AP

Psychology

Memory
Chapter Overview
▪ Models of how memory works
▪ Encoding, effortful and
automatic
▪ Sensory, short-term, and
working memory
▪ Long term storage, helped by
potentiation, the hippocampus,
and the amygdala
▪ Encoding failure, storage decay,
and retrieval failure
▪ Memory construction,
misinformation, and source
amnesia
▪ Tips and lessons for improving
memory
Why do we need to have memory?
▪ To retain useful skills, knowledge,
and expertise
▪ To recognize familiar people and
places
▪ To build our capacity to use
language
▪ To enjoy, share, and sustain
culture
▪ To build a sense of self that
endures: what do I believe, value,
remember, and understand?
▪ To go beyond conditioning in
learning from experience, including
lessons from one’s past and from
 Studying Memory
Memory refers to the persistence of
learning over time, through the
storage and retrieval of information
and skills.

Three behaviors show that memory is functioning.

▪Recall is analogous to “fill-in-the-blank.” You retrieve
information previously learned and unconsciously stored.
▪Recognition is a form of “multiple choice.” You identify
which stimuli match your stored information.
▪Relearning is a measure of how much less work it takes
you to learn information you had studied before, even if
you don’t recall having seen the information before.
How Does Memory Work?
An Information-Processing Model
Here is a simplified description of how memory works:

Encodin ▪ Encoding: the information gets into

g our brains in a way that allows it to
be stored
▪ Storage: the information is held in
Storage a way that allows it to later be
retrieved
▪ Retrieval: reactivating and
Retrieval recalling the information,
producing it in a form similar to
what was encoded
Models of Memory Formation
The Atkinson-Shiffrin Model
(1968)
1. Stimuli are recorded by our
senses and held briefly in sensory
memory.
2. Some of this information is
processed into short-term
memory and encoded through
rehearsal .
3. Information then moves into
long-term memory where it can
be retrieved later.
Modifying the Model:
▪More goes on in short-
term memory besides
rehearsal; this is now
called working memory.
▪Some information seems
to go straight from
sensory experience into
long-term memory; this is
automatic processing.
Zooming In on the Model:
From Stimuli to Short-Term Memory
▪ Some of the stimuli we encounter are picked up by our
senses and processed by the sensory organs. This
generates information which enters sensory memory.
▪ Before this information vanishes from sensory memory,
we select details to pay attention to, and send this
information into working memory for rehearsal and
other processing.
 Dual-Track Processing:
Explicit and Implicit Memories
So far, we have been
talking about explicit/
“declarative” memories.
These are facts and
experiences that we can
consciously know and
recall.
Our minds acquire this
information through effortful
processing. Explicit memories
are formed through studying,
rehearsing, thinking,
processing, and then storing
information in long-term
memory.
Some memories are formed
without going through all the
Atkinson-Shiffrin stages. These
are implicit memories, the ones
we are not fully aware of and
thus don’t “declare”/talk about.
These memories are typically
formed through automatic
processing. Implicit memories are
formed without our awareness that
we are building a memory, and
without rehearsal or other
processing in working memory.
Automatic Processing
Some experiences go directly to long-term implicit
memory
Some experiences are processed automatically into implicit
memory, without any effortful/working memory processing:
▪ procedural memory, such as knowing how to ride a bike, and
well-practiced knowledge such as word meanings
▪ conditioned associations, such as a smell that triggers thoughts
of a favorite place
▪ information about space, such as being able to picture where
things are after walking through a room
▪ information about time, such as retracing a sequence of events
if you lost something
▪ information about frequency, such as thinking, “I just noticed
that this is the third texting driver I’ve passed today.”
The Encoding and Processing of
Memory:
Sensory Memory
Sensory memory refers to the
immediate, very brief recording
of sensory information before it
is processed into short-term,
working, or long-term memory.

▪ We very briefly capture a sensory memory

▪ How brief? Sensory memory consists of about a 3 to 4
second echo, or a 1/20th of a second image.
▪ Evidence of auditory sensory memory, called “echoic”
memory, can occur after someone says, “what did I just
say?” Even if you weren’t paying attention, you can
retrieve about the last eight words from echoic memory.
 Sensory Memory

» Not all sensory memory consists of images, each sensory

receptor has its own sensory register.

» Also, sensory images have no meaning associated with

them, that is the job of the next stage, working memory.

Visual Stimulation-iconic memory

Auditory Stimulation-echoic memory

Working Long Term

Tactile Stimulation-tactile sensory memory Memory Memory

Olfactory Stimulation-olfactory memory

Gustatory Stimulation-gustatory memory

Evidence of Visual Sensory (Iconic) Memory:
George Sperling’s Experiments
▪ George Sperling (b. 1934) To simulate Sperling’s
exposed people to a 1/20th experiment, notice the
three rows of letters below.
of-a-second view of a grid of Based on the color of the
letters, followed by a tone letters, you will know that
which told them which row you must recall one of the
of letters to pull from iconic following rows:
top, middle or bottom.
memory and recall.
▪ Without the tone, people J Y Q
recalled about 50 percent of
the letters; with the tone, P G S
recall for any of the rows
was typically 100 percent. V F M
 Encoding Memory Working Memory,
Capacity of Short-Term and which uses rehearsal,
focus, analysis, linking,
Working Memory and other processing,
▪ If some information is selected from has greater capacity than
sensory memory to be sent to short- short-term memory. The
term memory, how much information capacity of working
can we hold there? memory varies; some
▪ George Miller (b. 1920) proposed that people have better
we can hold 7 +/-2 information bits concentration.
(for example, a string of 5 to 9 letters).
▪ More recent research suggests that the
average person, free from distraction, Test: see how many of
can hold about: these letters and
▪ 7 digits, 6 letters, or 5 words. numbers you can recall
after they disappear.
Test: No need for a hyphen
–V M 3 C A Q 9 L D before the V.
Duration of Short-Term Memory (STM)

Lloyd Peterson and Margaret

Peterson wanted to know the
duration of short term memory?
Their experiment (1959):
1.People were given triplets of
consonants (e.g., “VMF”).
2.To prevent rehearsing, the
subjects had to do a distracting task.
3.People were then tested at various
times for recall.
Result: After 12 seconds, most
memory of the consonants had
decayed and could not be retrieved.
Encoding:
Effortful Processing Strategies
If we have short-term recall of
only 7 letters, but can remember 5
words, doesn’t that mean we
could remember more than 7
letters if we could group them
into words?
▪This is an example of an
effortful processing strategy, a
way to encode information into
memory to keep it from decaying
and make it easier to retrieve.
▪Effortful processing is also
known as studying.
Examples:
▪ Chunking (grouping)
▪ Mnemonics: images,
maps, and peg-words
▪ Hierarchies/categories
▪ Rehearsal, especially
distributed practice
▪ Deep processing
▪ Semantic processing
▪ Making information
personally meaningful
 Can you remember
this list?
Effortful Processing Strategies
Chunking
▪ Why are credit card numbers broken into groups of
four digits? Four “chunks” are easier to encode
(memorize) and recall than 16 individual digits.
 Memorize: ACPCVSSUVROFLNBAQ
XIDKKFCFBIANA
▪ Chunking: organizing data into manageable units
XID KKF CFB IAN AAC PCV S SU VRO FNB AQ
• Chunking works even better if we can assemble
information into meaningful groups:
XXIDKIDKKFC
KFCFBI
FBIBABANAACP
NAACPCVS CVSSUVSUVROFL
ROFLNBA
NBA
QQ
Effortful Processing Strategies
Mnemonics
A mnemonic is a memory
Read: plane, cigar, due, “trick” that connects
▪
shall, candy, vague,
pizza, seem, fire, information to existing
pencil memory strengths such as
▪ Which words might be imagery or structure.
easier to remember? A peg word system refers
▪ Write down the words to the technique of visually
you can recall. associating new words with
▪ Lesson: we encode an existing list that is
better with the help of already memorized along
images. with numbers. For example,
“due” can be pictured
written on a door, and door
= 4.
Effortful Processing Strategies
Hierarchies/Categories
We are more likely to recall a concept if we encode it in a
hierarchy, a branching/nested set of categories and sub-
categories. Below is an example of a hierarchy, using
some of the concepts we have just seen.
Effortful Processing Strategies Hierarchy

Encoding and Effortful

Processing
Sensory
Chunking memory

Effortful strategies

Hierarchies Mnemonics Capacity of

STM
Effortful Processing Strategies
Rehearsal and Distributed
Practice
Massed Practice refers to cramming information all at once.
It is not time-effective.
▪ The spacing effect was first noted by The best way to
Hermann Ebbinghaus in the late 1800s. practice? Consider the
You will develop better retention and testing effect. Henry
recall, especially in the long run, if you Roediger (b. 1947)
use the same amount of study time found that if your
spread out over many shorter sessions. distributed practice
includes testing (having
▪ This doesn’t mean you have to study to answer questions
every day. Memory researcher Harry
about the material), you
Bahrick noted that the longer the time
will learn more and
between study sessions, the better the
retain more than if you
long-term retention, and the fewer
merely reread.
sessions you need!
Effortful Processing Strategies
Deep/Semantic Processing
When encoding information, we are more likely to retain it if
we deeply process even a simple word list by focusing on the
semantics (meaning) of the words.

“Shallow,”
unsuccessful
processing
refers to
memorizing the
appearance or
sound of words.
Effortful Processing Strategies Memorize the following
words:
Making Information bold truck temper
green run drama
Personally Meaningful glue chips knob
hard vent rope
▪ We can memorize a set of instructions more easily if we
figure out what they mean rather than seeing them as set
of words.
▪ Memorizing meaningful material takes one tenth the effort
of memorizing nonsense syllables.
▪ Actors memorize lines (and students memorize poems)
more easily by deciding on the feelings and meanings
behind the words, so one line flows naturally to the next.
▪ The self-reference effect, relating material to ourselves,
aids encoding and retention.
▪ Now try again, but this time, consider how each word
relates to you.
Memory Storage:
Capacity and Location
▪ The brain is NOT like a hard
drive. Memories are NOT in
isolated files, but are in
overlapping neural networks.
▪ The brain’s long-term memory
storage does not get full; it gets
more elaborately rewired and
interconnected.
▪ Parts of each memory can be
distributed throughout the brain.
 Memory of a particular Karl Lashley (1890-1958)
‘kitchen table’ may be a linkage showed that rats who had
among networks for ‘kitchen,’ learned a maze retained
‘meal,’ ‘wooden,’ ‘home,’ ‘legs,’ parts of that memory, even
and ‘sit.’ when various small parts of
their brain were removed.
Working Memory: Functions
The short-term memory is “working” in many ways.
▪ It holds information not just to rehearse it , but to process it (such as hearing
a word problem in math and doing it in your head).

Short-term memory integrates information from long-term memory

with new information coming in from sensory memory.
Memory Processing in The Brain
If memory is stored throughout the brain, how does
it get in there, and how do we retrieve it and use it?
Explicit Memory Processing
Explicit/declarative memories
include facts, stories, and meanings
of words such as the first time riding
a bike, or facts about types of
bicycles.

▪ Retrieval and use of explicit

memories, which is in part a working
memory or executive function, is
directed by the frontal lobes.
▪ Encoding and storage of explicit memories is facilitated by
the hippocampus. Events and facts are held there for a couple
of days before consolidating, moving to other parts of the
brain for long-term storage. Much of this consolidation
occurs during sleep.
The Brain Stores Reactions and Skills
Implicit Memory Processing
Implicit memories include
skills, procedures, and
conditioned associations.

▪ The cerebellum (“little

brain”) forms and stores our
conditioned responses. We
can store a phobic response
even if we can’t recall how
we acquired the fear.

▪ The basal ganglia, next to the thalamus, controls movement,

and forms and stores procedural memory and motor skills. We
can learn to ride a bicycle even if we can’t recall having the
lesson.
 Infantile
Amnesia
▪ Implicit memory from infancy can be
retained, including skills and conditioned
responses. However, explicit memories,
our recall for episodes, only goes back to
about age 3 for most people.
▪ This nearly 3-year “blank” in our
memories has been called infantile
amnesia.
Explanation?
• Encoding: the memories were not stored well
because the hippocampus is one of the last brain
areas to develop.
• Forgetting/retrieval: the adult mind thinks more in a
linear verbal narrative and has trouble accessing
preverbal memories as declarative memories.
Emotions and Memory
▪ Strong emotions, especially
stress, can strengthen
memory formation.
▪ Flashbulb memories refer to
emotionally intense events
that become “burned in” as a
vivid-seeming memory.
▪ Note that flashbulb memories
are not as accurate as they
feel.
▪ Vividly storing information
about dangers may have
helped our ancestors survive.
Emotions, Stress Hormones,
the Amygdala, and Memory
How does intense emotion cause
the brain to form intense
memories?
1.Emotions can trigger a rise in
stress hormones.
2.These hormones trigger
activity in the amygdala, located
next to the memory-forming
hippocampus.
3.The amygdala increases
memory-forming activity and
engages the frontal lobes and
basal ganglia to “tag” the
memories as important.
As a result, the memories
are stored with more
sensory and emotional
details.
▪These details can trigger a
rapid, unintended recall of
the memory.
▪Traumatized people can
have intrusive recall that is
so vivid that it feels like re-
experiencing the event.
Brain processing of memory
Synaptic Changes
When sea slugs or people form memories,
their neurons release neurotransmitters to
other neurons across the synapses, the
junctions between neurons.
▪ With repetition, the synapses undergo long-term potentiation;
signals are sent across the synapse more efficiently.
▪ Synaptic changes include a reduction in the prompting needed to
send a signal, and an increase in the number of neurotransmitter
receptor sites (below, right)
Messing with Long-Term
Potentiation
▪ Chemicals and shocks that
prevent long-term potentiation
(LTP) can prevent learning and
even erase recent learning.
▪ Preventing LTP keeps new
memories from consolidating
into long-term memories. For
example, mice forget how to run
a maze.
▪ Drugs that boost LTP help mice
learn a maze more quickly and
with fewer mistakes.
 Summary:
Types of Memory Processing
Memory Retrieval
▪ Recall: some people, through practice,
visual strategies, or biological
differences, have the ability to store and Lessons from each of
these demonstrations:
recall thousands of words or digits,
reproducing them years later 1.our storage and
recall capacity is
▪ Recognition: the average person can virtually unlimited
view 2500 new faces and places, and
later can notice with 90 percent 2.our capacity for
accuracy which ones they’ve seen recognition is greater
than our capacity for
before recall
▪ Relearning: some people are unable to
form new memories, especially of 3.relearning can
highlight that memories
episodes; although they would not are there even if we
recall a puzzle-solving lesson, they can’t recall forming
might still solve the puzzle faster each them
lesson
 Recognition Test: What is This
Object?
▪ Even though it is
obscured by six layers
of scribble lines,
those of you who
glanced in a corner of
the first slide of the
chapter may
recognize this.
▪ Any simple multiple
choice question is
also a recognition
test .
 Relearning Time
as a Measure of Retention
▪ In the late 1800s, Hermann
Ebbinghaus studied another
measure of memory functioning:
how much time does it take to
relearn and regain mastery of
material?
▪ He studied the memorization of
nonsense syllables (THB YOX
KVU EHM) so that depth of
processing or prelearning would
not be a factor.
▪ The more times he rehearsed
out loud on day 1, the less time
he needed to relearn/memorize
the same letters on day 2.
Retrieval Cues
▪ Retrieval
challenge:
memory is not
stored as a file
that can be
retrieved by
searching
alphabetically.
▪ Instead, it is
stored as a web
of associations:
▪ conceptual
▪ contextual
▪ emotional Memory involves a web of associated concepts.
Priming:
Retrieval is Affected by Activating our Associations
▪ Priming triggers a thread of
associations that bring us to a
concept, just as a spider feels
movement in a web and follows it
to find the bug.
▪ Our minds work by having one
idea trigger another; this maintains
a flow of thought.

Priming Example: Define the

word “bark.”
Now what is the definition of
“bark”?
The Power of Priming
Study: People primed with
▪ Priming has been called money-related words were
“invisible memory” less likely to then help
because it affects us another person.
unconsciously.
▪ In the case of tree Study: Priming with an
“bark” vs. dog “bark,” image of Santa Claus
the path we follow in led kids to share more
our thoughts can be candy.
channeled by priming.
▪ We may have biases and Study: people primed with a
associations stored in missing child poster then
memory that also misinterpreted ambiguous
influence our choices. adult-child interactions as
kidnapping.
 Words learned
Context-Dependent underwater are better
Memory retrieved underwater.

▪ Part of the web of

associations of a memory
is the context. What else
was going on at the time
we formed the memory?
▪ We retrieve a memory
more easily when in the
same context as when we
formed the memory.
 Did you forget a
psychology concept? Just
sitting down and opening
your book might bring the
memory back.
 State-Dependent Memories can even be linked
Memory to physiological states:

▪ Our memories are not just

linked to the external
context in which we learned
them.
▪ Memories can also be tied to
the emotional state we were
in when we formed the
memory.
▪ Mood-congruent memory
refers to the tendency to
selectively recall details that
are consistent with one’s “I wonder if you’d mind
current mood. giving me directions. I’ve
 This biased memory never been sober in this part
then reinforces our current of town before.”
mood!
The Serial Position Effect
Priming and context cues
are not the only factors
which make memory
retrieval selective.

The serial position effect

refers to the tendency, when
learning information in a
long list, to more likely
recall the first items
(primacy effect) and the
last items (recency effect).
In what situation is the
Which words of your national recency effect strongest?
anthem are easiest to recall?
Forgetting is not always a bad thing
Wouldn’t it be good to have brains that stored information like a
computer does, so we could easily retrieve any stored item and
not just the ones we rehearse?

What would that feel like? Would

there be any problems? What leads to forgetting?
▪If we remembered everything, • brain damage
maybe we could not prioritize the • encoding failure
important memories. • storage decay
▪We might have difficulty thinking • retrieval failure
abstractly and making connections • interference
if our brain was devoted to • motivated forgetting
compiling isolated bits of
information.
“Forgetfulness is a form of freedom.”
Khalil Gibran
▪ Jill Price (b. 1965) has
hyperthymesia; she not only recalls
everything, but is unable to forget
anything.
▪ For Jill, both the important and the
mundane are always accessible,
forming a “running movie” of
images and information that run
simultaneously with current stimuli.
Jill Price, patient “A.J.” ▪ She has said, “I’ll be talking to
someone and [also] seeing something
else….”
Another possible problem if we were unable to
forget: we might not focus well on current stimuli
because of intrusive memories.
The Brain and the Two-Track Mind:
The Case of Henry Molaison (“H.M.”)
▪ In 1953, the removal of
H.M.’s hippocampus at age
27 ended his seizures, but
also ended his ability to
form new explicit
memories.
▪ H.M. could learn new
skills, procedures,
locations of objects, and
games, but had no memory
of the lessons or the
instructors. Why?
▪ H.M. also retained
H.M., like another such patient,
memories from before the “Jimmy,” could not understand
surgery. What is his why his face looked older than 27
condition called? in the mirror. Why not?
Studying Brain Damage and
Amnesia
Retrograde amnesia refers to the inability to retrieve
memory of the past.
“H.M.” and “Jimmy” suffered from hippocampus damage and
removal causing anterograde amnesia, an inability to form
new long-term declarative memories.

▪ They had no sense that time had passed since the brain
damage. While they were not forming new declarative
memories, encoding was still happening in other processing
“tracks.”
▪ Jimmy and H.M. could still learn how to get places
(automatic processing), could learn new skills (procedural
memory), and acquire conditioned responses
▪ However, they could not remember any experiences which
created these implicit memories.
The Two Types of Amnesia
Retrograde amnesia
refers to an inability to
retrieve memory of the
past.
▪ Retrograde amnesia can be
caused by head injury or
emotional trauma and is often
temporary.
▪ It can also be caused by more
severe brain damage; in that
case, it may include
anterograde amnesia.
Anterograde amnesia refers
to an inability to form new
long-term declarative/
explicit memories.
▪ H.M. and Jimmy lived with
no memories of life after
surgery.
▪ See also the movie Memento.
Most other movie amnesia is
retrograde amnesia.
 Penny Memory Test
Which of these has the design of an actual U.S. cent?
Retrieval test: what words and numbers,
in which locations, are on the front of a
U.S. one cent coin? This should be easy
because it was in the book.
Recognition test: choose the correct
design from among these pictures:
Encoding Failure
▪ If we got the penny image wrong, did
we fail to retrieve the information?
▪ It could be that we never paid attention to the penny
details and didn’t select them from sensory memory to
hold in working memory.
▪ Even if we once looked at the penny and paid attention
to it, we still didn’t bother rehearsing it and encoding it
into long term memory.
Storage Decay
▪ Material encoded into
long term memory will
decay if the memory is
never used, recalled, and
re-stored.
▪ Decay is LTP in reverse
(or like pruning). Unused ▪ Decay tends to level off.
connections and networks Memory for both
wither while well-used nonsense syllables and
memory traces are Spanish lessons decays
maintained. rapidly.
▪ However, what hasn’t
decayed quickly tends to
stay intact long-term.
Tip of the Tongue: Retrieval Failure
▪ Sometimes, the memory itself does not decay. Instead,
what decays are the associations and links that help us
find our way to the stored memory.
▪ As a result, some stored memories seem just below the
surface: “I know the name...it starts with a B maybe…”
▪ To prevent retrieval failure when storing and rehearsing
memories, you can build multiple associations, linking
images, rhymes, categories, lists, and cues.
Interference and Positive Transfer
▪ Another downside of not forgetting is that old and new
memories can interfere with each other, making it difficult to
store new memories and retrieve old ones.
▪ Occasionally, the opposite happens. In positive transfer, old
information (like algebra) makes it easier to learn related new
information (like calculus).
▪ Proactive interference occurs when past information
interferes (in a forward-acting way) with learning new
information.
▪ You have many strong memories of a previous principal,
and this memory makes it difficult to learn the new
principal’s name.
▪ You had to change email passwords, but you keep typing
the old one and can’t seem to memorize the new one.
Retroactive Interference and Sleep
Retroactive interference occurs ▪ In one study,
when new stimuli/learning interferes students who
with the storage and retrieval of studied right before
previously formed memories. eight hours of sleep
had better recall
than those who
studied before eight
hours of daily
activities.
▪ The daily activities
retroactively
interfered with the
morning’s learning.
 Creating, Storing, and
Retrieving Passwords
▪ Passwords need to be
stored in our memory. For Password Strategies
security, passwords should 1.Use familiar retrieval
be different and a mix of cues without being too
numbers and symbols at obvious.
least 10 digits long. How 2.Minimize interference
can we remember so many by repeating passwords
passwords? or patterns.
▪ Store them on our 3.Rehearse passwords
computers and in our regularly.
wallets to keep them safe?
Motivated Forgetting
▪ Memory is fallible and
changeable, but can we practice
motivated forgetting, that is,
choosing to forget or to change
our memories?
▪ Sigmund Freud believed that we
sometimes make an unconscious
decision to bury our anxiety-
provoking memories and hide
them from conscious awareness.
He called this repression.
▪ New techniques of
psychotherapy and medication
interventions may allow us to
“erase” (prevent reconsolidation
of) recalled memories.
Motivated forgetting is
not common. More
often:
1.recall is full of
errors.
2.people try not to
think about painful
memories. If they fail
to rehearse those
memories, the
memories can fade.
 Forgetting:
Summary
▪ Forgetting can
occur at any
memory stage.
▪ As we process
information, we
filter, alter, or
lose much of it.
Why is our memory full of errors?
▪ Memory not only gets forgotten,
but it gets constructed (imagined,
selected, changed, and rebuilt).
▪ Memories are altered every time
we “recall” (actually, reconstruct)
them. Then they are altered again
when we reconsolidate the
memory (using working memory
to send them into long term
storage).
▪ Later information alters earlier
memories.
▪ No matter how accurate and
video-like our memory seems, it is
full of alterations.
 The Misinformation
The Misinformation Effect:
Effect:
Incorporating misleading information
into one’s memory of an event.
In 1974, Elizabeth Loftus and Those who were asked,
John Palmer asked people to “...when the cars smashed into
watch a video of a minor car each other?” reported higher
accident. The participants were speeds and remembered broken
then asked, “How fast were cars glass that wasn’t there.
going when they hit each other?”

Actual accident Misremembered accident

 Implanted Memories
Imagination
In one study, students were told a false story
that spoiled egg salad had made them ill in Inflation
childhood. As a result, many students became
[even] less likely to eat egg salad sandwiches ▪Simply picturing an
in the future. event can make it
seem like a real
In a study by Elizabeth Loftus, people were memory.
asked to provide details of a incident in ▪Once we have an
childhood when they had been lost in a inaccurate memory,
shopping mall. we tend to add more
Even though there actually had been no such imagined details, as
incident, by trying to picture details, most perhaps we do for all
people came to believe that the incident had memories.
actually happened.
▪Why does this
happen? Visualizing
Lessons: and actually seeing
1.By trying to help someone recall a an event activate
memory, you may implant a memory.
2.You can’t tell how real a memory is by similar brain areas.
how real it feels.
 Source Amnesia/Misattribution
Have you ever discussed a If so, your
childhood memory with a
family member only to find memory for the
that the memory was: event may have
▪from a movie you saw, or been accurate,
book you read? but you
▪from a story someone told experienced
you about your childhood, source amnesia:
but they were kidding? forgetting where
▪from a dream you used to the story came
have? from, and
▪from a sibling’s attributing the
experience? source to your
own experience.
 Déjà vu (“Already seen”)

▪ Déjà vu refers to the feeling that you’re in a situation that

you’ve seen or have been in before.
▪ In an experiment in the text, students got this feeling,
because they actually were shown an image previously.
▪ However, we can feel very certain that we’ve seen a
situation before even when we have not. This can be seen
as source amnesia: a memory (from current sensory
memory) that we misattribute as being from long term
memory.
▪ Why does this happen? Sometimes our sense of
familiarity and recognition kicks in too soon, and our
brain explains this as being caused by prior experience.
Constructed Memories...
in Court and in Love
▪ Television courtroom shows make it look like there is often false
testimony because people are intentionally lying.
▪ However, it is more common that there is mistaken testimony.
People are trying to tell the truth but are overconfident about their
fallible memories, not realizing that memories are constructions.

▪ We tend to alter our

memories to fit our current
views; this explains why
hindsight bias feels like
telling the truth.
▪ When “in love,” we
overestimate our first
attraction; after a breakup,
we recall being able to tell it
wouldn’t work.
 Constructed Memories
and Children
▪ With less time for their memories to
become distorted, kids can be trusted
to report accurately, right?
▪ Actually, because kids have
underdeveloped frontal lobes, they are
even more prone to implanted
memories.
▪ In one study, children who were asked ▪ Sexual abuse memories can
what happened when an animal be trusted because they are
escaped in a classroom had vivid flashbulb memories, right?
memories of the escape… which had ▪ Yes, if they are real.,
not occurred. However, in one study,
▪ For kids, even more than adults, right after a doctor gave a
imagined events are hard to child an anatomically
differentiate from experienced events. correct doll, half of the
▪ Lesson: when interviewing kids, don’t children reported genital
LEAD; be neutral and nonsuggestive in touching when none had
your questions. occurred.
Recovered Memories of Past Abuse
▪ Can people recover memories
that are so thoroughly
repressed as to be forgotten?
▪ Abuse memories are more
likely to be “burned in” to
memory than forgotten.
▪ Forgotten memories of minor
events do reappear
spontaneously, usually
through cues (accidental
reminders).
▪ An active process of searching
for such memories, however, is
more likely to create detailed
memories that feel real.
▪ “False” memories,
implanted by leading
questions, may not be lies.
People reporting events that
didn’t happen usually
believe they are telling the
truth.
▪ Questioners who
inadvertently implant
memories in others are
generally not trying to
create memories to get
others in trouble.
▪ As a result, unjust false
accusations sometimes
happen, even if no one
intended to cause the
injustice.
Understanding Reports of Past Abuse
▪ While true repressed/recovered memories may be rare,
unreported memories of abuse are common.
▪ Whether to cope or to prevent conflict, many people try to
get their minds off memories of abuse. They do not rehearse
these memories, and sometimes the abuse memory fades.
▪ Because of the infantile amnesia effect, memories of events
before age 3 are likely to be constructions. This refers to
both false reports AND missed reports of abuse.
▪ There is no clear way to tell when someone has actually
been abused.
▪ An implanted, constructed memory can be just as troubling,
and more confusing, than a memory from direct experience.
Applying what we’ve learned about memory
Improving Memory to Improve Grades
Learn the material in more than one way, not just by
Ways to rote, but by creating many retrieval cues.
save overall ▪ Think of examples and connections (meaningful
depth).
studying ▪ Create mnemonics: songs, images, and lists.
time, and
build more Minimize interference with related material or fun
reliable activities; study right before sleep or other mindless
activity.
memory.
Have multiple study sessions, spaced further and
further apart after first learning the material.
Spend your study sessions activating your retrieval
cues including context (recalling where you were
when learning the material).
Test yourself in study sessions: 1) to practice doing
retrieval as if taking a test, and 2) to overcome the
overconfidence error: the material seems familiar, but
can you explain it in your own words?
Cognition
part 2
Thinking and
Language
 Thinking and language
are two talents that are
part of being human.

But...
▪how unique are these
talents to humans?

▪in what ways are these

talents better suited for
survival than for thinking
like a scientist?
 Chapter Overview

▪ How do we form concepts, make judgments,

solve problems, and make decisions?
▪ How does our intuitive thinking style,
though it may help us survive, lead us astray?
▪ How does language work in words and in the
brain, and how unique is human language?
▪ How do thought and language work together?
Thinking, a.k.a. Cognition

Cognition refers to mental

activities and processes
associated with thinking,
knowing, remembering, and
communicating information.

▪ Cognition can include reasoning, judgment, and

assembling new information into knowledge.
▪ Cognition also supports these other psychological
processes: attention, emotion, consciousness,
perception, learning, memory, language, mental health,
and social interaction.
 Thinking: Topics
What are some
problem solving
Why are strategies and
concepts natural
considered the obstacles to
building blocks effective
of thinking? problem
solving?
Do other
animals have
thinking skills
like humans do?
Pieces of Cognition:
Concepts

A concept A concept can

is a mental grouping of be represented
similar objects, and
events, states, ideas, communicated
and/or people, etc. by an image, or
by a word such
as “chair,”
“party,” or
“democracy.”
How do we form/learn concepts?
▪ We think we form concepts by definitions. For example,
we define a triangle as an object with three sides.
▪ But is this how we actually form concepts?
▪ Often, we form concepts by developing prototypes, that is,
mental images of the best example of a concept.
What does your prototype of the
triangle look like?

Draw the triangle

that you imagine;
that is, draw your
prototype of a
triangle.
Conceptualizing
a Chair

What is your definition of “chair”?

What is your prototype of “chair”?
Which of these fit the “chair” concept?
The Urge to Categorize
What was the percentage
Asian in this blended We tend to mold
Caucasian/Asian face?
our memories
and perceptions
to fit pre-existing
categories/
What was the percentage concepts.
Caucasian in the second
blended face?
 When Prototypes Fail Us

▪ Prototypes fail us when examples stretch our

definitions, as in considering whether a stool is
a chair.
▪ Prototypes fail us when the boundary between
concepts is fuzzy, as in judging blue-green
colors or computer-blended faces.
▪ Prototypes fail us when examples contradict
our prototypes, such as considering whether a
whale is a mammal, or a penguin is a bird.
Strategie
s for
Problem Solving
arriving Problem solving refers to the thinking we do
at in order to answer a complex question or to
solutions figure out how to resolve an unfavorable
include: situation.
Trial and error involves trying various possible
solutions, and if that fails, trying others.
trial and •When it’s useful: perfecting an invention like the light
error bulb by trying a thousand filaments
•When it fails: when there is a clear solution but trial
and error might miss it forever

algorithms An algorithm is a step by step strategy for solving a

problem, methodically leading to a specific solution.
A heuristic is a short-cut, step-saving thinking strategy
heuristics or principle which generates a solution quickly (but
possibly in error).

insight Insight refers to a sudden realization, a leap forward in

thinking, that leads to a solution.
Clarifying Problem Solving Examples
To find a
Where’sspecific item
the apple in Do I
juice?
a supermarket
look on every shelf in the
store, or do I search where
there is similar stuff?
Wander around a
Trial and supermarket
error randomly to find it.

Create a methodical
Algorithms path to make sure
you check every
single aisle.

Heuristics Check only related

aisles.
 Trial and Error vs. Algorithms
To solve a word jumble, you can use:
Trial and error--randomly trying different
combinations in no particular order
An algorithm (below)--carefully checking every single
combination beginning with the letter “C” before
moving on to a different starting letter.

1. C L O O Y S P H Y G
2. C O L O Y S P H Y G
3. C O O L Y S P H Y G…
 To solve a word jumble,
you can try a heuristic.
The problem with using trial and error to solve a word jumble is
that there are 782,200 (10!/(2!*2!)) different ways to combine
those letters. At least with the algorithm method, you are sure to
get through them all without counting any of them twice.
However, it would help to use shortcuts/heuristics to reduce the options we
need to try, such as:
1. putting a “Y” at the end.
2. thinking about where the other “Y” could go.
3. trying the “H” preceded by “C” and “S” and “P” before trying other
combinations.
4. speculating that with so few vowels, the “O”s will probably not be together.

1. C L O O Y S P H Y G
S
P
PSP
S LY O
CYHO
OCLH
OGGY
Y
 Algorithms: Not Just
Thoroughness
A father and a son are currently 40 and 10; when will the son be
half the father’s age?
It might be tempting to use trial and error, but algebra gives us an
algorithm, a single, certain, systematic path to the answer:

x = ½ (x + 30)
2x = x + 30
x = 30
Answer: when the son is 30, the
father will be is 60.
 Insight: The “Aha” Moment
Insight and the Brain
Insight refers to a In one study, participants monitored by
sudden realization, fMRI and EEG were asked, “which word
a leap forward in will form a compound word with the words
thinking, that leads pine, crab, and sauce?”
to a solution. What the brains did along with the “aha!” of
▪We say “aha” and getting the answer:
feel a sense of
satisfaction when 1. extra frontal lobe
an answer seems to activity
pop into our minds. 2. experiencing the
▪We also may “aha!” moment and
laugh; joke stating the answer
punchlines rely on 3. a burst of activity in
sudden insight. right temporal lobe
(shown here)
 Obstacles to Effective
Problem Solving
There are certain tendencies in human cognition which
make it more difficult to find correct solutions to problems.

Confirmation Fixation/
bias mental set

Heuristics
(which help solve problems quickly
but can lead to mistaken
conclusions)
 Confirmation Bias
▪ Confirmation bias refers
to our tendency to search
for information which
confirms our current
theory, disregarding
contradictory evidence.
▪ Natural tendency: “If I’m
right, then fact “C” will
confirm my theory. I must
look for fact “C.”
▪ Scientific practice: “If I’m
right, then fact “D” will
disprove or at least
disconfirm my theory. I
must search for fact “D.”
Studying Confirmation Bias:
Peter Wason’s Selection Test
1.He gave the sequence of
numbers “2, 4, 6.”
2.He asked students to guess his
rule, and ask him whether other
certain numbers fit the rule.
▪The problem was not the
students’ theory, but their strategy.
If you think the rule is “even
numbers,” what numbers would
you need to ask him about to
TEST rather that CONFIRM your
theory?
 Confirmation Bias Test
Hypothesized rule/fact: everyone who drinks alcohol at this
party is at least 21 years of age.
You meet four people about whom you know limited
information:

Holding a Holding a Age is 25 Age is 18

beer cola

If you could find out more about just two of these people,
which two would you investigate to help find out
whether your hypothesis is true?
 Confirmation Bias Test
You are given the cards below, that have a letter on one
side and a numeral on the other side.
Claim: if a card has a vowel on one side, then it has an
odd number on the other side.

Which two cards would you turn over to find out if the
claim is true?
Confirmation Bias Test: Research
The ultimate test of our mastery of confirmation bias in
psychology might be our ability to avoid confirmation
bias in research.

If we believe that
overeating candy is
the main cause of
ADHD symptoms,
what types of people
do we need to look
for to really test our
theory?
Kids who:
1.eat a lot of sugar.
2.do not eat candy.
3.have ADHD.
4.do not have ADHD.
Other Problem-Solving Habits

Mental set
The tendency to approach
problems using a mindset
(procedures and methods)
that has worked
previously.
Fixation
The tendency to get
stuck in one way of
thinking; an inability to
see a problem from a
new perspective.
 Mental Set: Demonstration
What is next in these sequences?

O, T, T, F, F, ___, ___, O,T,T,F,F, S, S

J, F, M, A, M, ___, ___, (numbers)
W, I, N, I, T, ___? J,F,M,A,M, J, J (months)
W, I, N, I, T, S ?

If you are “primed” to use a certain problem-solving

strategy, you can form a mental set that makes it harder to
solve a new, similar problem.
 Fixation
Problem: how can you arrange six
matches to form four equilateral triangles?
When people struggle with this, what
fixation is going on?
Hint: what assumption might be fixed in
their minds?

Our mental set, perhaps from our past

experiences with matchsticks,
assumes we are arranging them in
two dimensions.
 The Nine-dot Problem

Use four
straight lines to
connect the nine
dots. If you
already know the
solution, let
others figure it
out.
 The Nine-dot Problem: Solution

Solving this
requires escaping
fixation by
thinking outside
the box. Literally.
 The Nine-dot Problem
Can you use only THREE straight lines to
connect these nine dots?
Intuition
▪ The human cognitive style
of making judgments and
decisions is more efficient
than logical.
▪ The quick-acting,
automatic source of ideas
we use instead of careful
reasoning is known as
intuition.
▪ Using intuition to make a
decision has some
downsides, as we’ll soon
see, but it also has some
benefits.
Making Quick Judgments and
Decisions
As with problem-solving, there are
mental habits which make
intuition-style judgments simpler
and quicker, but may lead to
errors:
1.the availability heuristic
2.overconfidence
3.belief perseverance
4.framing
All of these habits enable us to
quickly make hundreds of
small “gut” decisions each day
without bothering with
systematic reasoning.
The Availability Heuristic
We use the availability
heuristic when we estimate
the likelihood of an event
based on how much it stands
out in our mind, that is, how
much it’s available as a
mental reference.

Example: thinking that winning

at a slot machine is likely
because we vividly recall the
times we’ve won before
(thanks to bells, lights, and
flowing coins)
Weighted Attention:
Why We Fear the Wrong Things
The availability heuristic misleads us about whether a plane
ride or a motorcycle ride is more dangerous.
▪Of the many experiences available to us in forming our
judgments, we tend to give more weight to some experiences
than others.
▪We know of both plane crashes and motorcycle crashes, but
the plane crashes scare us more, and stand out more in the
news and in memory.
Why do some dangers stand out more?
▪Perhaps biology or natural selection predisposes us to fear
heights, lack of control, and confinement… all of which are
part of our image of a plane ride.
The Overconfidence Error
Examples:
▪thinking you can
Overconfidence in put off work and
judgments refers to our still get it done
tendency to be more
confident than correct. well
We overestimate the
accuracy of our estimates, ▪thinking you have
predictions, and test material
knowledge. mastered when you
scan it and it feels
familiar.
 Belief
Perseverance Example
Error
“My mind is made up; do not
confuse me with the facts.”
▪Belief perseverance is the
tendency to hold onto our beliefs
when facing contrary evidence.
▪We interpret information in a way
that fits our beliefs. We might claim
that the new information is wrong,
biased, or just “doesn’t make sense.”
▪Stereotypes are maintained by this ▪ after failing every major
error; people often disregard international football games, the
examples contradicting stereotypes Chinese football fans still
by treating the new information as believes Chinese football is
merely an exception, and not a possible of winning.
challenge to the rule.
 Confirmation Bias vs. Belief
Perseverance
Definition: not Definition: holding on to
bothering to seek out your ideas over time, and
information that actively rejecting
contradicts your ideas information that
contradicts your ideas

Benefits and downsides: Benefits and downsides:

enables quick solutions, but less internal mental
misses finding out when conflict, but more social
first guesses are wrong conflict
Framing
Framing is the focus, emphasis, or perspective that affects
our judgments and decisions.
Example: are condoms effective if they…

work 95 fail 5
percent of the percent of
time? the time?

Do you want to go to a store today if prices are:

an average everyday low

20 percent off? of $6 off? prices?
 How to use it
Intuition When it’s
well How it may effective
have been
▪ We have seen that in adaptive ▪ Intuition is effective
complex situations, it when it is a product of
helps to use careful ▪ Judging quickly expertise built up
reasoning to avoid what to eat and from trial and error;
mistakes made by what might kill us this hones one’s
intuitive judgments. might have helped judgment to the point
▪ However, research our ancestors of being more
supports the idea that survive long accurate than logical
sometimes we need enough to analysis.
to let our reproduce. ▪ Examples: knowing
unconscious mind do ▪ The times that our the sex of a chick,
some work. intuition was making a diagnosis,
▪ Incubation refers to incorrect may not speed chess,
the power of taking a have been fatal; if quarterback decisions
break from careful humans avoided ▪ The mind’s ability to
thinking, even to all red plants judge a situation from
“sleep on it,” to instead of experience is more
allow leaps in poisonous berries, efficient than any
cognition. they might have step-by-step analysis.
been hungry, but
still alive.
Do Other Species Think?
If thinking consists of
understanding concepts, including
words, numbers, and qualities,
then...
▪many creatures can memorize the
names of many objects. Parrots can
speak the names.
▪birds can sort objects by shape,
color, and type.
▪Alex the African parrot could add
numbers, and answer complex
questions such as “what color
bigger”? [“Tell me the color of the
object that is the bigger of these
two.”]
Do Other Species Think?

If thinking consists of solving

problems with insight, devising
behaviors that were not trained or
rewarded, and putting strategies
together in new combinations,
then...
▪chimpanzees do not say, “Aha,”
but one showed sudden leaps in
problem-solving. After putting
down a short stick that could not
reach a fruit, he jumped up
suddenly to use that short stick to
reach a longer stick.
Part 3:
Language
Do Other Species Think?
If thinking consists of using and passing on cultural
(learned, not instinctual) practices such as tool use,
then...
▪chimpanzees have local customs for tool use, grooming,
communication, hunting, and courtship. These are
“customs”, not instincts, because:
▪they vary not by family, but by group.
▪they are learned/acquired by observation.
▪they involve varied tools and strategies, such as crafting
a flexible stick to “fish” for termites.
 Animal Socio-cognitive Skills
▪ Baboons can recognize
80 individual voices;
sheep can recognize
individual faces.
▪ Chimpanzees and some
monkeys can read
intention in your facial
expression and actions.
▪ Dolphins, apes,
elephants, and social
birds appear to
recognize themselves in
a mirror.
Do Animals Use LANGUAGE?
▪ Language consists of the use of
symbols to represent, transmit, and
store meaning/information.
▪ Symbols include organized patterns
of sounds, visual representations, and
movements.
▪ Meaning includes concepts,
quantities, plans, identity, feelings,
ideas, facts, and customs.

Ѭ
  Experts call it “the crown jewel of
cognition”, many remark that it is
‘the one thing we do that animals do
not’*
Language
 Used to record and transmit
information
 Gives us with the capacity to define
and solve complex problems
 Affects our fitness for survival and
reproduction
  Acquired through observational learning,
experimentation, reinforcement and
shaping

 Learning a language is very different than

Language
learning any other skill

 In a sense, humans may be ‘programmed’

to learn and use language

 Even when a language is absent in a

population, that population may go on to
develop one
 Deaf and Blind
Children
Deaf and blind children can use
complex adapted languages by
using other senses that are
heightened.

Sign language has the syntax,

grammar, and complex meaning
of any spoken language.

“Blindness cuts people off from

things; deafness cuts people off
from people.”—Helen Keller

What happens if a deaf infant’s

parents don’t use sign language?
Hint: critical period
Nicaraguan Sign
Language

 In the 1970s, a group of

deaf children (~400) were
isolated in the Nicaragua
education system
 Their teachers did not know
sign language
 Efforts to teach the children
lipreading/fingerspelling
met with only limited
success
Nicaraguan Sign Language

Remarkably, the deaf children spontaneously developed their own

form of sign language (a pidgin)

Originally, this language was quite simple

However, within several iterations over time, its complexity increased

significantly
Uses of Language
▪ We can hear about and
understand phenomena we
have never experienced.
▪ We can connect to people
far away.
▪ We can make plans and
have others carry them out.
▪ We can know what another
person is thinking more
directly than just by
observing their behavior.
▪ We can store information.
What is language made of?
▪Phonemes are the smallest
units of sound (vowels and
consonants).
▪Morphemes are the units of
meaning, i.e. words and
meaningful parts of words such
as suffixes, prefixes).
▪Grammar refers to the rules
for using words, including
semantics, definitions,
connotations, and syntax (how
the order of words makes
meaning).
Small amounts of phonemes (~44 in
English) combine to create many more
words (~170 000) which can be arranged
in an infinite number of ways to express
an infinite number of ideas.
Phonemes vary by language

• Language have different sound libraries and make different sound

distinctions

• English speakers can differentiate the /r/ and /l/ phonemes

• “rake” and “lake” are heard differently by English speakers
• In Japanese, /r/ and /l/ are the same phoneme. Japanese
speakers thus may have trouble distinguishing these words

• English speakers have difficulty acknowledging phoneme

distinctions present in other languages
• In English, “cool” and “keep” begin with the same sound
• In Arabic, /c/ and /k/ may represent different phonemes
13
1
Phonemes versus Morphemes

13
2
Syntax

• The set of rules by which we construct sentences

• Varies by language – German and English, for

example, organize sentences very differently

• Correct syntax does not always result in

comprehensible language

13
3
Correct Syntax but Uninterpretable

13
4
How do we learn language? abbreviate

Language Development absorbent

accept
access
accessible
Language Development is an Amazing Process accessory
acoustics
▪ We acquire the use of 10 new words per day accumulate
(on average) between ages 2 and 18. adjust
aerial
▪ Children learn the basic grammar of language affects
before they can add 2 + 2. alien
▪ Most kids can recall words and meanings, allotment
allotted
and assemble words into sentences, while already
simultaneously following social rules for altercation
speaking and listening. amass
amendment
amorous
ancestor
anecdote
angular
anonymous
antidote
How do we learn language?
Language Talents and Stages
Age (months) Talent/Behavior/Stage
0-4 months Receptive language: associating sounds with facial
In fantis movements, and recognizing when sounds are broken
(“not speaking”) into words

4 months Productive language: babbling in multilingual sounds

and gestures

10 months Babbling sounds more like the parents’/household’s

language

12 months One-word stage: understanding and beginning to say

many nouns
Two-word, “telegraphic”/tweet speech: adding verbs,
18-24 months and making sentences but missing words (“See bird!
Ree book? Go park!”)
24+ months, Speaking full sentences and understanding complex
2+ years sentences
Explaining Language Development

» Skinner: operate learning

– Can explain language
development with familiar
learning principles such as
association, imitation, and
reinforcement
– Skinner argued babies learn to
talk in many of the same ways
that animals learn to peck keys
and press bars (nature-evolution)
OVERGENERALIZATIONS

Children may start to make mistakes at ages 3 to 5 with words they

used correctly at age 2 or 3.

Example ：
 when they learn that adding -ed makes a verb past tense, they then
add -ed to every verb, including irregular verbs that do not follow
that rule. Thus they may say “runned” or “holded” even though
they may have said “ran” or “held” at a younger age.
 they may overapply the rule to add –s to form a plural, saying
“mouses” and “mans,” even if they said “mice” and “men” at a
younger age
Explaining Language Development
» Chomsky: Inborn Universal
Grammar
– Given adequate nurture,
language will naturally occur
• We come prewired with a sort of
switch box (language acquisition
device, which contains universal
grammar).
• It switches on and off for us to
understand and produce language
Explaining Language
Development
» Chomsky argued that how people combine these
elements to form sentences and convey meaning is
only a language’s surface structure: the sound and
order of words.
» He introduced the concept of deep structure: the
implicit meanings of sentences.
» For instance, The fat cat chased the rat implies that
there is a cat, it is fat, and it chased the rat. The rat was
chased by the fat cat implies the same ideas even though
on the surface it is a different sentence.
Explaining Language Development:
Nature vs. Nurture Debate
» Skinner’s emphasis on learning helps explain
how infants acquire their language as they
interact with others
» Chomsky’s emphasis on our built-in readiness
to learn grammar rules helps explain why
preschoolers acquire language so readily and
use grammar so well
» Biology and experience working together
Explaining Language Acquisition:
ABA
Nature and Nurture
CT
GA
The Role of Genes NAV
▪ We seem to have an inborn (genetic)
talent for acquiring language, though

PER
no particular kind of language is in the
genes.
The Role of Experience MID
▪ We also seem to have a “statistical”
pattern recognition talent. Infants CAN
quickly recognize patterns in syllable
frequency and sequence, preparing
them to later learn words and syntax.
TION
Critical Periods

▪ According to one study with

immigrants, beginning a
language later made it harder
to learn the pronunciation and
the grammar of the second
language.
▪ It is important to begin
appropriate language
exposure/education early so
that language centers of the
brain continue to develop.
▪ Language might never
develop if not begun by age
seven.
Sensitive periods for language?

Data from Hakuta et al. 2003. Psychol Sci. Figure from Adapted from
Strangor. 2011.
Statistical Learning and Critical
Periods
» Childhood seems to represent a critical (or sensitive)
period for mastering certain aspects of language
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2XBIkHW954
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXWGnryjEa
Y
» Children who have not been exposed to either a
spoken or written language gradually lose the ability
to master any language
» After the window for learning language closes,
learning a second language seems more difficult
– May master the basic words but never become as
fluent as native speakers/signers
Brain Damage and Language
Aphasia: an impairment in
the ability to produce or
understand language,
usually caused by damage to
the brain
Broca’s area, in the left
temporal lobe
Damage to Broca’s area leads to
difficulty in putting words
together in sentences or even
speaking single words, although
a person can sing a song.
Examples of aphasia: having the
ability to speak but not read, to
produce words in song but not in
conversation, and to speak but not
repeat; or producing words in jumbled
order
Wernicke’s area, left
temporal lobe
Damage to Wernicke’s area leads
to difficulty comprehending
speech and producing coherent
speech (not easily monitoring
one’s own speech to make sure it
makes sense).
Language and the Brain
How to read a word, steps 1 to 5

Remember: language
functions are
divided in the brain.
 Thinking and Language,
Language and Thinking

How does our

How does style of
language shape thinking shape
the way we our use of
think? language?

Can we think
without
language by
using images?
Language Influencing Thought

Linguistic
determinism/linguistic
relativity theory,: the
idea that our specific
language determines how
we think

▪ For example, Benjamin Whorf (1897-1941)

proposed that because the Hopi do not have past tense
forms for verbs, it is hard for them to think about the
past.
▪ Can you think about something that you do not have a
name for? If so, does that disprove linguistic
determinism?
Language’s Influence on Thought
Does language shape emotions or reflect them?
▪Speaking in Japanese provides many extra words for interpersonal
emotions such as sympathy and empathy, which Americans might have
trouble differentiating.
▪Speaking English gives us many words for self-focused emotions, such
as sadness.
Do language differences shape personality differences?
▪Bilingual people appear to have different personality profiles when
describing themselves in different languages.
▪“Learn a new language and get a new soul.”--Czech proverb.

Color Perception
▪We use our native language to
classify and to remember colors.
Different languages may vary in
where they put the separation
between “blue” and “green,” or
they may not have separate
words for these colors.
▪Which squares are green? teal?
blue?
Language Influences Thought
▪ Even if “he” and
“mankind” are meant at
times to be gender-
inclusive, people do create
Gender a male image in their mind
neutral vs. when they hear these
male-based terms.
usage ▪ Instead of replacing “he”
with “he/she” or “their”,
we can rewrite sentences
without pronouns and
possessives; for example,
“his” can become “the.”
Languages Improve Thinking
The Bilingual Advantage

▪ People who are bilingual

have numerous brain
connections and neural
networks.
▪ They also have a hidden
talent, the ability to
suppress one language
while learning another.
▪ This ability tends to go
along with other forms of
executive control, such
as resisting distraction
and inhibiting impulses.
 Thinking in
Images Without
Words
▪ Is there conscious
thinking that goes on
without being formed as
words?
▪ Some everyday
decisions, such as which
turn to take while driving,
are certainly made based
on images or other
nonverbal content such
as mental maps.
Using Imagery to Improve
Learning
▪Image rehearsal can help us
improve behavior, even
skilled performance such as
playing piano or playing
sports.
▪If you imagine getting an A
(outcome simulation), it
may shift your mood up or
down but will not improve
your grade. Imagining the
detailed actions of studying
(process simulation),
though, does improve grades.
▪ Think about the road, not
the destination.
 Conclusions
Thinking affects our language, which
then affects our thought.
1.Thinking in a culture affects the
formation of a language, especially its
vocabulary.
2.Thinking and language develop
together in an individual as they grow.
3.Learning a language and using a
language as an adult can affect one’s style
and content of thinking.
Do Other Species Use Language?
▪ Receptive language for individual
human words seems to exist for a
few species; dogs can follow
hundreds of commands.
▪ Productive language: many
animals have “words”: sounds,
gestures, dances (bees) to
communicate information,
including different “words” for
different objects, states, and places
Can other species
communicate with us
through language?
▪Washoe the chimpanzee
learned to use 245 signs to
express what she wanted or
noticed.
▪Fellow chimpanzees learned
signs from each other without
training and without rewards.
▪A deaf N.Y. Times reporter
visited Washoe and said, “I
realized I was conversing with
a member of another species
in my native tongue.”
 There is an interest in using
Kanzi the touchscreen methods for people
bonobo with language/communication
disorders.
Is the chimp signing really language?
▪ Washoe seemed to combine words in new ways to
convey meaning; Washoe used the phrase “apple
which is orange” for an orange (fruit).
▪ Chimps do not pick up words as easily as human
children.
▪ Chimp word production lacks syntax, but a bonobo
correctly understood “make the dog bite the snake.”
Signing “baby”
How do we acquire language?
Linguist Noam Chomsky has proposed that all
human languages share a universal
grammar—the basic building blocks of
language—and that humans are born with a
predisposition to learn language.
We acquire specific language through learning as
our biology and experience interact.
Childhood is a critical period for learning to speak
or sign fluently.
HW