Exam 9: Language and Thought

Use the following to answer questions : Scenario I The scenario is based on and presents results consistent with the following studies: Snedeker,J. ,Geren,J. ,& Shafto,C.L.(2007).Starting over: International adoption as a natural experiment in language development.Psychological Science,18(1),79-87.doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01852.x Snedeker,J. ,Geren,J. ,& Shafto,C.L.(2012).Disentangling the effects of cognitive development and linguistic expertise: A longitudinal study of the acquisition of English in internationally-adopted children.Cognitive Psychology,65(1),39-76.doi:10.1016/j.cogpsych.2012.01.004 Language development occurs in orderly stages,beginning with one-word utterances and progressing to two-word utterances,simple sentences containing function morphemes,and the emergence of grammatical rules.Psycholinguists have attempted to determine if language development is a consequence of cognitive development or if it reflects linguistic processes that occur independently of general cognitive development.Studies on the acquisition of a second language in internationally adopted children have provided insight into this research question.In a series of studies,Snedeker and colleagues (2007,2012)studied the acquisition of the English language in adopted preschoolers from China.These children had no exposure to the English language before being adopted by families in the United States. Figure 9.1 -(Scenario I)In a second study,Snedeker and colleagues (2012)found that older (e.g. ,5 year-old)internationally adopted children acquiring English as a second language began correctly using words pertaining to time (e.g. ,yesterday,tomorrow)earlier in their exposure to English than did monolingual infant controls.This observed difference is BEST interpreted as:

Grammatical mistakes in children most often arise from not applying a previously learned rule to a novel sentence construction.

People often make decisions about a current situation based on what they have previously invested in the situation.This behaviour illustrates:

Deep structure refers to the _____ of a sentence.

Meeting a sufficient condition for membership into a club guarantees club membership.

Eleanor Rosch developed both family resemblance theory and prototype theory.

Research has demonstrated that the language deficits observed in children from families with low socioeconomic status are largely the result of:

The linguistic relativity hypothesis states that language shapes the nature of thought.

_____ is defined as the difficulty in producing or comprehending language.

Which expression is an example of telegraphic speech?

Practical reasoning involves an action-oriented goal.

Interactionist theories of language development argue that social interactions,not innate biological processes,are responsible for the development of language.

Internationally adopted preschoolers acquire a second language:

Professor Janes is preparing a flow chart depicting a timeline of the history of psychology to be used at a Chinese university.To maximize student learning,how should the flow chart be oriented?

Which Mexican immigrant,each of whom is 30 years old,is MOST likely to have developed the best English skills?

According to prospect theory,when will people choose to take on risks?

The nativist position argues that language-learning capacities are built into the brain.

_____ is more robust in North Americans relative to Eastern cultures.

Activity in which brain region is MOST associated with forming prototypes?

Bilingual children tend to have a smaller vocabulary in each language than do their monolingual peers.