After hearing the podcast, with Elizabeth Spelke featured, I would say that her statement is true about the human brain and how it works in the stages from toddler to child. Think of when someone tries to teach a toddler how to speak, they do not start out with sentences or even multiple words or phrases, they simply start out with simple objects, colors, etc. This is because we as babies or young toddlers have no idea what things such as a blanket is, and if someone were to say "Go get your blanket," it would make no sense to us at all. Also, when most humans speak to kids, or vice versa, we tend to use "baby talk," and speak in much simpler terms. I believe that the brain has islands, as Spelke said, and until these islands have been filled and understood then no further progress can be made to process language as we adults know it. This theory about islands explains why "baby talk," is used for interaction with children; they simply do not have all the pieces to finish the puzzle in their brain, unlike we older humans do. The many islands that are in the children’s brains cannot begin to make sense and link together until they are around six years of age. This also explains why if a toddler asks for something and we ask to explain where it is, they may merely say “there,” and point. “There” is a word that is nonspecific and can be used to explain location or direction before “left” or “right” comes into play. Just as stated in the blanket example, without knowing what the word blanket means, the order to “go get your blanket” would not make sense, but it is not just the word blanket that is not understood, it is the whole phrase. The first step to understanding this phrase though, is to understand the subject of it, which would be blanket, therefore until this is understood, then no other progress can be made regarding phrases and bringing the gaps between the so called “islands” in the mind. The piece of the podcast regarding Elizabeth Spelke and her opinions on the brain and language were accurate and interesting.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Elizabeth Spelke-Question #2
After hearing the podcast, with Elizabeth Spelke featured, I would say that her statement is true about the human brain and how it works in the stages from toddler to child. Think of when someone tries to teach a toddler how to speak, they do not start out with sentences or even multiple words or phrases, they simply start out with simple objects, colors, etc. This is because we as babies or young toddlers have no idea what things such as a blanket is, and if someone were to say "Go get your blanket," it would make no sense to us at all. Also, when most humans speak to kids, or vice versa, we tend to use "baby talk," and speak in much simpler terms. I believe that the brain has islands, as Spelke said, and until these islands have been filled and understood then no further progress can be made to process language as we adults know it. This theory about islands explains why "baby talk," is used for interaction with children; they simply do not have all the pieces to finish the puzzle in their brain, unlike we older humans do. The many islands that are in the children’s brains cannot begin to make sense and link together until they are around six years of age. This also explains why if a toddler asks for something and we ask to explain where it is, they may merely say “there,” and point. “There” is a word that is nonspecific and can be used to explain location or direction before “left” or “right” comes into play. Just as stated in the blanket example, without knowing what the word blanket means, the order to “go get your blanket” would not make sense, but it is not just the word blanket that is not understood, it is the whole phrase. The first step to understanding this phrase though, is to understand the subject of it, which would be blanket, therefore until this is understood, then no other progress can be made regarding phrases and bringing the gaps between the so called “islands” in the mind. The piece of the podcast regarding Elizabeth Spelke and her opinions on the brain and language were accurate and interesting.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment