According to the Steven Pinker reading, language has gotten much more complex over time, and
modern languages are much more complex than languages in hunter gathering times. - Correct Answer
False
According to the Steven Pinker reading, the syntactic rules of language are acquired by teaching and
imitation. - Correct Answer False
Which of the following is NOT a correct description of phrase structure grammars/phrase structure
trees?
hierarchical, combinatoric, employ abstract categories, deciduous - Correct Answer deciduous
What does it mean to say that language is productive? - Correct Answer There is no upper bound on the
number of sentences the language can express.
Which phrase structure rule best explains the productivity of the associated language? - Correct Answer
CP -> that S
The children who created Nicaraguan Sign Language in the 1970s and 1980s were taught by adults to
separate information about the manner and the path of motion. - Correct Answer False
Meno argues that language must be importantly innate because there is a large mismatch between the
meager learning input that the child receives and the very complex and sophisticated language
capacities that the child attains.
What kind of argument is Meno employing? - Correct Answer Poverty of the Stimulus
Anthropologists have found that human languages differ substantially in terms of the complexity of their
syntax. - Correct Answer False
According to the Norman Geschwind reading, prosopagnosia, an inability to recognize faces, is often
accompanied by numerous other cognitive problems including problems with memory, audition, and
fine motor control. - Correct Answer False
, Ms. T had a stroke which affects her language abilities. Her speech is fluent, but lacks meaning. She also
has trouble understanding what others say. Which brain region is most likely to have been damaged in
Ms. T? - Correct Answer Wernicke's area
Which of the following statements is FALSE?
A) The problem of inverse optics is underdetermined and is therefore very difficult to solve.
B) The problem of inverse optics involves making an inference from a 3D scene (i.e. a light source and
objects in the world) to what 2D pattern of light will end up on the retina.
C) Our perceptual system solves the problem of inverse optics by using hidden, built-in assumptions
about how the world works. - Correct Answer B
Based on the Ramachandran and Anstis article, which hypothesis would be preferred by the visual
system?
A) Three black "pac men" and six sticks are arranged in the configuration shown above.
B) A white triangle is sitting on top of another triangle and three circles. - Correct Answer B
When two pictures of three dots are shown in succession, a person will see either up-to-down motion or
right-to-left motion. Which hidden assumption of the visual system does this illustrate? - Correct Answer
Things tend to move in a straight line
According to Brian Scholl, because Bayesian inference is a learning method, Bayesian theories of
perception and cognition are not compatible with nativist theories that assume innate structures and
knowledge. - Correct Answer False
A person has damage to both the lateral geniculate nucleus AND the visual cortex. Which of the
following would be most likely to result from this damage? - Correct Answer Total blindness
According to Allison Gopnik, 18-month-olds (but not 14-month-olds) are able to recognize that other
people have preferences that differ from their own preferences. - Correct Answer True
modern languages are much more complex than languages in hunter gathering times. - Correct Answer
False
According to the Steven Pinker reading, the syntactic rules of language are acquired by teaching and
imitation. - Correct Answer False
Which of the following is NOT a correct description of phrase structure grammars/phrase structure
trees?
hierarchical, combinatoric, employ abstract categories, deciduous - Correct Answer deciduous
What does it mean to say that language is productive? - Correct Answer There is no upper bound on the
number of sentences the language can express.
Which phrase structure rule best explains the productivity of the associated language? - Correct Answer
CP -> that S
The children who created Nicaraguan Sign Language in the 1970s and 1980s were taught by adults to
separate information about the manner and the path of motion. - Correct Answer False
Meno argues that language must be importantly innate because there is a large mismatch between the
meager learning input that the child receives and the very complex and sophisticated language
capacities that the child attains.
What kind of argument is Meno employing? - Correct Answer Poverty of the Stimulus
Anthropologists have found that human languages differ substantially in terms of the complexity of their
syntax. - Correct Answer False
According to the Norman Geschwind reading, prosopagnosia, an inability to recognize faces, is often
accompanied by numerous other cognitive problems including problems with memory, audition, and
fine motor control. - Correct Answer False
, Ms. T had a stroke which affects her language abilities. Her speech is fluent, but lacks meaning. She also
has trouble understanding what others say. Which brain region is most likely to have been damaged in
Ms. T? - Correct Answer Wernicke's area
Which of the following statements is FALSE?
A) The problem of inverse optics is underdetermined and is therefore very difficult to solve.
B) The problem of inverse optics involves making an inference from a 3D scene (i.e. a light source and
objects in the world) to what 2D pattern of light will end up on the retina.
C) Our perceptual system solves the problem of inverse optics by using hidden, built-in assumptions
about how the world works. - Correct Answer B
Based on the Ramachandran and Anstis article, which hypothesis would be preferred by the visual
system?
A) Three black "pac men" and six sticks are arranged in the configuration shown above.
B) A white triangle is sitting on top of another triangle and three circles. - Correct Answer B
When two pictures of three dots are shown in succession, a person will see either up-to-down motion or
right-to-left motion. Which hidden assumption of the visual system does this illustrate? - Correct Answer
Things tend to move in a straight line
According to Brian Scholl, because Bayesian inference is a learning method, Bayesian theories of
perception and cognition are not compatible with nativist theories that assume innate structures and
knowledge. - Correct Answer False
A person has damage to both the lateral geniculate nucleus AND the visual cortex. Which of the
following would be most likely to result from this damage? - Correct Answer Total blindness
According to Allison Gopnik, 18-month-olds (but not 14-month-olds) are able to recognize that other
people have preferences that differ from their own preferences. - Correct Answer True
