Thinking and Language Review

The basic units of cognition are

• phonemes

• concepts

• prototypes

• morphemes

Researchers taught the chimpanzee Washoe and the gorilla Koko to communicate by using

• various sounds.

• plastic symbols of various shapes and colors.

• sign language.

• all of these methods.

Thoughts and feelings that are automatic, effortless, immediate, and unreasoned are examples of

• mental set

• confirmation bias

• heuristics

• intuition

Mental set is an example of a(n)

• algorithm

• heuristic

• fixation

• insight

One reason an English-speaking adult may have difficulty pronouncing Russian words is that

• the vocal tracts of English- and Russian-speaking people develop differently in response to the demands of the two languages.

• although English and Russian have very similar morphemes, their phonemic inventories are very different.

• although English and Russian have very similar phonemes, their morphemic inventories are very different.

• after the babbling stage, a child who hears only English stops uttering other phonemes.

According to the text, language acquisition is best described as

• the result of conditioning and reinforcement.

• a biological process of maturation.

• an interaction between biology and experience

• a mystery of which researchers have no real understanding.

Telegraphic speech is typical of the ________ stage.

• one word stage

• two word stage

• babbling stage

• three word stage

The linguistic determinism hypothesis is challenged by the finding that

• chimps can learn to communicate spontaneously by using sign language.

• people with no word for a certain color can still perceive that color accurately.

• the Eskimo language contains a number of words for snow, whereas English has only one.

• infants' babbling contains many phonemes that do not occur in their own language and that they therefore cannot have heard.

Many psychologists are skeptical of claims that chimpanzees can acquire language because the chimps have not shown the ability to

• use symbols meaningfully.

• acquire speech.

• acquire even a limited vocabulary.

• use syntax in communicating.

The bilingual advantage refers to the fact that people who are fluent in two languages are better at

• inhibiting their attention to irrelevant information.

• acquiring large vocabularies in both languages.

• thinking in images.

• all of these abilities.