PSY 103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Grapheme, Dan Slobin, The Features
Document Summary
The ability to use language (in the way that humans use language) arose through ordinary processes of natural selection. * claims about the moment at which particular language-related brain structures emerged (e. g. , Broca"s area was present in the brains of hominids two million years ago). Openness (i. e. , we can invent new sentences forever) because of recursion. Recursion: a function that refers to itself within its definition. Many animals possess rich symbolic communication systems that enable them to convey messages to other members of the species. The chimps acquire a system that relates plastic symbols to concepts in the world. Kanzi learned this lexigram system by watching his mother (i. e. , without specific tutoring directed toward him). He also learned to understand spoken english words. At 46 months, kanzi learned just under 50 symbols and had produced about 800 combinations of them. He was sensitive to word order: put the hat on your ball vs. put the ball on your hat.
