PSY 357 - Exam #4 || All Solved.
What are some of the basic auditory abilities of fetuses in the womb? correct answers Fetuses
can hear up to 1000Hz whereas most important speech sounds occur at 4000Hz while in the
womb. Fetuses learn more rhythms of language- rising and falling and stress patterns.
What are some types of methods by which the language processing abilities of fetuses have been
investigated correct answers Tested premature infants to see what infants are capable of while in
the womb. They measure sucking to see if infants could tell the difference between mothers
voice and others voices.
This shows something about language before birth and provides survival mechanism.
Measured heart rates of fetuses in the womb when they heard the mothers voice and other
peoples voices.
**Comprehension runs ahead of production children can understand words they can't yet say.
identify the age at which Mehler and colleagues (1988) showed that infants can distinguish
intonational contours in their maternal language (such as French) and those in another language
(such as Russian), and understand the implications of this finding. correct answers When babies
were four days old they tested sucking occurred upon hearing French and their sucking decreased
as stimulation continued. When Russian was presented the infants increased their sucking again.
They were presented with the same voices but different languages and they were able to identify
that two different languages were presented.
Given a list of babies of different languages and ages, be able to apply findings from phoneme
discrimination abilities to choose the baby that would or would not be able to detect differences
between certain phonemes of a given language. correct answers Children were able to detect
differences between phonemes before the age of 1.
Janet Werker- Recorded two different consonant sounds made by native american Indian
Speakers. 8 month olds made head turns toward toys before they lit up showing that they
anticipated the difference to happen.
At age 1 the ability to perceive phonemes declined. This showed that their ability to perceive
phonemes declines.
, Zulu click consonants- perception of speech sounds are reorganized to fit experience rather than
the idea that infants "lose" an ability.
Hindi phonemes similar to sounds in English but not categorized the same way. We lose
distinction because our language gives us experience different than the hindi language
experience. Zulu click consonants are not similar to english sounds at all and older infants and
adults can tell them apart.
Be able to identify the main way Jen Saffran and colleagues have proposed by which infants
become able to break up long, unbroken strings of speech into meaningful units. correct answers
Infants prefer CDS (child directed speech) and have more head turns toward CDS.
CDS keeps infant attention to new and important words.
CDS encourages participation in turn like conversations.
CDS may help infants segment speech but it is still difficult.
Saffron suggests that infants are mini statisticians- languages have statistical regularities where
certain sounds are likely to follow other sounds and the packages emerge as meaningful clumps
of sounds.
Saffron presented 8 month olds long unbroken strings of sounds during training. Short segments
(common and uncommon in strings) presented during test
RESULTS: babies listen longer to novel words than to old ones.
Statistical regularities- some phonemes are statistically likely to follow the other ones.
Be able to match a given utterance (or babbling pattern) to the age at which that speech pattern is
most likely to appear. correct answers 2 months- cooing
6 months- reduplicated babbling
11 months- variegated babbling.
12 months- word production
18 months- reach around 50 words
What are some of the basic auditory abilities of fetuses in the womb? correct answers Fetuses
can hear up to 1000Hz whereas most important speech sounds occur at 4000Hz while in the
womb. Fetuses learn more rhythms of language- rising and falling and stress patterns.
What are some types of methods by which the language processing abilities of fetuses have been
investigated correct answers Tested premature infants to see what infants are capable of while in
the womb. They measure sucking to see if infants could tell the difference between mothers
voice and others voices.
This shows something about language before birth and provides survival mechanism.
Measured heart rates of fetuses in the womb when they heard the mothers voice and other
peoples voices.
**Comprehension runs ahead of production children can understand words they can't yet say.
identify the age at which Mehler and colleagues (1988) showed that infants can distinguish
intonational contours in their maternal language (such as French) and those in another language
(such as Russian), and understand the implications of this finding. correct answers When babies
were four days old they tested sucking occurred upon hearing French and their sucking decreased
as stimulation continued. When Russian was presented the infants increased their sucking again.
They were presented with the same voices but different languages and they were able to identify
that two different languages were presented.
Given a list of babies of different languages and ages, be able to apply findings from phoneme
discrimination abilities to choose the baby that would or would not be able to detect differences
between certain phonemes of a given language. correct answers Children were able to detect
differences between phonemes before the age of 1.
Janet Werker- Recorded two different consonant sounds made by native american Indian
Speakers. 8 month olds made head turns toward toys before they lit up showing that they
anticipated the difference to happen.
At age 1 the ability to perceive phonemes declined. This showed that their ability to perceive
phonemes declines.
, Zulu click consonants- perception of speech sounds are reorganized to fit experience rather than
the idea that infants "lose" an ability.
Hindi phonemes similar to sounds in English but not categorized the same way. We lose
distinction because our language gives us experience different than the hindi language
experience. Zulu click consonants are not similar to english sounds at all and older infants and
adults can tell them apart.
Be able to identify the main way Jen Saffran and colleagues have proposed by which infants
become able to break up long, unbroken strings of speech into meaningful units. correct answers
Infants prefer CDS (child directed speech) and have more head turns toward CDS.
CDS keeps infant attention to new and important words.
CDS encourages participation in turn like conversations.
CDS may help infants segment speech but it is still difficult.
Saffron suggests that infants are mini statisticians- languages have statistical regularities where
certain sounds are likely to follow other sounds and the packages emerge as meaningful clumps
of sounds.
Saffron presented 8 month olds long unbroken strings of sounds during training. Short segments
(common and uncommon in strings) presented during test
RESULTS: babies listen longer to novel words than to old ones.
Statistical regularities- some phonemes are statistically likely to follow the other ones.
Be able to match a given utterance (or babbling pattern) to the age at which that speech pattern is
most likely to appear. correct answers 2 months- cooing
6 months- reduplicated babbling
11 months- variegated babbling.
12 months- word production
18 months- reach around 50 words
