comprehension 3. insult comprehension |
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Abstract metaphor comprehension |
-knowledge gained through sensorimotor interaction with the world used to help abstract concept understanding ie. Stinky is bad we use smell sensorimotor, and evaluate it as bad therefore we correlate between evaluative and olfactory experience. |
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action-sentence compatibility effect (Glenberg et al.) |
has 2 important variables, 1. type of sentence (toward or away) John gives you, or you give john 2. Type of response action (move arm toward/away) Task: is to judge if sentences make sense or not, nonsense sentences like "John sings the flowers with you." two responses (yes a motor response occurs or no it does not occur as in with nonsense sentences. Showing an interaction between type of sentence and type of response. faster towards one self then away explanation: sentences are understood by creating mental simulations of the actions that underlie them. most early experiences are concrete. "give mom the bottle" abstract implied 'motion' is based on these concrete bodily experiences "give me the responsibility' Similar brain areas for both concrete and abstract motion sentences. |
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Visibility-sentence compatibility (Yaxley & Zwaan) |
2 important variable - 1. type of sentence (clear or unclear) 2. type or picture resolution (clear or unclear) Task : to verify if the pictured object was in the previously presented sentence Response: Yes or no Results: Interactions between sentence type and picture type reponses to clear photos were faster when presented by clear sentences Responses to unclear photos were faster when presented with unclear sentences explanation: sentences are understood by creating mental simulations of the implied perceptual visibility of the object. |
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Insult comprehension- Embodied insult Stroop effect (Siakaluk et al.) |
-many english insults body based. presenting the question is knowledge gained through bodily experience important for understanding body insults? 3 stimuli - embodied insults (numbskull), disembodied insults (stupid) and non insults. Stroop task(demonstration of reaction time)- more attentional resources are used by emotionally charged than non emotionally charged stimuli 2 Predictions - slower responses to insults - slower responses to embodied insults than non-embodied insults. Results- responses slower to insults than non-insults, and responses were slower to the embodied insults than to the non embodied insults. |
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Value of education |
test of first rate intelligence is ability to hold two opposed idea in the mind at the same time and retain ability to function. |
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Evidence for evolution |
comes from wide range of fields- archeology, paleontology, genetics, physiology, molecular biology, comparative psychology and neuroanatomy, evidence is overwhelming. example Lucy 3.2 million year old adult female of Australopithecus afarensis. ex of a missing link and Turkana Boy 1.6mya Homo erectus the slow increase in brain size seen in the hominid lineage (400cc A. Aferensis -> 1200cc homo erectus--> 1400cc Homo sapiens |
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Darwinian Evolutionary theory |
proposed by charles Darwin, developed over 20 years of research. 1859 published On the Origin of Species. in 1858 Alfred Russel Wallace sent Darwin an essay outlining very similar ideas. titled "On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type", they gave a joint presentation on their idea. Theory called Darwinism which states. 1. Species are comprised of individuals that vary slightly at the genetic level (genotypes vs phenotypes) 2. Species have the tendency to increase in size over generations at an exponential rate. 3. This tendency gives rise to limited resources 4. Beneficial variations and adaptations seen in some individuals give a positive selection (natural selection), which overtime become adaptations 6. Inheritance- Offspring tend to inherit these variations, mistakes made in genetic inheritance giving rise to mutations which are usually hurtful but can be beneficial 5. differential reproduction or changes in gene frequencies "better adapted individuals rend to survive and reproduce leaving more offspring" 7. Natural selection- Darwins greatest contribution to evolutionary theory Evolution- Any change in the structure or function of an organism that makes it better suited to its environment. |
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Neo-Darwinian (Modern) Synthesis |
Genetic inheritance is known to be particulate, parents pass these particles (genes) onto off spring gene-smallest discrete unit inherited by offspring intact genotype- collection of genes with an individual, this is not passed down intact but broken up by sexual reproduction (half genes from father/mother) |
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Sexual selection |
2nd selection process of Darwinian evolutionary theory The means by which sexual characteristics have evolved, as presumably females choose males with that give the best courtship display. These features would be inherited by offspring and tend to be exaggerated down the line. Sexual selection favors traits that provide benefits in mating opportunities 1. Intersexual selection where female chooses male partner (males selected for better mating displays) 2. Intrasexual selection- males compete for mating opportunities (winners mate losers don't) |
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Myth |
giraffes neck evolved to be able to eat leaves off tall trees. Adaptionist logic applied to see if this is true, Adaptionist logic and causation 1. proximate causes- explanations that focus on genetic, physiological, developmental explanations 2. ultimate causes- focus on he adaptive function and refers to causes that operated over evolutionary time (what is function of giraffe neck over time?) Do giraffes take advantage of their long necks during foraging? no not really they usually eat several feet below head level However the neck is used in necking battles, for sexual selection. therefore the actual function of the giraffe neck is to allow intrasexual selection by males. |
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The evolutionary assumption |
states the mind evolved during natural selection in the animal kingdom, implying the mind is associated with biological structures that it depends on dynamic processes generated by certain morphology |
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The physics assumption |
states that only conventional physical processes are required for a satisfactory explanation of the minds, no dualism allowed. |
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Evolutionary psychology |
goal of EP is to provide a completely naturalistic explanation of the design and structure of the human mind. uses principles from evolutionary biology when researching on the structure of the human mind. |
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Leda Cosmides and John Tooby |
Extensive research on Evolutionary psychology. |
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Enemy's of evolutionary psychology |
1. Standard social science model- traditional view of the mind arose during 20th century, the assumptions of this model makes followers assume social sciences are completely disconnected from any evolutionary foundation |
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Assumptions of standard social science model |
1. mind is blank slate at birth 2. content of mind is socially constructed (from the outside) 3. contents of mind are relativistic (depends on enviroment) 4. one or few general purpose mechanisms that are domain general -learning mechanisms applied to many many problems rather than just one |
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evolutionary psychology response to standard social science model |
3 decades of work in cognitive psyc, evol bio, neuroscience show SSSM is radically defective, rather human mind comes equipped with reasoning and regulatory circuits that have specific characteristics. |
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three evolutionary psyc assumptions of mind |
1. functionally specialized and domain specific (each mech servers a specific purpose like finding a mate, and processes one type of information) 2. oranizes the way we interpret the world, babies are deisgned to focus on faces soon after birth 3. Universal human nature, all humans share certain abilities (emotion recognition, language acquisition, and desire to mate) |
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Five principles of evolutionary psychology |
1. The brain generates behavior appropriate to a particular environment, 2. neural circuits were designed by natural selection to solve adaptive problems our ancestors faced 3. most information processing is unconscious 4. different neural circuits specialized for solving different adaptive problems (psychological modules) 5. our modern skulls house a stone age minds. |
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First principle of evolutionary Psyc? |
Brain generates behavior appropriate to a particular environment brains sole function is to process information to allow for survival and reproduction (information processing for action) Perception--> brain--> action |
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second principle of evolutionary Psyc? |
-neural circuits were designed by natural selection to solve adaptive problems our ancestors faced adaptions are species specific, in that different species may produce very different behaviors in any given environment), useful in one environmental context may not be useful in the next (humans have strong taste preference for fat, because it was valuable in the past when calories were scarce but not so much today) |
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third principle of evolutionary Psyc? |
Most information processing is unconscious unconscious processing is fast, effortless, automatic and reliable, this is not surprising as information processing is used to create action and individuals who could not process important information quick enough died. |
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fourth principle of evolutionary Psyc? |
different neural circuits specialized for solving different adaptive problems known as molecularity issue, bodily organs separated ie heart vs liver, same goes for mental organs forming psychological modules. EP's believe mind is comprised of many different modules that have evolved to solve specific problems |
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Fifth principle of evolutionary Psyc? |
our modern skulls house a stone age minds. -adaptions via natural selection take along time to arise, 99% of our species history consisted of hunter gatherer societies. hasn't been enough time for circuits to develop that are well adapted to our post-industrial life. our minds were not designed to solve problems of modern life, but problems of hunter gatherers brain is very sophisticated just specialized to solve problems faced by our ancestors and not us 5-7million years as hunter gathers 10,000yrs of farming, 5000 years of wide spread farming ~20 years of internet and modern comforts etc. |
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Adaptive problems faced by ancestors? |
by definition they are problems that need solutions that aid in reproduction, no matter how indirectly 1. survival and growth problems 2.mating problems 3.parenting problems 4.aiding genetic relatives Two defining characteristics- 1. omnipresent in our species evolutionary past (ex, finding food, shelter, mates, detecting cheaters, etc) 2. The solution affected reproduction |
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4 hall marks of psychological modules |
1. specialized to solve particular adaptive problems in the evolutionary past. 2. reliably develop in all normal human beings 3. develop without any conscious effort in absence of formal instruction 4. applied without awareness of underlying logic |
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myth: Genes determine all |
EP often charged with genetic determinism, or the idea genes exclusively influence thinking/personality and behavior, EP actually states we must understand how genes and environment interact or work together to produce behavior Norm of reaction- a graph that plots how a particular facultative trait changes in response to environmental variation Facultative trait- trait that respond to environmental variation (skin colour) Skin colour- several traits that affect skin colour coding for pigment production notably melanin, level of melanin production is entirely dependent on Uv radiation in environment. Uv radiation has good and bad effects can lead to skin cancer if too much and vitamin D deficits if too little. this issue fixed by melanin which blocks Uv radiation, hence why darker skin seen near equator Therefore the normal reaction of skin colour is to be darker in places with more Uv radiation and lighter in places without Uv radiation. Conclusion Evolutionary psychologists don't believe in gene determinism because behavior, thinking, personality are all results of interaction between genes and one's environment |
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Food acquisition and selection |
we are omnivores 2 adaptive problems for omnivores 1. many plants have evolved toxins as a mean for deterring animals 2. meat can spoil rather quickly, and parasites that feed on spoiled meat can be fatal |
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Is pregnancy sickness an adaption? |
in the first 3 months of pregnancy includes -nausea, vomiting, food aversion, and generally thought of as an illness that should be remedied. 2 evolutionary hypothesis of pregnancy sickness 1. embryo protection hypoth, PS is an adaptation to protect the embryo all 3 symptons are adaptions 2. embryo quality hypoth, nausea and vomiting not adaptions just by-products of food aversion. |
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embryo protection hypothesis and evidence supporting |
since many plants are toxic and meat spoils toxins of interest are called teratogens and are especially dangerous to developing fetuses therefore it is thought pregnancy sickness is to prevent mother from consuming food high in teratogens. leading to nausea, vomiting and food aversion evidence? 1a. pregnant women avoid foods likely to be high in teratogens like veggies, cabbage, etc. 1b. and avoid foods that spoil easily (meat and eggs) Smell and taste are cues for reaction 2a. PS occurs when fetus most vulnerable to toxins. 2b. and abates at 8 weeks generally gone by 14 weeks once sensitive organ development stage over. 3. women without PS 3x more likely to spontaneously abort 4. Cross-cultural data, in 27 traditional societies 20 have PS 7 do not, the 20 in which PS was observed were more likely to use meat and other animal products, inconsistency in this data accounted for by norm of reaction (presence of PS may depend on typical diet of culture) |
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Mechanism of embryo quality hypothesis |
roughly how it works is 1. luteinizing hormone is produced during pregnancy(high levels associated with nausea and vomiting) 2. LH regulates corupus luteum function 3. corupus luteum function maintains proper progesterone levels 4. progesterone maintains pregnancy and avoids spontaneous abortion genetic conflict between mother and embryo, mother unconsciously maintains pregnancy if benefits out weigh costs benefit>cost if embryo healthy and likely to reproduce Cost>benefit if embryo unhealthy, pregnancy costs a lot of resources that are only spent if the embryo is healthy. Embryo has vested interest in maintaining pregnancy, whereas mother has vested interest in only keeping it if healthy. if healthy high levels of LH kept if unhealthy low levels of LH, because of embryo vested interest in living it has evolved mech to manipulate mother endocrine system 1. human chorionic gonadotropin is produced by embryo in early pregnancy, closely related to LH and mimics effects, also regulates corpus luteum function, maintaining progesterone and pregnancy, if embryo does not produce enough hCG corpus lutuem function can regress and spontaneous abortion can happen due to improper progesterone levels. low level of hCG produced when embryo has chromosmal abnormalities. or genetic quality of embryo is low, thus is associated with how much hCG is produced. conclusion hCG is adaption by embryo to maintain pregnancy, and is low in abnormal embryos. Nausea and vomiting by-products of LH production and hCG production not adaptions, food aversion is an adaption as it helps maintain pregnancy from mothers point of view. |
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Evolutionary hypothesis |
PS is an example of how evolutionary theory has generated new hypothesis that can be tested, which is one of the hallmarks of a theory. |
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Myth: playing mozart to infants boosts intelligence |
1993 research showed mozart helped immediate performance on a spatial reasoning task which involved paper folding and cutting. Consideration- undergrad students, no implications about long term benefits, or about benefits generalizing to infants. Finding known as mozart effect- supposed enhancement in intelligence due to classical music. which lead to parents thinking they could jumpstart their kids by playing them mozart Mozart effect marketed based entirely on this study 80% of people familiar with mozart effect and 70% believe it. widely beilieved due to word of mouth and media distortion of findings, (numerous studies of mozart effect on elementary studens shows increase mental performance 2001, however no research was published until 2005) Is it real? 1. recplications studies on adults show effect is miniscule, and short lived <1 hour 2. replication studies on children overwhelmingly show a very small effect. later studies believe mozart effect is actually caused by increased emotional arousal, as other stimuli causing increased emotional arousal improve performance as well. Conclusion, anything that increases emotional alertness, like increased emotional arousal increases performance on mentally demanding tasks, but unlikely to produce long term effects. |
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Myth: Recently theres been a massive increase in infantile autism |
what has been taken as evidence of this? in 1990 autism prevalence was 1 in 2500, now its estimated to be 1 in 150, which is a 657% increase. 70% believe this is an epidemic of autism alleged culprit is childhood vacinations, especially vacines containing thimerosal which breaks down into mercury, which causes neurological damage at high dosages. 50% of people believe autism is caused by vaccines, this myth is propagated by media including Trump. Reasons we doubt it is more common. 1. loosening of diagnostic practices, leading to more diagnoses. 2. in USA schools, required to provide precise counts of children with disabilities. (rainman effect, public awareness of autism is higher increasing likelihood of detecting symptoms, and detection bias, heightened reporting of a condition results from a change in how easily it is detected. 3. illusionary correlation- perception of association where no exists. 4. research suggesting autism epidemic is an illusion. a. one study using same diagnostic criteria in 6 yr span saw no difference in autism rates. b. diagnostic substitution, diagnoses for autism increase as diagnoses of mental retardation decrease indicating diagnoses are being swapped to autism from less favorable diagnoses c. no solid evidence for any link between autism and vaccinations. rate of autism increased even though rate of vaccinations is stable, and autism rates increased even though thimerosal removed from vaccines. Conclusion vaccines don't cause autism, the article that claimed MMR vacine caused autism was discredited. and afters its publication vaccination rates went from 92% to 73%. |
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What is infantile autism? |
a disorder that appears in infancy and causes mental retardation (75% of cases), language deficits, mostly affecting males, difficulty establishing emotional bonds, engage in ritualized behavior like head banging, extreme difficulty adjusting to environmental change. |
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Who is andrew wakefield? |
He is the cucklord who published the paper linking autsim to vaccines |
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Herd immunity |
-a form of immunity that occurs when most of the population is vaccinated, providing protection to those who are unvaccinated, as chains of infection are likely to be disrupted when large numbers are immune to disease. |
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Herd immunity thresholds |
Measles 83-94% Mumps 75-86% Rubella 80-85% Smallpox 83-85% |
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Scientific methods does not come naturaly |
always remember cognitive biases, and look for evidence to back up claims major goal of this course is to raise awareness about how our cognitive systems can lead us astray and how to guard against it. |
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Skills incorporation with autism-vacine link |
Confirmation bias- tendency to seek out proof and disregard contradictions, seen often with anti-vacc protestors Disconfirmation bias- tendency to seek out evidence which contradicts something we don't believe Belief perseverance. Scientific skepticism- approach all claims with open mind, but insist on evidence before acceptation critical thinking principles (extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence), falsifiability, occam's razor, replicability, ruling out rivals, correlation isn't causation. experimental thinking/rational thinking look at motivational factors does this provide hope, alleviate fear, etc Scientific literacy cognitive factors- in which are brains try to make sense outta nonsense |
