Psy1302 Psychology of Language

1. Psy1302 Psychology of Language Language and Thought I

2. Segue (seminar readings) FHC: “What is language for?” • Communication & Private Speech • “the private uses of language are equally varied and important, including functions like problem-solving, enhancing social intelligence by rehearsing the thoughts of others, memory aids, focusing attention, etc. They seem to extend into almost every domain of thought.” PJ: “we are inclined to think that if anything is a by-product (or “spandrel”) here, it is inner speech. The primary adaptation is communication, with enhanced thought as an additional benefit.

3. Language and Thought

4. If we grant that we use language (inner or private) for thinking, how much do we rely on it in our daily life for thinking? Are there thoughts that we can only entertain through language? Discussion Questions Qs regarding the role of language in our thinking.

5. If we grant that we use language (inner or private) for thinking, how much do we rely on it in our daily life for thinking? Are there thoughts that we can only entertain through language? Could learning the lexicon and grammars of one’s language lead to the development of new concepts? If so, how? Discussion Questions Qs regarding the role of language in our thinking.

6. If we grant that we use language (inner or private) for thinking, how much do we rely on it in our daily life for thinking? Are there thoughts that we can only entertain through language? Could learning the lexicon and grammars of one’s language lead to the development of new concepts? If so, how? Does the specific language we speak influence our thinking? If so, how? Discussion Questions Qs regarding the role of language in our thinking.

7. Cognitive Psychology Experiments Language Influence on: • Problem Solving • Memory and Associations • Categorization

8. Language and Problem Solving Symbolic Systems • What’s the answer to: • Twenty three times five hundred seventy-one. • How did you solve the math problem?

9. Language and Problem Solving Symbolic System • Buses 1, 2, and 3 make one trip each day, and they are the only ones that riders A, B, C, D, E, F, and G take to work. • Neither E nor G takes bus 1 on a day when B does. • G does not take bus 2 on a day when D does. • When A and F take the same bus, it is always bus 3. • C always takes bus 3. • Traveling together to work, B, C, and G could take which of the same buses on a given day? • How did you solve this problem?

10. Language and Problem Solving Language is a symbolic system • Cognitive off-loading

11. Language and Problem Solving: Working Memory Baddeley (1986) Slave Systems Visuospatial Sketchpad Phonological Loop Central Executive

12. Language and Problem Solving: Working Memory Baddeley, Thomson, & Buchanan (1975) • Read a list of 5 countries to yourself • Then try to recall the list • We are going to do this twice

13. Language and Problem Solving: Working Memory • List 1 Chad, Burma, Greece, Cuba, Malta

14. Language and Problem Solving: Working Memory • List 2 Czechoslovakia, Somaliland, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia

15. Language and Problem Solving: Working Memory Which list was easier? • Our recall is dependent on the number of syllables we can say quickly (Vallar & Baddeley, 1982). • Study show: Verbal rehearsing is a strategy that we use to maintain things in active memory

16. Language and Problem Solving: Working Memory Vallar & Baddeley (1986) • Different Types of Lists: • 1 Syllable Words: • “tan, man, sin, hop, wax” • 2 Syllable Words: • “market, table, lesser, picket, garden” • Subjects: • Read words aloud a.q.a.p. • Recall list of words.

17. Language and Problem Solving: Working Memory Vallar & Baddely (1986) * Reading rate has the same functional relation as % Correct wrt # of syllables!

18. Language and Problem Solving: Working Memory Summary Maintaining Information • Visually encoded information decays at a faster rate than verbally encoded information. (estimates 1s vs. 2-4s). • George Miller’s 7+2 is likely the result of using verbal encoding rather than visually based encoding. (Boutla, Supalla, Newport, & Bavelier, 2004)

19. Cognitive Psychology Experiments Language Influence on: • Problem Solving • Memory and Associations • Categorization

20. Language and Memory & Associations Loftus & Loftus (1980) • Recommendation – An Interesting Read: • Loftus, E. & Loftus, L. (1980). On the Permanence of Stored Information in the Human Brain. American Psychologist, 35, pp. 409-420. • Memories are not permanent. Thus, some memories are unrecoverable. • Memories can be “over-written” or “altered”.

21. Language and Memory & Associations Carmichael, Hogan, & Walter (1932) • Exercise: • You will see a series of pictures • Remember what you see • You will be asked to draw what you see after seeing the series

22. Language and Memory & Associations Group 1 Picture 1: Eyeglasses

23. Language and Memory & Associations Group 1 Picture 2: Hourglass

24. Language and Memory & Associations Group 1 Picture 3: Seven

25. Language and Memory & Associations Group 1 Picture 4: Gun

26. Language and Memory & Associations Group 1 • Draw the Items

27. Language and Memory & Associations Group 2 Picture 1: Dumbbell

28. Language and Memory & Associations Group 2 Picture 2: Table

29. Language and Memory & Associations Group 2 Picture 3: Four

30. Language and Memory & Associations Group 2 Picture 4: Broom

31. Language and Memory & Associations Group 2 • Draw the Items

32. Language and Memory & Associations

33. Language and Memory & Associations Elizabeth Loftus & Retrospective Bias

34. Language and Memory & Associations Elizabeth Loftus & Retrospective Bias Exp. 1: How fast was the car going?

35. Language and Memory & Associations Elizabeth Loftus & Retrospective Bias Exp. 2 (1 week later): Was there any broken glass? Correct answer should be “NO”

36. Language and Memory & Associations Summary • Memory is fallible. • Memory of language used could influence a person’s memory. • Language used by another person • Language used by oneself

37. Godden & Baddeley (1975; 1980) Language and Memory & Associations

38. Language and Memory & Associations Marian & Neisser (2000) Study: • Bilingual Cornell College Students emigrated from Russia when there were around 14 y.o. (ave) • Participants told: You are participating in a study to look at story-telling in different languages. Tell brief stories of events in your life. Result: • Interviewed in English: • Recalled more events in U.S. • Interviewed in Russian: • Recalled more events in Russian.

39. Language and Memory & Associations Associations

40. Language and Memory & Associations Associations “intricate” “jagged” El (fem) Der (masc) “key” “key”

41. German Heavy Jagged Metal Serrated useful Spanish Golden Intricate Little Lovely Shiny Language and Memory & Associations German Beautiful Elegant Fragile Peaceful Pretty Slender Spanish Big Dangerous Long Strong Sturdy Towering

42. Language and Memory & Associations Elaborateness of Processing(Anderson) • Degree of Interconnectivity determines strength of memory traces. • Craik & Tulving Results: • Connection to other knowledge. • Koler’s Results: • Connection to EPISODIC Memories.

43. Language and Memory & Associations English: “This is an apple. It is tasty.” German: “This is an apple. He is tasty.” Spanish: “This is an apple. She is tasty.” (slides 43-50 from Lauren Schmidt)

44. Language and Memory & Associations Memory task • Used 24 object names (e.g., “apple”) that had opposite grammatical genders in Spanish and German (half masculine, half feminine) • Spanish and German speakers were asked to perform in a memory task in English to avoid making them think explicitly about grammatical gender

45. Language and Memory & Associations German: der Apfel (m) Spanish: la manzana (f)

46. Language and Memory & Associations apple -- Patrick

47. Language and Memory & Associations key -- Erica

48. Language and Memory & Associations cat -- George

49. Language and Memory & Associations Was the apple named Patrick?

50. Language and Memory & Associations