Exam 9: Language and Thinking

During your flight to Europe you ask a friend to describe what they see when they look out the window. They say, "The clouds are floating like a sea of marshmallows under the wings." You've never heard this description before. What property of language does this illustrate?

A Canadian family with two children (a boy and a girl) moves to Germany where both of the children must learn a new language. The girl is 6 years old while the boy is 13 years old. Based on the results on the acquisition of a second language, we would expect that

All of the following were mentioned by the text as examples of mental representations EXCEPT

One of the arguments for the biological basis of language is that despite their differences at the ____________, all languages seem to have common underlying ____________.

In English, are there more 4-letter words starting with the letter "k" or with "k" as the third letter? Most people answer that there are more words starting with "k", but in fact, there are many more with "k" as the third letter (make, bake, take, etc.). One reason that people choose starting with "k" is likely

The first step in problem solving involves understanding the nature of the problem.

Justine's best friend has just told her that Jason, Justine's boyfriend is cheating on her. Justine can't believe this and decides to watch him very closely the next few days for signs of his cheating. Jason brings Justine flowers on Wednesday, ends their Thursday night date early so Justine "can get her beauty sleep," and visits a sick friend in the hospital, missing their date on Friday night. Justine still thought that he was being faithful, "Just look at the wonderful things he does!" Justine was only looking for evidence to prove that Jason was being faithful to her thereby falling sway to the ______________________.

Anna and her family moved to Germany when Anna was thirteen years old and her brother Andrew was four. Even after many years of speaking and reading the German language, Anna still struggled with the language compared to Andrew who easily switches between English and German when necessary. The fact that Andrew was able to master this second language faster and better than Anna is evidence for

Which of the following statements best describes the relative contributions of biological factors and the social environment on children's language acquisition? Language acquisition ________.

Prior to 6 months of age, infants around the world are able to differentiate the phonemes of all languages, but between 6 to 12 months of age they begin to differentiate ____________.

While trying to learn what a dog is, Arash mentally compares every animal to his family's new puppy. If the animal is similar enough, he decides that it is also a dog. Arash's puppy serves as a _______________ for the concept of dog.

According to research, a person at what age would have the easiest time learning and effectively mastering a second language?

Both speech segmentation and the use of context to help us understand meaning depend on what?

Although the same basic shapes are often included in many different kinds of Lego sets, they come with instructions to build specific designs that can often be rather different. You can even create your own designs that the manufacturer will have never considered yet are still easily achievable with the same handful of basic shapes. This is most similar to which of the following concepts?

Adjectives for the major modes of thought are

Gina works for a widget company where her job is to bundle the widgets in packages of 25. Gina figures out a method of bundling the widgets but fails to implement the final stage of problem solving which in the long-run caused her to miss a more efficient method. This final stage was _______________.

Broca's area is a brain structure that is centrally involved in the comprehension of language.

Simon had a big fight with his girlfriend and he is not certain now what he should do about it. He has a close relationship with his grandfather so Simon talks to him about his problem. His grandfather's advice turns out to be very helpful and relieves the strain the fight had on the relationship. Which of Baltes' five components of wisdom did Simon's grandfather show evidence of?

"All creatures that can swim are fish. People can swim. Therefore, people are fish." This syllogism is __________ correct and __________ incorrect.

The fact that both Japanese and English (although very different) share some common structural features is evidence for a _______________ perspective on language.