国外心理语言学课件5.ppt

1、PSY 369: Psycholinguistics,Foundations of Language: Language and animals Language and the brain Language and thought,Announcements,Exam 1: Tuesday, Feb. 7th (1 week from today) Coverage Chapters 1, 2, when is representation R activated and processed? How: which neuronal circuit, which nerve cells li

2、nked in which way, is the brain basis for representation R; which spatiotemporal pattern of neuronal activation in this circuit does underpin the process P? Why: for what reason are R and P located in these specific brain parts and activated at these specific points in time, and why is R laid down i

3、n this specific neuronal circuit, P being expressed by these specific activation patterns?,Todays focus,Location of Language Organ,Evidence for the localization of language facilities comes from: Patients with language disorders “Split Brain patients” Direct Electrical Stimulation Modern Imaging Tec

4、hniques,Ancient Egyptians subcortical pathway between Brocas and Wernickes areas disrupted,Arcuate Fasciculus*,*but see Bernal but the mental experiences, which these directly symbolize, are the same for all, as also are those things of which our experiences are the images.,Some history,John B. Wats

5、on (1913, early behaviorist): thought processes are really motor habits in the larynx, improvements, short cuts, changes, etc., in these habits are brought about in the same way that such changes are produced in other motor habits. This view carries with it the implication that there are no reflecti

6、ve processes (centrally initiated processes). But see Smith, Brown, Thomas, and Goodman (1947) used curare to temporarily paralyze all voluntary muscles, but participant (first author Smith) reportedly could still think and solve problems,Some history,Vygotsky (Russian developmental psychologist) La

7、nguage and thought have different origins Pre-linguistic child thinks independently of language Words are not symbols for thought, instead are properties of objects Speech sounds are not thought Language is acquired from the childs social grouping Later speech and thought become connected Speech bec

8、omes representational Childrens monologues are internalized and become “inner speech”,Some history,Franz Boas, father of American Anthropology “grammatical meaning can only be understood in terms of the system of which it is part” Edward Sapir, student of Boas “the real world is to a large extent un

9、consciously build up on the language habits of the group.” Benjamin Lee Whorf, student of Sapir (and insurance claims adjustor),Benjamin Lee Whorf,“Every language is a vast pattern system, different from others, in which are culturally ordained the forms and categories by which the personality not o

10、nly communicates, but also analyzes nature, notices or neglects types of relationships and phenomena, channels his reasoning, and builds the house of his consciousness.”,“We cut up and organize the spread and flow of events as we do largely because, through our mother tongue, we are parties to an ag

11、reement to do so, not because nature itself is segmented in exactly that way for all to see.”,“From this fact proceeds what I have called the linguistic relativity principle, which means, in informal terms, that users of markedly different grammars are pointed by their grammars toward different type

12、s of observations and hence are not equivalent as observers ”,Sapir-Whorf hypothesis Linguistic determinism Language determines thought (memory, perception, Gordon (2004) (in conjunction with ISUs Dan Everett) Hoi (falling tone = one), hoi (rising tone = two), aibai (= many) Matching tasks - show an

13、 array of objects, they have to put objects down to match the array,Different languages terms for numbers also has effects on arithmetic,Results - relatively good matching up to 2 or 3, but performance was considerably poorer beyond that up to 8 to 10 items,Counting & Arithmetic,English and French h

14、ave complex names for numbers Japanese,Chinese and Korean have simpler systems,Miller & Stigler (1987),From Miller & Stigler (1987),Counting & Arithmetic,The greater regularity of number names in Chinese, Japanese and Korean as compared to English or French facilitates the learning of counting behav

15、ior beyond 10 in those languages. Another advantage is earlier mastery of place value (understanding that in # 23 there are 2 tens and 3 ones),Miller & Stigler (1987),Counting & Arithmetic,Miller & Stigler (1987),Conclusions,At this point it is apparent that the strong view of Whorfs hypothesis is n

16、ot supported.,Steven Pinker (The Language Instinct, 1994) “The famous Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic determinism is wrong, all wrong. There is no scientific evidence that languages dramatically shape their speakers ways of thinking.” “Most of the experiments have tested banal “weak” versions o

17、f the Whorfian hypothesis, namely that words can have some effect on memory or categorization. Some of these experiments have actually worked, but that is hardly surprising.”,Conclusions,However, there is continued support for the weaker version(s) of the hypothesis The data from areas of investigation concerning color naming, counting & arithmetic, reasoning, visual memory, and other areas (e.g., social inference) indicate that the use of certain specific terms can influence how we think The question that remains is how much of