19th century focus on the mind - introspection Behaviorist focus on overt responses. This is because structuralism/introspection was not scientific. - arguments regarded the incomplete picture of human functioning Empircal study of cognition - 1956 conference -- Simon, Newell, Chomsky, Miller. Chomsky and his Language Acquisition Device (LAD). Properties of Language * Symbolic * Semantic * Generative * Structured If the language does not have those four properties, it does not qualify as a language. Symbolic - replacement of physical information (instead of the actual car, you can describe it with symbols -- but CONTEXT CANNOT BE CONVEYED). Semantics - meaning. As for structure, you start with phonemes. Generative means you can create it. Alex the Parrot did not have language because it was a mimic. Phonemes - smallest speech unit (100 possible, 45 in English) -- can't you use the 20,000 hertz spectrum for audio. So, this is more about what is reproducible across a large portion of the population. Morphemes - smallest unit of meaning (50,000 in English, root words, prefixes, suffixes) (816k worldwide) Semantics - meaning of words and word combinations, objects and actions to which words refer Syntax = a system of rules for arranging words into sentences. Different rules for different languages. "is" has 2 phonemes. Initial vocalizations similar across languages. Crying, cooing, babbling. Six months - babbling sounds begin to resemble surrounding language. At about 1 year, they have their first word, similar cross-culturally, words for parents and so on. Receptive vs. expressive language. Whether or not the babies are in a certain culture, babies tend to babble all phonemes in general (all possible sounds and combinations), they seem to go through all possible combinations provided by their vocal chords, and then as people reinforce certain phonemes, the baby picks those up and keeps them in their Chomskian LAD. Holographic speech - one sound that has meaning Critical period - the time in any one's life when learning something is optimal. Critical periods happen all throughout your life (Montessori schools seem to rely on this, or at least the Children on the Hill). Holographic -> Telegraphic (two words) Fast Mapping - give the kid exposure to a world once, and they got it. Over-regulation -- kids are not picking up grammer rules like exceptions. Fast Mapping @ 2 years is the optimal time to learn the second language. Exposure is the key. So it is also for immunity. Too language intensive thought. You can probably unbound the neocortex from language-intensive thought. What's the alternative? The alternative is not just visual thought because typically visualization is considered to be "anything but language" but this is not true, you are starting to label it as visualization (which is linguistic) and therefore that is not visualization but instead, language. So avoid language and avoid such categorization. Try thinking without words to describe what you are thinking, or just ignore the words. Bilingual children are much more easily able to use cognitive-flexibility. Synaptic-competence - ability to use syntax in a language. Dolphins, sea lions, parrots, chimpanzees - vocal apparatus issue, American Sign Language. Allen and Beatrice Gardner (1969) Chimpanzee (Washoe). 160 word vocabulary. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh. Bonobo chimpanzee - Kanzi. Symbols. Receptive language - 72% of 660 requests. Chimpanzee immersion studies - put them in a kindergarden class. Theories of Language Acquisition Behaviorist -- Skinner, learning of specific verbal responses Nativist - Chomsky, learning rules of language - Language Acquisition Device (LAD) Interactionist - Cognitive, social communication, and emergentist theories .