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 … Read More
Category Recognition
In this video I consider how language can help us to organize thought and create more precise concepts and categories. This raises the question of how we recognize new stimuli as being part of a particular category. Protoype theory suggests … Read More
How Does Language Influence Thought?
In this video I consider the relationship between language and thought. The Whorf-Sapir hypothesis, or linguistic relativity hypothesis, suggests that one’s language influences one’s perception of the world. While evidence is mixed on just how language influences thought, there are … 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 … 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 … Read More
Split Brains: What Happens When You Sever the Corpus Callosum?
In this video I cover research by Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga on split brain patients who have had the corpus callosum severed. I explain some hemispheric specializations such as speech production and facial recognition as well as how visual … Read More
Bonobo Language Learning
Here’s a few videos from the Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary showing attempts to teach language to Bonobo chimps. The first video is of Kanzi demonstrating his skills in using a lexigram. In the next video, we can see Kanzi following … Read More
Chomsky’s Critique of Verbal Behavior
You can read Noam Chomsky’s original critique of Skinner’s behaviorist explanation of language acquisition here.