Language and Cognition: An Analysis and Evaluation - Essay Example

Language and Cognition: An Analysis and Evaluation Introduction Cognitive psychology empirically examines mental processes involved in perceiving and interpreting the external world through paying attention, using memory, engaging in thinking, reasoning and problem-solving, by understanding language and by using it as a medium for communication (Sternberg & Mio, 2008). The renewal of cognitive science in the late 1950s gave rise to interest in the scientific study of language acquisition as an important aspect of the cognitive processes of the brain. Language is the main vehicle for communication of thought. Language and its structure are reflected in speech and writing. “Children learn languages that are governed by highly subtle and abstract principles, and they do so without explicit instructions or any other environmental clues to the nature of such principles” (Pinker, 1995: 135). Despite the complexity of language systems, every child successfully learns his/ her first language in a few years, without conscious effort or formal lessons. Hence, language acquisition is distinct from general intelligence; it is based on inherent cognitive programming, and is unique to humans. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to analyse and evaluate the role of language learning in cognition. The Top-Down and Bottom-Up Processes in Language Learning One of the important aspects of cognitive science is language acquisition. According to Robinson-Riegler & Robinson-Riegler (2004, p.172), “inhibitory processes serve a restraining function by preventing strong responses” from taking control of effectors responsible for thought and action. This constraining measure ensures that other less likely responses are also considered; hence incorrect interpretations of text and language are avoided. These functions work together to ensure that information in the memory buffer pertains only to goal-relevant information. Language learnability is related to the cognitive processing that gives meaning to language. There is a distinction between top-down and bottom-up processing. Top-down refers to starting with the complete picture and working down to the basic processes; bottom-up means starting with the minute details and working towards understanding the whole process. Thus, the former is a breaking down process, and the latter is a building up process (Robinson-Riegler & Robinson-Riegler, 2004). In top-down processing of stimulus, knowledge and memory function together to explain the details while information from the general context is used to help organize the stimulus. On the other hand, bottom-up processing of a stimulus is that in which information is from a physical stimulus, and not from a general context. The bottom level of processing is related to the sensory receptors from which emerges stimulus information. These simple elements combine together and facilitate the recognition of more complex patterns (Robinson-Riegler & Robinson-Riegler, 2004). An example is the processing of a word in language learning: in bottom-up processing the features of the word with respect to lines, slants, etc will be studied first. This will be followed by examining the letters of each word, and finally the word on the whole. Thus, in language learning, cognitive processing of the word is bottom-up. Cognitive and Neural Aspects of Language Learning The extent to which the ability to learn a language is dependent on innate mechanisms or predispositions is an important and basic factor in language acquisition. Innate abilities are usually present in all normal individuals, their acquisition is seen to be uniform and automatic for all, with progress in the same sequence and speed at the same ages, and without any particular guidance or instructions being required. A critical period may be there for successful acquisition of the innate ability. It may be functionally and anatomically independent of other abilities, and heredity may also play a part in acquisition of the ability (LePore & Pylyshyn, 1999). This infers that if children’s brains innately have the potential for language acquisition, then with adequate exposure to language, all children with normal brain anatomically, should learn language without instruction, in a uniform manner. Formal teaching of first language would be required only if the ability to learn language is not innate, and the speed and sequence which determine the course of language acquisition, may be very different among various children; moreover, there may not be a critical period for acquisition. If language acquisition is based on innate mechanisms and predispositions, it is important to determine whether these mechanisms are responsible for non-linguistic processes also, state LePore and Pylyshyn (1999). Language Development According to the principles and parameters theory (P & P) all languages share a common set of grammatical principles that are universal. Different parametric values for those principles determine the differences among languages. Children have to learn the vocabulary and parametric settings alone, because “according to the optimality theory (OT) children are born knowing the universal constraints in learning a particular language” (Chomsky, 1991, p.417). Hence the vocabulary and ranking of constraints of that particular language are required to be learned by children, for language acquisition. Experience-dependent as well as experience-independent mechanisms are involved in language acquisition, though the latter are considered to be more significant by most theorists. From a study conducted by Saffran, Aslin and Newport (1996, p.1926) it was found that “a fundamental task of language acquisition, segmentation of words from fluent speech, can be accomplished by 8-month-old infants based solely on the statistical relationships between neighboring speech sounds”. Only two minutes of exposure were found to be sufficient for the occurrence of this word segmentation. These findings suggest that infants have an innate and powerful mechanism by which the statistical properties of the language input is computed by their cognitive system. Infants use the knowledge to identify structure in language, including sound patterns, words and the basic elements of grammar. “These abilities appear to be both powerful and constrained, such that some statistical patterns are more readily detected and used than others”(Saffran, 2003, p.110). This evidence is supported by further research by the author on the implications of statistical properties of language input on the structure of human languages. They find that though human language has immense complexity, by using statistical cues, learners may be able to identify some of the patterns which are hidden in language input. A combination of inherent constraints on the types of patterns acquired by learners, and using output from one level of learning as input to the next, may help to explain how the complex system is mastered easily by the human mind. The author concludes that the structure of human languages may be shaped mainly by human learning mechanisms. Gomez and Gerken (2000) attributed the difficulty in determining the relative contributions of innate and acquired knowledge in infants to current lack of knowledge of the actual learning mechanisms during infancy. This requirement has been fulfilled by a new approach to studying this problem: by assessing infants exposed to artificial languages. It is stated that this approach allows a minute detailing of infant learning mechanisms, and permits a better understanding of the mutual relationships between and the comparative roles played by innate and learned factors in language acquisition. Uniformity in Language Learning The progress of language learning is observed to be quite uniform across different languages. At around 9 to 15 months of age, most children say their first referential words. In the next 6 to 8 months, language development is slow with children acquiring single words up to 50 in number. After this stage, children’s vocabularies increase rapidly at the rate of 22 to 37 new words per month. From 18 to 24 months of age, children combine two words to form two word utterances. “Children acquiring morphologically impoverished languages such as English gradually begin to use sentences longer than two words” (LePore & Pylyshyn, 1999, p.358), but for several months their speech is similar to the way adults speak when words are at a premium, as in telegraphic messages. Gradually by the age of 3 to 4 years, English-speaking children’s utterances are completely grammatical. Similarly, all children acquire mastery over the grammar and syntax in their language (Saffran, Senghas & Trueswell, 2001). Figure 1 below depicts brain growth and first language (L1) acquisition. Human brain weight is presented as a function of age. Approximate times of milestones in normal speech development are indicated. The figure illustrates the normal development of first language, L1 faculties. This development takes place along with an enormous increase in brain volume in the first years. As outlined above (LePore & Pylyshyn. 1999) speech in infants develops according to a timetable, from babbling at 6 to 8 months, through the one-word and two-words stages to sentence formation and normal speech. Figure 1. Brain Growth and First Language Acquisition (Sakai, 2005, p.816) Unless there is exposure to language during childhood, normal language development cannot take place, even though learning languages is the outcome of innate processes. “The critical period hypothesis” (LePore & Pylyshyn, 1999, p. 366) states that for language to be acquired normally, exposure to language must occur by a certain age. The period of maximum neural elasticity is considered to be until the onset of puberty, and the critical period of language acquisition generally coincides with it. Social Cognition, Theory of the Mind and Language Acquisition Theory of the mind (ToM) denotes cognitive progress by which an individual is able to “report his propositional attitudes, to attribute such attitudes to others, and to use the observed mental states in the prediction and explanation of behavior” state Garfield, Peterson and Perry (2001, p.494). Between the ages of 3 and 5 years, most normally developing children acquire ToM. In the cases of children with autism and with severe sensory impairments, there are extensive delays beyond this chronological and mental age, as observed by the authors from their research study. Key factors concerning the origins, nature and representation of knowledge by the mind are attributed to the Theory of Mind which is jointly dependent upon language and social experience. Children’s increasing social understanding acquired through conversation and interaction with others, impacts the Theory of Mind. The authors viewpoint is that adequate language and adequate social skills combined are sufficient and necessary for producing ToM. The creation of human cognition is attributed to a social development theory. This is because human beings have evolved as social organisms, whose existence and development is supported by a rich social environment, in which extensive knowledge is made available. Hence, the medium of a shared natural language is vital, and forms one of the most distinctive characteristics in human cognition (Garfield et al: 535). The capacity for language acquisition is seen to be under both genetic control as well as capable of morphological change; thus exhibiting genetic flexibility in the face of environmental changes. Conclusion Cognitive psychology uses theories, research methods and empirical findings to investigate various areas of the field. This paper has highlighted language learning as a crucial area of cognitive science. The different components related to first language learning have been discussed. Research evidence in this field indicate that there are innate mechanisms which predispose children to learn the first language naturally. Without the help of instruction, children acquire language at a great speed, with high efficiency and with few errors. This is especially true in the sensitive period until the age of twelve, when their faculties are highly receptive to learning a new language. Second language (SL2) learning is different from the natural acquisition of the first language, and SL2 learning ability also declines with age. The cognitive and neural aspects of language learning have been discussed, and the process of language development and the uniformity of first language acquisition among all infants and children ihave been outlined. Social cognition theory and theory of the mind have been found to be significant factors influencing language learning. The development of language regions in the brain and the genetic basis of language acquisition also impact language learning. Further research is required in second language learning, focusing on how it can be developed to be as natural and efficient as first language acquisition. References Chomsky, N. (1996). A review of B.F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior. In H. Geirsson & M. Losonsky (Eds.). Readings in language and mind. The United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishers Ltd: pp.413-441. Chomsky, N. (1991). Some notes on economy of derivation and representation. In R. Freidin (Ed.). Principles and parameters in comparative grammar. Massachussets: MIT Press: pp.417-454. Garfield, J.L., Peterson, C.C. & Perry, T. (2001). Social cognition, language acquisition, and the theory of the mind. Mind and Language, 16(5): pp.494-541. Gomez, R.L. & Gerken, L. (2000). Infant artificial language learning and language acquisition. Trends in Cognitive Science, 4(5): pp.178-186. LePore, E. & Pylyshyn, Z.W. (1999). What is cognitive science? London: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Pinker, S. (1995). Language acquisition. In L.R. Gleitman. (Ed.). An invitation to cognitive science. The United States of America: The MIT Press (1995): pp.135-182. Robinson-Riegler, B. & Robinson-Riegler, G. (2004). Readings in cognitive psychology: Applications, connections, and individual differences. California: Pearson/ Allyn & Bacon. Saffran, J.R. (2003). Statistical language learning: Mechanisms and constraints. American Psychological Society, 12(4): pp.110-114. Saffran, J.R., Senghas, A. & Trueswell, J.C. (2001). The acquisition of language by children. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(23): pp.1-2. Saffran, J.R., Aslin, R.N. & Newport, E.L. (1996). Statistical learning by 8-month-old infants. Science, 274(5294): pp.1926-1928. Sakai, K.L. (2005). Language acquisition and brain development. Science, 310: pp.815- 820. Sternberg, R.J. & Mio, J. (2008). Cognitive psychology. Edition 5. 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