What is the name of the neural Prewiring that facilitates a childs learning of a language?

Properties of Language: Semanticity, Productivity, and Displacement

• Semanticity- The quality of language in which words are used as symbols for objects, events, or ideas.
• Productivity- Refers to the capacity to combine words into original sentences (An �original� sentence is a sentence produced by an individual instead of being imitated.)
• Displacement- The quality of language that permits one to communicate information about objects and events in another time and place.

The Basics of Language

• Phonology- The study of the basic sounds in a language.
• Phonemes- The basic sounds of a language
• Morphology
• Morphemes- The Smallest units of meaning in a language, which consists of one or more phonemes in a certain order.
• Inflections- Grammatical �markers� that change the forms of words to indicate grammatical relationships such as number and tense.
• Ex: Morphemes such as s and ed
• Syntax- The rules in a language for placing words in a proper order to form meaningful sentences.
• Semantics
• Semantics- The study of the meanings of a language- the relationships between language and objects and events.
• Surface Structure- The superficial grammatical construction of a sentence.
• Deep Structure- The underlying meaning of a sentence.

Patterns of Language Development

Theories of Language Development

• The Role of Imitation- How children mostly learn language as well as many other things.
• Models- In learning theory, persons who engage in behaviors that are imitated by others.
• The Role of Reinforcement- Ways of teaching a child the right way from the wrong way.

• Nativist View- The view that innate or inborn factors cause children to attend to and acquire language in certain ways. (In other words the perspective that children bring certain neurological �prewiring� to language learning.)
• Psycholinguistic Theory- The view that language learning involves an interaction between environmental influences and an inborn tendency to acquire language. The emphasis is on the inborn tendency.
• Language Acquisition Device (LAD)- In psycholinguistic theory, neural �prewiring� that facilitates the child�s learning of grammar.
• The Sensitive Period- In linguistic theory, the period from about 18 months to puberty when the brain is thought to be particularly capable of learning language because of plasticity.

1) Language development is made possible by cognitive analytical abilities.
2) Children are active agents in language learning from which their motivation for learning syntax and vocabulary grows out of their �desire to express meanings that conceptual development made available to them.�

Language and Thought

• The Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis- The view that language structures the way in which we view the world.

Problem Solving

Intelligence and Creativity

• Don't always go hand in hand, not all intelligent people are creative
• Intelligence tests don't measure creativity but there are creativity tests some were used by Getzels and Jackson

• Used by psychologists as a trait- distinguishing characteristic that is presumed to account for consistency in behavior- that may explain why people do or don't do things that are adaptive and inventive

Theories of Intelligence

Achievement - that which is attained by one's efforts and made possible by one's abilities

• There is a difference between achievement and intelligence
• Psychologists agree that intelligence provides the cognitive basis for academic achievement, it's also perceived as underlying competence or learning ability

Factor Theories

Factor-cluster of related items, such as those found on an intelligence test

Charles Spearman says we consider intelligent people to have a common, underlying factor called G factor which is "general intelligence" also representing broad reasoning and problem-solving abilities when we excel in one area we excel in others

S factor accounts for specific abilities, some people excel in certain subjects

Factor Analysis-Spearman's method for testing his theories

• Thurstone said Spearman oversimplified the concept of intelligence

 

Ability	Description
Visual and Spatial	Visualizing forms and spatial relationships
Perceptual Speed	Grasping perceptual details rapidly, perceiving similarities and differences between stimuli
Numerical	Computing numbers
Verbal Meaning	Knowing the meanings of words
Memory	Recalling Information
Word Fluency	Thinking of words quickly
Deductive Reasoning	Deriving examples from general rules
Inductive Reasoning	Deriving general rules from examples

Structure of Intellect Model

• Guilford's 3-D model of intelligence which focuses on the operations, contents, and products of intellectual functioning, combination of factor analysis and logical reasoning Each of the factors consists of 3 elements: 1. Operations- kinds of cognitive processing that are involved 2. Contents-type of information that is processed 3. Products-forms that the information takes

Cognitive Theories

• Jansen's Level 1 & 2- 2 levels of intelligence
• Level 1-associative abilities, measured by tasks involving rote learning and memorization like associating letters and sounds
• Level 2-involves conceptual abilities including verbal ability, logical reasoning and problem-solving skills, correlates mores with grades than Level 1
• Sternberg's Triarchic Theory-3 level or triarchic model of intelligence
• Contextual-aspects of intelligence behavior that permit people to adapt to their environment
• Experiential-aspects of intelligence that permit people to cope with novel situations and process information automatically
• Componential-level of intelligence that consists of metacomponents, performance components and knowledge-acquisition components
• Metacomponents-components of intelligence that are based on self-awareness of our intellectual processes
• Performance components- mental operations used in processing info
• Knowledge-acquisition components-components used in gaining knowledge, such as encoding and relating new knowledge to existing knowledge

Measurement of Intelligence

• Characteristics of Intelligence Tests
• Psychologists was reliable and valid intelligence tests so they use a technique called a correlation coefficient which is a number that indicates the strength of a relationship between two variables
• They also test its reliability or measure of its consistency. One common way is the test-retest reliability, which is shown by comparing scores of tests taken on different occasions.
• Validity-the degree to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure- is also important

Individual Intelligence Tests

• The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale was invented by the French and used in public schools to see what students were unlikely to benefit from regular classroom work. First used in 1905 and is being updated all the time
• Wechsler Scales are used to measure children's relative strengths and weaknesses, as well as their overall intellectual functioning. Some of the scales measure verbal tasks and others measure performance tasks. David Wechsler also introduced deviation IQ. These IQ scores were based on how a person's answers compared to those attained by people in the same age group.

Group Tests

• These are tests that can be given to large groups all at one time. They were first developed in WWI and highly praised but they started to become the only way administrators were keeping track of their students so they started to get attacked.

Social-Class, Racial, and Ethnic Differences in Intelligence

• People started to question whether social-class, racial, or ethnic differences played a role in IQ tests. Some tests showed that lower-class kids got lower score and also Caucasians got higher scores.

What do the Intelligence Tests Measure?

• Some tests are said to have cultural bias-a factor that provides an advantage for test takers from certain cultural or ethnic backgrounds. They are trying to develop culture-free tests but they have not been successful. It is generally assumed that the broad achievements measured by these tests reflect intelligence.

The Determinants of Intelligence

Determinants-factors that set limits

• Genetic Influences on Intelligence
• If heredity does affect scores then those who are related or brought up together should have similar scores. Identical twins have scores that are similar but other relatives don't usually have very close scores. Environment also plays a role in IQ scores.
• On Race and Intelligence: A Concluding Note
• It is more a question of how much a role heredity and environment play on IQ scores rather than if they do or not. They are both factors in the scores.

What is the name of the neural Prewiring that facilitates a child's learning of a language?

Which theory holds that innate factors which make up children's nature cause children to attend to and acquire language in certain ways?

What is the inborn tendency to acquire language?

Is the view that language learning involves an interaction between environmental factors and an inborn tendency to acquire language?