guest lecture 2 language, culture, &...

Guest Lecture 2Language, Culture, & Thought

Liz Baraff Bonawitz

Fast Marketing of Your Research

Vision

Steps

News

Contribution Patrick Winston Plan (MIT AI Lab)

Class Presentations

Form 3 Groups [A-G] [H-M][N-Z]Take 5 minutes and discuss VSNC for the

research paper you were assigned. Select one person in your group to present

the Vision; select a second person in your group to present the Steps; select a third person for News; and a fourth person to present Contributions.

Present VSNC to the rest of the class.

What kinds of questions should we be asking?

Why study Language & Culture?

• The origins of knowledge & nature of concepts – What is core, innate, universal? – Is knowledge invariant?

• Language processing – Surface differences only? – Sentences to mental representations

• Cognitive Architectures – What’s connected to what? – What’s involved with thinking?

What’s involved with Thinking?

Language/Culture as a Tool

Language/Culture as a Lens

Language/Culture as a Category Marker

See Eve Clark & Levinson Readings

Why study Language & Culture




Origins of knowledge & Nature of conceptual change

• The What is core, innate, universal?

What aspects of development are universal to all cultures?

What role does culture/language play in intellectual development? Do some cultures/languages provide tools that help development?

• Is knowledge invariant?

Is cognitive development universal across cultures?

Sally

Box

Sally Places Her Marble In Basket

Exit Sally

Re Enter Sally

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E

L

L

C

C

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Her Marble?

Tom

Tom Transfers Sally's Marble To Box

Where Will Sally Look For

Figure courtesy of MIT OCW. Baron-Cohen, S., A. M. Leslie, and U. Frith. "Does the autistic child have a 'theory of mind'?" Cognition 21 (1985): 37–46.

Vygotsky

Cultural transmission allows the child to first learn with the help of an adult and later to ‘internalize’ the adult’s role so that they take on the adult skill within themselves.

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Figure courtesy of MIT OCW.Saxe, G. B. "The development of measurement operations among the Oksapmin of Papua New Guinea." Child Development53 (1982): 1242-1248.


• The what is core, innate, universal?


What role does culture/language play in intellectual development?

Do some cultures/languages provide tools that help development?

Cult & Lang Provide Tools

• Spanish provides Ser/Esta

• English: In/On; Korean: Tight Fit/Loose Fit

• Rural vs. Elite Yoruba



• Is knowledge invariant? How are cognitive developmental changes caused?

(What makes it possible for children to acquire radically new ways of thinking & behaving as they grow older?)

Language as a Tool?

Figure removed due to copyright restrictions.Please see:http://www.niu.edu/pubaffairs/RELEASES/2000/MAR/primate/images/color_tree_thumb.jpg

Spelke Blue Room Task

Figure removed due to copyright restrictions.Please see:Hermer-Vazquez, L., E. S. Spelke, and A. S. Katsnelson. "Sources of flexibility in human cognition: dual-taskstudies of space and language." Cognit Psychol 39, no. 1 (August 1999): 3-36.

Some Counter Arguments

Figure removed due to copyright restrictions.Please see:Hermer-Vazquez, L., E. S. Spelke, and A. S. Katsnelson. "Sources of flexibility in human cognition: dual-taskstudies of space and language." Cognit Psychol 39, no. 1 (August 1999): 3-36.

Language as a ToolSusan Carey: Number Representation

“One” “Two” … “Five”

Language as a ToolDedre Genter: Analogical Mapping

Alignment + Representation

Language

Next Slides courtesy of Lera Boroditsky

Time-travel?

Courtesy of Lera Boroditsky, PhD. Used with permission.

TIME AS SPACE

We talk about time in terms of space:

The revolution is ahead of us.

Let’s move the meeting forward.

How long was the talk?

But, do we think about time in terms of space?


TWO WAYS TO THINK ABOUT TIME

Next Wednesday’s meeting has been moved forward two days.


TWO WAYS TO TALK ABOUT TIME

ego-moving time-moving

PAST FUTURE PAST FUTURE

vs

We’re approaching the deadline. The deadline is approaching.


THE LUNCH-LINE (N=69)

Anywhere cafe

chicken curry this way

Illustration courtesy of MIT OCW.


end of line <-----------------> closest to food

THE LUNCH-LINE (N=69)

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%

4 3 2 1

end of line <--------------> closest to food


THE AIRPORT (N=333)

just waiting about to depart just flew in for someone

Illustrations courtesy of MIT OCW.


THE AIRPORT (N=333)

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2 0

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%

picking up about to fly just flew in


WAITING TRAIN (N=101)

Illustration courtesy of MIT OCW.

FOR THE

PLATFORM

Dustbin


WAITING TRAIN (N=101)FOR THE

Friday Monday

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< 1 minute 1-5 minutes > 5 minutes


O TRAIN (N=118)N THE

what to predict?Illustrations courtesy of MIT OCW.


O TRAIN (N=118)N THE

% r

espo

nses

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Friday Monday

just got on middle of journey about to get off


Two separate questions:

• Are representations of time constructed in part upon representations of space?

• Does language play any role in this construction?


Patterns in language suggest anasymmetric dependence of time on space

SPACE TIME

(Boroditsky, 2000; Lakoff & Johnson, 1980)


But, space and time could be completelyinterdependent: i.e., symmetric relationship

SPACE TIME

“expansion [i.e. distance] and duration do mutually embrace and comprehend each other; every part of space being in every part of duration, and every part of duration in every part of expansion.”

John Locke (1689/1995) .


Or they could be completely independent

SPACE TIME

(e.g., Jackendoff, Murphy)


Piaget observed that kids confuse space and time.

Until age 9!

( / )

( / )

SLOW

FAST

2m 9sec

4m 7sec

Which one went for a longer time? Why?


Piaget was all wrong about the age…

…MIT undergrads can’t do it either.


200 275 350 425 500 575 650 725 800

200-800 Pixels x 1-5 Seconds

9 x 9 Design


Overall, people were pretty good at the task.

TIME SPACE

y = 0.81x + 41.608 R2 = 0.99

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y = 0.83x + 327.23 R2 = 0.99

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orte

d du

ratio

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secs

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Rep

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d di

spla

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(pix

els)

Actual duration (msecs) Actual displacement (pixels)

But what about the effects of space on time & time on space?


Similar, butindependent

Asymmetricallydependent

Target time

Target timeTarget space

Target space

Est

imat

ed s

pace

Est

imat

ed s

pace

Est

imat

ed t

ime

Est

imat

ed t

ime

Effect of space Effect of time on time

Est

imat

ed t

ime

Est

imat

ed s

pace

on space

Mutuallyinterdependent

Target space Target time


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Rep

orte

d du

ratio

n (m

secs

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Effect of Target Displacement Effect Target Duration on Estimated Duration on Estimated Displacement

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Rep

orte

d di

spla

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(pix

els)

R2 = 0.09 3602000

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y = 0.74x + 2474.6 R2 = 0.92

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Target displacement (pixels) Target duration (msecs)






• Is knowledge invariant?



• Is knowledge invariant? How are cognitive developmental changes caused?

(What makes it possible for children to acquire radically new ways of thinking & behaving as they grow older?)

The Big Debate - PrepForm 3 Groups [A-G] [H-M][N-Z]Take 5-10 minutes and discuss:1. Main thesis & Vision of position paper

you read. (Summarize in 2-3 sentences) 2. What would be the steps required to

support this point? 3. What evidence (News) can you think of to

support this point (from today’s lecture, your readings, previous lectures?)

4. What are the Contributions of this thesis?

Debate

Groups each present VSNC for their paper. Groups each respond to VSNC for other

groups. Do you agree with the interpretation of the

evidence? Did two groups cite the same evidence?

Is this is a problem? Which thesis do you really support?

guest lecture 2 language, culture, &...

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