Q&A Hero

Q: Fourteen-month-old Reese points to a picture of a dog in his book when prompted by his family. When his 3-year-old cousin asks him to "find the goggie," Reese points to the dog. Reese's actions indicate that he A) understands how the word "dog" is supposed to sound. B) does not really grasp the concept of the word "dog." C) has strong word"object-association skills. D) may display speech problems when he is older.

Q: In middle childhood, many deaf children of hearing parents achieve poorly in school, are deficient in social skills, and display impulse-control problems. Meanwhile, deaf children of deaf parents escape these difficulties. This is likely because hearing parents A) lack experience with visual communication. B) often become frustrated and give up on exerting any control over their deaf children. C) usually do not benefit from social support and training in how to interact with their nonhearing children. D) do not have access to medical services for children with special needs.

Q: _________ of all deaf children have hearing parents who are not fluent in sign language.A) Very fewB) One-thirdC) HalfD) The vast majority

Q: In some cultures, such as the Kaluli of Papua New Guinea, adults rarely communicate with young children and never play social games with them, yet their children acquire language within the normal time frame. This suggests that A) social interactionists' theories about language development are invalid. B) adult molding of communication during the first year is not essential. C) other individuals, such as older peers, mold early communication skills in these cultures. D) gesturing is more important than verbalization.

Q: When baby Madeline drops her teddy bear out of her crib, she reaches toward it and whimpers, prompting her mother to pick up the bear and hand it to her. This is an example of a __________ gesture. A) protoimperative B) sociolinguistic C) protodeclarative D) manipulative

Q: Baby Juan holds up his stuffed panda and points to it, making sure his father notices it. Juan is engaging in a __________ gesture. A) protoimperative B) sociolinguistic C) protodeclarative D) manipulative

Q: Games like pat-a-cake and peekaboo A) tend to confuse children and may actually delay pragmatic development. B) hinder the transition from preverbal to verbal communication. C) foster infants' understanding of the turn-taking pattern of human conversation. D) facilitate children's understanding of illocutionary intent.

Q: Eight-month-old Thea and her mother watch a grasshopper in their yard. Her mother labels the grasshopper and describes what it is doing. Thea and her mother are engaged inA) telegraphic speech.B) referential communication.C) syntactic bootstrapping.D) joint attention.

Q: Which of the following statements is supported by research on babbling? A) Babies only begin babbling if they consistently hear human speech. B) Females typically begin babbling before males. C) Babies have a limited repertoire of babbled sounds, depending on their IQ. D) Deaf infants not exposed to sign language will stop babbling entirely.

Q: Which of the following is the best example of babbling? A) "oooo" B) "mommy" C) "go car" D) "dadadadadada"

Q: Cooing in infancy refers to A) strings of different speech sounds. B) repeated consonant"vowel combinations. C) vowel-like noises. D) strings of several identical sounds.

Q: Which of the following statements is true about infant-directed speech? A) Parents who use infant-directed speech are deliberately trying to teach infants to talk. B) Infants are more easily bored by infant-directed speech than other forms of communication. C) Most researchers advise parents to avoid using infant-directed speech, as it has been linked to language delays in early childhood. D) Toddlers' first words and phrases are usually ones they hear often in their caregivers' infant-directed speech.

Q: Mothers' exaggerated pronunciation in infant-directed speech is strongly associated withA) mild language delays in toddlerhood.B) advanced false-belief understanding in preschoolers.C) 6- to 12-month-olds' increasing sensitivity to the phonemic categories of foreign languages.D) 6- to 12-month-olds' increasing sensitivity to the phonemic categories of their native language.

Q: Ms. Lipscomb talks to her 4-month-old son using short sentences with distinct pauses between speech segments. She uses a high-pitched voice and exaggerated expressions, clearly pronouncing her words. Ms. Lipscomb is demonstrating A) infant-directed speech. B) baby talk. C) cooing. D) babbling.

Q: Research suggests that infants first use statistical learning abilities to A) learn a foreign language. B) locate words in speech. C) establish joint attention with caregivers. D) produce short sentences.

Q: According to research on language development, when do children begin to detect the internal structure of sentences and words? A) almost immediately after birth B) by the time they are 7 months old C) in the second half of the first year D) when they are between 12 and 14 months old

Q: Which of the following statements is true regarding learning native-language sound categories and patterns? A) Findings indicate that categorical perception is unique to linguistic input. B) Phonemes tend to be similar across all contemporary languages. C) Compared to young infants, adults are sensitive to a much wider range of categories than exists in their own language. D) Between 6 and 8 months, infants start to organize speech into the phonemic categories of their own language.

Q: Which of the following statements is supported by research on categorical speech perception?A) A preference for the overall sound pattern of one's native language to that of a different language emerges during the second half of the first year.B) Young infants are sensitive to a much wider range of speech categories than exists in their own language.C) At birth, infants organize speech into the phonemic categories of their own language.D) The emergence of categorical speech perception in the first few days after birth is largely due to adult interaction.

Q: Baby Rosalita, born to English-speaking parents, is able to differentiate between the soft "p" and sharp "p" phonemes used to distinguish meaning in the Thai language. Her parents perceive both sounds as identical. Rosalita's parents are exhibiting A) categorical speech perception. B) semantic bootstrapping. C) referential communication. D) overregularization.

Q: To distinguish between sounds such as "la" and "ra," adults A) analyze the speech stream into phonemes. B) carefully follow morphological rules. C) rely on universal language markers. D) rely on their LAD.

Q: Which of the following statements may explain why newborns are especially sensitive to their mother's voice and their native tongue? A) Beginning at birth, infants are reinforced more for interacting with their mothers than their fathers. B) They are born with a LAD. C) They are repeatedly exposed to their mother speaking during pregnancy. D) They interact primarily with their mother after birth, which biases them toward her voice and language.

Q: During the first year, sensitivity to language, cognitive and social skills, and environmental supports pave the way for the onset of A) social gesturing. B) spatial strategizing. C) theoretical reasoning. D) verbal communication.

Q: Social interactionists believe that children's __________ language development.A) built-in LAD is solely responsible forB) native language dictates the pace ofC) social competencies and language experiences greatly affectD) neural processing speed determines

Q: According to the social interactionist perspective, __________, __________, and __________ combine to help children discover the functions and regularities of language. A) positive social interactions; a strong sense of self; an understanding of abstract concepts B) cognitive ability; physical ability; enthusiasm for learning C) native capacity; a strong desire to understand others and be understood by them; a rich language environment D) the ability to imitate; recognize rules; recognize patterns

Q: Recent research shows that Wernicke's area A) controls tongue movements required for speech production. B) is unrelated to language production or comprehension. C) controls speech comprehension. D) is more strongly associated with comprehension of nonverbal than of verbal sound.

Q: Currently, statistical learning theorists are investigating how __________ might combine with other general-cognitive and language-specific processing abilities to explain children's acquisition of increasingly complex language structures. A) sensitivity to statistical regularities B) learning American Sign Language C) becoming bilingual D) sensitivity to nonspeech sounds

Q: The most influential information-processing theories of language development are derived from research with A) adopted infants. B) connectionist, or artificial neural network, models. C) toddlers who use ASL. D) low-income and poverty-stricken children.

Q: Dr. Bean believes that language development is a product of inner capacities and environmental influences. Dr. Bean's belief is consistent with the __________ perspective.A) behavioristB) nativistC) interactionistD) dynamic systems

Q: The language abilities of individuals with Williams syndrome A) are evidence that language is controlled by an innate LAD. B) are not impaired in any significant ways. C) indicate that language is not separate from other human mental abilities. D) are very weakly correlated with working-memory capacity.

Q: Jadzia is a young child with Williams syndrome. Recent evidence indicates that Jadzia will A) have less complex sentence production than a child with Down syndrome. B) depend on rule learning to acquire language skills. C) probably learn language by capitalizing on her social strengths. D) have a limited vocabulary and rarely speak in full sentences.

Q: Which of the following statements is a limitation of Chomsky's nativist perspective? A) Chomsky's theory cannot explain how children weave statements together into connected discourse and sustain meaningful conversations. B) Chomsky's theory is inconsistent with research on efforts to teach language to nonhuman primates. C) Chomsky's theory overemphasizes the role of social experience in language development. D) Chomsky's theory ignores the existence of specialized regions in the brain that support language skills.

Q: Which of the following findings raises doubt about Chomsky's assumption that grammatical knowledge is innately determined? A) Adults and adolescents have more difficulty acquiring a second language than young children. B) Complete mastery of some grammatical forms is not achieved until well into middle childhood. C) Chimpanzees learn to communicate through sign language and symbols. D) As children acquire language, the brain becomes increasingly specialized for language processing.

Q: The absence of a complete description of abstract grammatical structuresA) supports the existence of Chomsky's LAD.B) casts doubt that one set of rules can account for the multiplicity of grammatical forms.C) provides clear evidence that children are naturally skilled at linking grammatical rules with strings of words.D) supports the behaviorist perspective of language development.

Q: The more "committed" the brain is to native-language patterns, the A) better children's mastery of their native language. B) more effectively children acquire foreign language. C) more difficult it is for children to acquire reading skills. D) greater the chance the child is ambidextrous.

Q: Which of the following factors underlie the younger-age language-learning advantage? A) neural networks becoming dedicated to processing native-language sounds B) sensitivity to sound variations in languages not regularly heard C) complete lateralization of the language function to the left hemisphere D) an ability to hear sound variations across all languages

Q: ERP and fMRI measures of brain activity indicate that second-language processing is A) more lateralized, and also overlaps more with brain areas devoted to first-language processing, in older than in younger learners. B) less lateralized, and also overlaps less with brain areas devoted to first-language processing, in older than in younger learners. C) better developed in adults who take language classes than in young children who immigrated to the United States in infancy. D) shared between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, whereas first-language processing is primarily located in the right hemisphere.

Q: Mr. Li is a 50-year-old college graduate from China who just immigrated to the United States and is learning English. Jet is 3 years of age and just immigrated to the United States from China and is also learning English. Jet will complete high school, but not college. What can we ascertain about the second-language acquisition of these two individuals? A) Jet will have greater English proficiency than Mr. Li only if he is raised in a non-Chinese-speaking household. B) By the time Jet is an adult, he and Mr. Li will have comparable English-speaking skills. C) Mr. Li will have greater English proficiency than Jet. D) Jet will have greater English proficiency than Mr. Li.

Q: In studies of adults who had damage to their left hemisphere, __________ abilities suffered much more than __________ abilities.A) phonological; semanticB) pragmatic; grammaticalC) grammatical; semanticD) semantic; phonological

Q: Language areas in the cerebral cortex A) are found exclusively in the left hemisphere. B) are fully lateralized at birth. C) develop as children acquire language. D) are not fully functional until adulthood.

Q: Physiological research on Chomsky's notion of a brain prepared to process language indicates that A) electrical activity is distributed across both hemispheres of the cerebral cortex. B) the broad association of language functions is right-hemispheric. C) electrical activity becomes increasingly concentrated in the right-hemispheric region. D) the broad association of language functions is left-hemispheric.

Q: Sean was not wearing a helmet when he flipped his ATV and subsequently suffered damage to his brain's frontal lobe. We can anticipate that Sean will A) have difficulty producing language. B) be unable to understand spoken language. C) be unable to understand written language. D) experience spatial reasoning problems.

Q: Research has shown that Broca's and Wernicke's areas of the brain A) are not solely responsible for specific language functions. B) are solely responsible for language comprehension. C) cease functioning when the left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex sustains damage. D) help to support language plasticity in the cerebral cortex.

Q: Wernicke's area, located in the left temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex, plays a role inA) comprehending word meaning.B) supporting grammatical processing.C) communicating with motor areas involved in speaking.D) supporting language production.

Q: In American Sign Language (ASL), accurately expressing motion requires A) at least some ability to hear low tones. B) well-developed fine-motor skills. C) up to seven grammatical markers. D) an understanding of pragmatic communication.

Q: Which of the following statements is true regarding homesign? A) Children who use homesign reach language milestones at the same rate as hearing children. B) Children typically pick up the homesign gesture system from their parents. C) Homesign does not follow any basic grammatical rules. D) Homesign is used for the same diverse purposes as any language.

Q: In one study, deaf toddlers and preschoolers whose parents discouraged manual signing and addressed them verbally A) spontaneously produced a gestural communication system. B) reached language milestones at the same time as their hearing agemates. C) did not develop stable vocabularies or systematic grammatical rules. D) generated a communication system that was limited to writing.

Q: Research on language acquisition in animals A) supports Chomsky's assumption of a uniquely human capacity for an elaborate grammar. B) shows that animals can produce complex and novel sentences. C) shows that not even the brightest animals can comprehend language. D) shows that chimps are intelligent enough to comprehend and produce elaborate, human-like sentences.

Q: Research conducted with Kanzi, a bonobo chimp,A) shows that bonobos are capable of conversation that includes asking questions and sharing information.B) produced no definitive results about Kanzi's linguistic achievements.C) proves that chimps are capable of communicating basic needs, but nothing else.D) indicates that chimps are better at communicating through the use of written, rather than visual, symbols.

Q: Common chimps, the species studied most often, have been A) able to consistently predict others' goals. B) shown to have a broad understanding of others' mental states. C) taught artificial languages and American Sign Language. D) taught to produce strings of three or more symbols that conform to a rule-based structure.

Q: With extensive training, dolphins and parrots can acquire a vocabulary and respond to short, novel sentences, A) although they do so less consistently than a preschool child. B) but only chimps can be taught to produce strings of three or more symbols that conform to a rule-based structure. C) showing that they follow the same grammatical rules as humans in their own "language." D) and are highly attuned to recognize human intentions that motivate use of language.

Q: According to the nativist perspective, children master the structure of language A) only with deliberate training from parents. B) spontaneously, with only limited language exposure. C) at different rates, depending on their native language. D) quickly, but only in its simplest forms; more complicated forms come much later.

Q: Based on her experience with young infants, Maria, a child-care worker, wonders if children are born with a built-in storehouse of rules that are common to all human languages. Maria is pondering the concept of A) linguistic expansions. B) infant-directed speech. C) private speech. D) universal grammar.

Q: Chomsky's language acquisition device (LAD) refers toA) instructional techniques for children with speech and language delays.B) speech programs that parents can use to teach their children grammatical rules.C) computer programs that attempt to generate the linguistic rules that are needed for language acquisition.D) an innate system that permits children to combine words into grammatically consistent, novel utterances.

Q: Noam Chomsky reasoned that A) in early childhood, rewards and punishments support language development. B) young children are unable to assume much responsibility for their own language learning. C) the rules for sentence organization are too complex to be directly taught to cognitively sophisticated young children. D) language, like any other behavior, is acquired through imitation and operant conditioning.

Q: Professor Chan believes that language is a unique human accomplishment that children acquire naturally due to the structure of the brain. Professor Chan supports the __________ perspective of language development. A) nativist B) behaviorist C) interactionist D) sociocultural

Q: Children typically say their first word at about _____ months and have mastered a large vocabulary and most grammatical constructions by _____ years. A) 6; 2 to 3 B) 9; 3 to 4 C) 12; 4 to 5 D) 18; 5 to 6

Q: When 14-year-old Tatiana's friends call her name, she responds with, "What?!" When her teacher calls her name, she responds by saying, "Yes, ma"am?" Tatiana's responses indicate her understanding of A) grammar. B) syntax. C) semantics. D) pragmatics.

Q: Three-year-old Giselle says, "I swimmed like a fish, Mommy!" Giselle's addition of the -ed ending, although incorrect, shows her growing awareness ofA) syntax.B) semantics.C) phonology.D) morphology.

Q: __________ is the aspect of grammar that provides the rules by which words are arranged into sentences. A) Phonology B) Morphology C) Syntax D) Semantics

Q: Before children can combine words and modify them in meaningful ways, they must A) have begun the mastery of vocabulary. B) master their culture's narrative mode. C) understand the guidelines for effective conversation. D) figure out how gestures, tone of voice, and context clarify meaning.

Q: Reuben is a young child with a language impairment. He has difficulty expressing concepts using words and word combinations. Reuben has problems with A) grammar. B) pragmatics. C) semantics. D) phonology.

Q: Valerie is a college student studying to become a speech/language pathologist. In one of her classes, she is learning about the rules that govern the structure and sequencing of speech sounds. Valerie is studying A) phonology. B) semantics. C) grammar. D) pragmatics.

Q: Research on the Flynn effect indicates that A) IQ gains between generations are probably due to easier test items. B) IQ gains between generations present a major challenge to the assumption that ethnic variations in IQ are mostly genetic. C) this phenomenon is not evident in developing nations. D) the black"white gap in IQ is larger than the generational gain in fluid intelligence.

Q: Which of the following factors accelerate the Flynn effect among specific children of a given generation?A) decreased test-taking motivationB) improved educationC) college-educated mothersD) college-educated fathers

Q: Between 1932 and 2002, IQ A) decreased by a total of 14 points. B) increased by a total of 22 points. C) showed little fluctuation. D) increased for black children and decreased for white children.

Q: Research on the Flynn effect indicates that the largest generational IQ gains have occurred on A) items strongly correlated with Spearman's g. B) items emphasizing short-term and rote memory. C) items emphasizing crystallized intelligence. D) fluid-ability tests of spatial reasoning.

Q: Marita is an African-American child who was adopted into an economically well-off white family when she was a baby. Findings from several adoption studies predict that Marita will A) have an IQ considerably below that of white children growing up in similar families. B) attain a mean IQ 20 to 30 points higher than the typical scores of children growing up in low-income black communities. C) experience a 20- to 30-point drop in IQ between early childhood and adolescence. D) remain below the national average in IQ throughout childhood and adolescence.

Q: Valerie, a child of a low-IQ biological mother, was adopted into a middle-SES family at a young age. Based on prior research, one would expect that A) Valerie would have a higher IQ than her adoptive parents' biological children. B) Valerie would have a lower IQ than her adoptive parents' biological children. C) Valerie would have about the same IQ as her adoptive parents' biological children. D) Valerie's IQ would be more strongly correlated with her adoptive than her biological relatives.

Q: The Texas Adoption Project and other similar investigations confirm thatA) both environment and heredity contribute to IQ.B) environment plays a greater role than heredity in IQ.C) heredity plays a greater role than environment in IQ.D) children adopted before age 6 score 10 to 15 IQ points below the mean.

Q: Adoption research has shown that A) adopted children show a decreasing resemblance in IQ to their biological mothers as they grow older. B) children of low-IQ biological mothers do as well as children of high-IQ biological mothers when placed in similar adoptive families. C) children of low-IQ biological mothers scored above average in IQ during the school years when adopted at birth by high-IQ parents. D) correlations between the IQ scores of adoptive relatives are higher than those of biological relatives.

Q: Heritability estimates computed within black and white populations provide A) direct evidence on what accounts for between-group differences in both black and white populations. B) direct evidence on what accounts for between-group differences in black populations but not in white populations. C) direct evidence on what accounts for between-group differences in white populations but not in black populations. D) no direct evidence on what accounts for between-group differences.

Q: Studies of heritability and SES variations in IQ show that A) factors associated with low income and poverty prevent children from attaining their genetic potential. B) heritability estimates provide strong evidence that ethnic differences in IQ have a genetic basis. C) the heritability of IQ is higher under low-SES than high-SES rearing conditions. D) heritability estimates can be used to account for between-group differences.

Q: When the range of environments to which twins are exposed is restricted, heritability estimates A) fail to take into account that twins reared apart often live in disadvantaged adoptive and foster families. B) underestimate the role of environment and overestimate the role of heredity. C) overestimate the role of environment and underestimate the role of heredity. D) grant an equal role to heredity and environment. .

Q: Studies of IQ correlations between twins and other relatives show that the average correlation forA) identical and fraternal twins decreases into adulthood.B) fraternal twins living together is stronger than the average correlation for identical twins living apart.C) twin and nontwin siblings living together is stronger than the average correlation for those living apart.D) fraternal twins living apart is stronger than the average correlation for nontwin siblings living together.

Q: The fact that IQ correlations increase with age for identical twins, but decrease with age for fraternal twins, suggests that A) the genetic likeness of identical twins causes them to seek out similar niches in adolescence and adulthood. B) the influence of rearing conditions on IQ is stronger for identical twins than fraternal twins. C) rearing experiences play a larger role early in life, whereas genetic influences play a larger role later in life. D) the contribution of heredity to IQ decreases with age.

Q: Jack and Jake are fraternal twins who were reared together. Tom and Tim are identical twins who were reared apart. Based on prior research, one would expect the IQ correlation to be A) higher for Jack and Jake than for Tom and Tim. B) higher for Tom and Tim than for Jack and Jake. C) negative for Tom and Tim and positive for Jack and Jake. D) positive for Tom and Tim and negative for Jack and Jake.

Q: Heritability estimates are computed by comparing the IQ correlations of A) the same group of individuals at various points in time. B) individuals from different ethnic and SES groups. C) children of different ages. D) twins and other relatives.

Q: According to Herrnstein and Murray's book, The Bell Curve, A) IQ variations are largely determined by environmental differences. B) ethnic and social class differences in IQ are unfounded. C) the relative role of heredity and environment in the black"white IQ gap remains unsolved. D) heredity plays a sizable role in the black"white IQ gap.

Q: Jensen's article, "How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?" was controversial because he argued thatA) IQ has little influence on academic achievement.B) heredity is largely responsible for individual, ethnic, and SES differences in IQ.C) the contribution of the environment to individual, ethnic, and SES differences in IQ is substantial.D) there are no significant individual, ethnic, or SES differences in IQ.

Q: Research on ethnic differences in IQ shows that A) the black"white IQ gap disappears when parental education and income are held constant. B) both Hispanic-American and African-American children score, on average, 10 IQ points below American white children. C) no ethnic differences in mental test scores exist during the first few years of life. D) ethnicity and SES account for only about one-fourth of the total variation in IQ.