Language serves as a means of communication for the human race as well as nonhumans. Language can be either verbal or nonverbal and consist of gestures or some type of body language. Animals too have their own form of communication or language. In this paper, I will discuss how bilingual speakers have a cognitive advantage because speaking two or more languages can benefit executive functions. How body language can convey more than words because gestures and nonverbal clues are harder to disguise than words. Lastly, I will discuss how many animals have language and that they use this to communicate. My reasoning for choosing these three topics is because I have always has a fascination with language both verbal and nonverbal. In addition, since
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As far as the advantages, bilinguals demonstrate superior performance on nonverbal tasks of executive functions (Pelham & Abrams, 2013, p. 313). In the experiment mention in the article, individuals were separated into groups of early bilinguals, which consisted of those who were fluent in a second language by the age of seven. The second groups of individuals were late bilinguals or those who learned and became fluent in a second language later than seven years of age. In this study, bilinguals have shown an activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, which activates during painful body experiences (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, & Nock, 2014, p. 570) also controls executive functions such as response selection, task switching, and inhibition of distractors (Pelham & Abrams, 2013, p. 315). Other parts of the brain that are activated are the Broca’s area, which is involved in the production of vocal and sign languages and the Wernicke’s area, which is involved in the comprehension of language (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, & Nock, 2014, p.362). To test the advantages the two groups, a series of attentional network task (ANT) were performed. The main test used was the Eriksen Flanker Task. This task required individuals to sit in front of a computer screen with a keyboard and press the corresponding key for the arrow in the middle of the shown sequence (Pelham & Abrams, 2013, p.318). …show more content…
The first is that animals have a language of their own that they understand and use to communicate with others of their species. The second scope is that animals of high intelligence and social interaction can be taught a language and can use it effectively. These two scopes branch off into the learning aspect of psychology as well as the language and thought aspects. When it comes to having an innate sense of language or communication, we will look at honeybees and how they use a dance language to relay information to those within their hive and Vervet monkeys and how they use warning calls to inform other monkeys of dangers of snakes, leopards, and eagles (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, & Nock, 2014, p.
As far as the advantages, bilinguals demonstrate superior performance on nonverbal tasks of executive functions (Pelham & Abrams, 2013, p. 313). In the experiment mention in the article, individuals were separated into groups of early bilinguals, which consisted of those who were fluent in a second language by the age of seven. The second groups of individuals were late bilinguals or those who learned and became fluent in a second language later than seven years of age. In this study, bilinguals have shown an activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, which activates during painful body experiences (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, & Nock, 2014, p. 570) also controls executive functions such as response selection, task switching, and inhibition of distractors (Pelham & Abrams, 2013, p. 315). Other parts of the brain that are activated are the Broca’s area, which is involved in the production of vocal and sign languages and the Wernicke’s area, which is involved in the comprehension of language (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, & Nock, 2014, p.362). To test the advantages the two groups, a series of attentional network task (ANT) were performed. The main test used was the Eriksen Flanker Task. This task required individuals to sit in front of a computer screen with a keyboard and press the corresponding key for the arrow in the middle of the shown sequence (Pelham & Abrams, 2013, p.318). …show more content…
The first is that animals have a language of their own that they understand and use to communicate with others of their species. The second scope is that animals of high intelligence and social interaction can be taught a language and can use it effectively. These two scopes branch off into the learning aspect of psychology as well as the language and thought aspects. When it comes to having an innate sense of language or communication, we will look at honeybees and how they use a dance language to relay information to those within their hive and Vervet monkeys and how they use warning calls to inform other monkeys of dangers of snakes, leopards, and eagles (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, & Nock, 2014, p.