Exam 8: A: Language and Thought

Why does children's pronunciation improve over time, according to learning theory?

What should you expect to find if you were to compare adult speech with the variety of noises made by infants under six months of age?

Which of the following statements concerning age and functional fixedness is most accurate?

What are the adjectives that describe the four essential characteristics of language?

A local grocer wanted to cut down on the use of credit cards in his store. He found his business declined significantly when he imposed a "surcharge" for credit card sales. However, his business boomed when he offered "rebates" for cash sales, even though customers paid the same amount for products in both cases. What does this example illustrate?

How does risky decision making differ from making decisions about preferences? How do people generally make each type of decision?

Lance is trying to solve a complex anagram puzzle. He systematically tries every potential solution by testing each possible combination of the letters provided. What is Lance doing in this case?

What occurs when the word "oat" is changed to the word "boat"?

What cognitive tendency is described by the conjunction fallacy?

Scott has been trying to write some computer code, but it isn't working. He decided to go to bed and try again in the morning, and when he started again he immediately detected and fixed the problem. What does this example illustrate?

Dale is in Grade 5 and his sister Alina is in Grade 3. What major difference would you expect in comparing their vocabularies?

Greeno's basic types of problems were described in your text. Which one requires the problem solver to discover the relations among the parts of the problem?

Which of the following is associated with cognitive theories of language acquisition?

Alex is dealing with a new problem that he has never encountered. He begins to consider all of the various methods that he has used to solve problems in the past. What is Alex thinking about, according to Newell and Simon?

Desmond moves to a new place where the language is different from his first language. What effect should you see on Desmond's ability to learn the new language if he doesn't really like his new home, and doesn't really try to fit in with the new culture?

In which case will working backward to solve a problem be an effective strategy?

Mayra wants to generate a set of anagrams for a contest in the campus paper. To generate the anagrams, she starts with the words that the contestants need to come up with to win the contest, and then scrambles the letters. In this case, Mayra's method of solving the problem is consistent with which problem-solving heuristic?

Which of the following is a criticism of the behaviourist model of language acquisition?

You've observed the similarities between a new problem to be solved and one you've successfully solved in the past. What is this called?

What type of understanding is illustrated by Kanzi (the famous bonobo) and his ability to distinguish between "Pour the Coke in the lemonade" and "Pour the lemonade in the Coke"?