Lecture 6: The Whorfian Hypothesis (contd.); autism spectrum disorders and language

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1 Lecture 6: The Whorfian Hypothesis (contd.); autism spectrum disorders and language Learning goals: o Understand what is meant by the Whorfian Hypothesis, and be able to illustrate it with (controversial) experimental evidence. o Understand some of the cognitive implications of autism spectrum disorders Gilbert et al. (2005) 1

2 Gilbert et al. (2005) (Controversially) Better colour distinctions in the RVF/LH Poorer colour distinctions in the LVF/RH A concurrent verbal task removes the difference Boroditzsky (2001) Mandarin Chinese and English speakers differ in spatial metaphors of time 2

3 Boroditzsky (2001) Boroditzsky (2001) Responding to Does March come earlier than April? is influenced by spatial priming. However, speakers can be trained to think in terms of other metaphors. Spatial metaphors are important when thinking and speaking about abstract domains, and can shape habitual thought. 3

4 Boroditzsky, Schmidt et al. (2002) German and Spanish provide examples of different grammatical gender for the same word. There are predictable opposing results when grammatical gender is paired with typical male/female characteristics. Morphological family size can be predictive across languages (Baayen et al.) Picture viewing can be influenced by the verbs available in the language of the speaker 4

5 Conclusions regarding the Whorfian Hypothesis Cognition is neither copying nor constructing the world. Cognition is, instead, the process that keeps us active, changing creatures in touch with an eventful, changing world: (Reed, 1996). Interaction with the world is crucial, but the strong Whorfian claim is not true; however, less strong versions are being actively researched Two issues in autism spectrum disorder Language development, language learning Calendar calculation 5

6 Autism Calendrical skills Counting skills Drawing skills Dr. Seuss skills Autism spectrum and Asperger syndrome Stephen Wiltshire 6

7 Asperger Syndrome and language Delayed development Gillberg (1992) Superficially perfect expressive language Formal pedantic language Odd prosody, peculiar voice characteristics Impairment of comprehension including misinterpretations of literal/implied meanings Asperger syndrome Gaze judgement task False belief tasks: Sally-Anne task and the Smarties task 7

8 Asperger syndrome Similarities with RH dysfunction Asperger syndrome A false belief is different from a false map (Leslie &Thaiss, 1992) PET scans of ASD subjects showed reduced functional connectivity between the extrastriate region and the superior temporal sulcus at the temporoparietal junction (Castelli, Frith, Happé & Frith, 2002) 8

9 The mind of a savant: Language learning and modularity Neil Smith & Ianthi-Maria Tsimpli (1995) Christopher s spatial skills Tsimpli & Smith Noughts and crosses 9

10 First language: minor deficits How come you goed home so early? How come did you go home so early? Christopher s language skills Problems with jokes, meta-level representations, John said that Harry is leaving the next day Second languages: translation skills in languages. More lexical than syntactic. Christopher s language skills False belief tasks Sally-Anne task, Smarties task. Christopher was inconsistent Tsimpli and Smith claim C. s language and Theory of mind skills dissociate. Compare with Happé (1995) Partial mastery of at least 16 foreign languages Ability to master an artificial language Hyperlexia Low non-verbal IQ; high verbal IQ. 10

11 Autism spectrum theories Theory of Mind explanation. (Baron-Cohen et al., 1985). (see also joint attention deficits) Extreme Male Brain theory (Baron-Cohen, 1999) Central Coherence theory (Frith, 1989) (cf. superior performance on the Embedded Figures Test. Also face recognition by part or whole - Campbell et al., 1995) Executive Function theory. Lack of a Supervisory Attentional System (Norman & Shallice, 1980) Conclusions Autistic savants exist with advanced skills in a variety of non-social behaviours Non-social, lexically oriented aspects of language is just one such skill Christopher s case is not particularly good evidence for the modularity of language 11