Language & Cognition Practice Questions

This video covers 10 multiple choice practice questions on language & cognition and includes concepts related to linguistics, language acquisition, problem-solving, decision-making, heuristics, and more. I hope this can help you to review your knowledge and understanding, let me know if you have any suggestions for future practice and review videos! Get a free PDF with the questions and answers … Read More

Language & Cognition Knowledge Organizer

Here’s a knowledge organizer I’ve created of the most essential concepts for language & cognition in an introductory psychology course. These knowledge organizers are designed to help you identify the most important factual knowledge you need to have in order to engage in the more challenging activities of discussing, writing about, and applying the concepts. If you find these useful … Read More

The Interactionist Approach to Language Acquisition

In this video I describe the interactionist approach to language acquisition. This approach recognizes our genetic predisposition for language and considers how the social environment plays a role in that development. Children are learning more than just vocabulary and syntactical rules and their ability to interact and communicate using language is supported by the adults and other children around them, … Read More

Language Development

In this video I provide an overview of language development in children. Children learn thousands of words within a matter of a few years and they seem to effortlessly pick up and apply the rules of grammar, first in their telegraphic speech and later in more complex sentences. Errors of overgeneralization reveal that by age 4 or 5 children already … Read More

Universal Grammar

In this video I provide a brief introduction to Noam Chomsky’s theory of Universal Grammar, which suggests that all human languages must share certain features. The human predisposition for language acquisition which allows us to acquire any human language depending on exposure suggests that all language follow the same types of rules even though they may differ in their specific … Read More

Introduction to Linguistics

In this video I introduce some terminology from linguistics for describing how languages use sounds to represent meaning. Phonemes refers to the individual sounds used in a language, while morphemes refer to units of meaning. Phonological rules dictate how sounds can be combined in a language (with variations resulting in accents), while syntactical rules relate to how words can be … Read More

Language Acquisition: Skinner vs. Chomsky

In this video I introduce language acquisition as a type of learning that isn’t explained well by the behaviorist principles we saw in the unit on learning theory. In the next few videos we’ll be looking at linguistics and language acquisition in more detail and then considering how language relates to thought. We begin with Noam Chomsky’s review of B.F. … Read More

Language, Thought, & Cognition Resources

On this page you’ll find a number of resources for understanding the key concepts of linguistics, cognition, and thought, including language acquisition, problem-solving, and decision-making. If I’ve missed a good resource, please share it in the comments section! General Resources Language & Cognition Key Terms Language Acquisition Pinterest Page Decision-Making Pinterest Page OpenStax Cognition & Language Chapter Master Introductory Psychology … Read More

Key Terms for Language and Cognition

Download a free pdf of this key terms list here: Language-and-Cognition-Key-Terms Find explanations and examples of all of these key terms and more here: Master Introductory Psychology: Complete Edition           B. F. Skinner Noam Chomsky   language acquisition device (LAD)   linguistics   phonemes   morphemes   phonological rules   accent   syntactical rules   fast-mapping   … Read More

The Wug Test and Overgeneralization

In this clip from Scientific American Frontiers, Steven Pinker explains The Wug Test and also how the overgeneralization of grammatical rules suggests that children acquire the rules of language, rather than simply learning by imitation.   Looking to learn more about linguistics and cognition? Find more on the resources page here or find all the key concepts in the Master … Read More