Fodor and the Innateness of All (Basic) Concepts

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini
Keyword(s):  
Concept Learning ◽  
Concept Acquisition ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Trial And Error ◽  
Basic Concepts

This chapter reviews Fodor’s contribution to the epic Chomsky-Piaget Royaumont debate. The issue that was under discussion was a familiar one, namely, what psychological processes underlie concept learning. Piaget thought concept learning involved the formation and confirmation of hypotheses that a learner generates through the construction and organization of stimuli gathered from the environment, and modifying them when they proved to be inconsistent. However, Fodor pointed out a fundamental flaw in this theory: it is silent about the origin of the concepts used in generating the hypotheses. Fodor argued that in order for these hypotheses to be tested, let alone generated, they needed to have been readily available to the learner, suggesting that all primitive concepts are innate, and that concept acquisition relies on the process of triggering these concepts that are innately available to the learner, and not through construction by means of progressive guesses and trial-and-error.

Acquisition of Basic Concepts by Mentally Retarded and Nonretarded Children through Video-Presented, Stimulus Conversion Procedures

1987 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Weinheimer ◽  
Paul Weisberg
Keyword(s):  
Mentally Retarded ◽  
Third Graders ◽  
Concept Acquisition ◽  
Training Effects ◽  
Basic Concepts

Using two different procedures, two concepts, parallel and diameter, were taught to mentally retarded (EMR) and nonretarded (NMR) third graders. Through the use of computer-programmed television displays, stimuli were continuously converted (CC) either into concept examples (S+) or concept nonexamples (S-) that demonstrated the range of S+ and S-. In another procedure using the same training stimuli, examples were not continuously converted (NC); each stimulus (S+ or S-) was withdrawn from view and replaced, after a brief delay, by another one The EMR students learned parallel faster under CC than NC presentation procedures, though there were no differences in acquisition for the NMR students. Concept acquisition for parallel was faster for both the EMR and the NMR students under CC compared to NC procedures. Generalization of training effects to novel examples of parallel was better after CC training.

Comment: A role of Language in Infant Emotion Concept Acquisition

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 251-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly Shablack ◽  
Andrea G. Stein ◽  
Kristen A. Lindquist
Keyword(s):  
Concept Learning ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Concept Acquisition ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Discrete Emotions ◽  
Emotion Development ◽  
Discrete Emotion ◽  
Development Literature ◽  
Emotion Labels

Ruba and Repacholi (2020) review an important debate in the emotion development literature: whether infants can perceive and understand facial configurations as instances of discrete emotion categories. Consistent with a psychological constructionist account (Lindquist & Gendron, 2013; Shablack & Lindquist, 2019), they conclude that infants can perceive valence on faces, but argue the evidence is far from clear that infants perceive and understand discrete emotions. Ruba and Repacholi outline a novel developmental trajectory of emotion perception and understanding in which early emotion concept learning may be language-independent. In this comment, we argue that language may play a role in emotion concept acquisition even prior to children’s ability to produce emotion labels. We look forward to future research addressing this hypothesis.

Concept Acquisition and School Progress: An Examination of the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts

1982 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 783-786 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne C. Piersel ◽  
Tom McAndrews
Keyword(s):  
Skill Acquisition ◽  
Kindergarten Readiness ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Concept Acquisition ◽  
Positive Relationships ◽  
Entry Level ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
Readiness Skills ◽  
Kindergarten Entry ◽  
School Progress

The relation of performance on the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts to kindergarten readiness skills and first grade achievement was investigated (70 females and 53 males). The correlations indicated strong positive relationships between kindergarten entry level skills, skill acquisition, and achievement in first grade.

Episodic Components of Concept Representation Indicated in Concept Acquisition

1983 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 931-960 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irwin D. Nahinsky ◽  
M. Sheila Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Concept Learning ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Concept Acquisition ◽  
Paired Comparisons ◽  
Concept Representation ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Person Description ◽  
Degree Of Overlap

Subjects were given concept-learning tasks in a series of three experiments, with stimuli containing descriptions of persons along four dimensions. A series of test trials, with stimuli including those presented earlier as well as new stimuli, followed the learning task. Subjects in all three experiments classified old concept exemplars more rapidly than new exemplars on test trials. This result held despite the fact that new exemplars were equal to old exemplars in terms of problem-relevant information and judged similarity to old exemplars (as derived in Exp. 4). In Exp. 1 pictorial exemplars of person-descriptions, which contained all problem-relevant information, were presented. Old stimuli were matched with new stimuli on these descriptions and differed from them only on pictorial exemplars. In Exp. 2 the same type of stimulus was used, but new exemplars varied on degree of person-description overlap with old exemplars. Degree of overlap varied positively with classification speed for new exemplars. Exp. 3 repeated Exp. 2, but with elimination of pictorial exemplars, and the influence of overlap on classification speed disappeared. In Exp. 4 subjects made paired comparisons of the stimuli used in the first three experiments; results verified that the stimuli were represented mainly as additive combinations of the four person-descriptive dimensions. It was concluded that concepts learned in the first three experiments were represented largely by exemplars associated with acquisition independently of dimension values.

The Inference of Covert Hypotheses by Verbal Reports in Concept-Learning Research

1975 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-322
Author(s):  
Allan Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Hypothesis Testing ◽  
Concept Learning ◽  
Concept Acquisition ◽  
Similar Function ◽  
Verbal Reports ◽  
Blank Trial ◽  
Acquisition Task ◽  
Learning Research

A paradigm designed to examine the degree to which verbal reports represent the subject's learning was evaluated using a concept-acquisition task. Specifically, the degree to which hypotheses verbalized during the concept-acquisition procedure represent the covert hypotheses controlling category responding was examined. Subjects were required to make category responses, verbal reports, and sorts and re-sorts (blank-trial probes) of the stimuli at intervals in a reception paradigm. By comparing the sorts made during the acquisition procedure, the re-sorts after a 1-week delay, and the sorts made by subjects who had not participated in the acquisition procedure, it was determined that the verbal reports do not accurately represent the underlying hypothesis-testing process under all conditions. Verbal reports elicited at the beginning of the acquisition procedure and at criterion accurately represented the underlying hypotheses; those elicited at intervening points did not. The ambiguity of the verbal reports was a similar function of acquisition trials.

A Cognitive-Linguistic Intervention Program: Basic Concept Formation Level

1977 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-32
Author(s):  
Gerald E. Chappell
Keyword(s):  
Basic Concept ◽  
Concept Formation ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Cognitive Linguistic ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
Linguistic Skills ◽  
Linguistic Intervention

Test-teach questioning is a strategy that can be used to help children develop basic concepts. It fosters the use of multisensory exploration and discovery in learning which leads to the development of cognitive-linguistic skills. This article outlines some of the theoretical bases for this approach and indicates possibilities for their applications in child-clinician transactions.

Prekindergarteners' Performance on The Boehm Test of Basic Concepts

1988 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 137-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelia Ouellette ◽  
Robert Casteel
Keyword(s):  
Basic Concepts

The Developing Relationship Among Cognition, Amplification, and Aural Rehabilitation

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 47-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey J. DiGiovanni ◽  
Travis L. Riffle
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Hearing Aid Fitting ◽  
Aural Rehabilitation ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
And Function

The search for best practices in hearing aid fittings and aural rehabilitation has generally used the audiogram and function stemming from peripheral sensitivity. In recent years, however, we have learned that individuals respond differently to various hearing aid and aural rehabilitation techniques based on cognitive abilities. In this paper, we review basic concepts of working memory and the literature driving our knowledge in newer concepts of hearing aid fitting and aural rehabilitation.

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