1. Nativism: Noam Chomsky

2. Nativism Main question: what is the cognitive code?
Infant is born with complete world knowledge
Infants count
Infants have a concept of objects
Infants have physics concepts
Infants have language

3. Nativism Evidence for the claim of complete world knowledge
Youngsters learn an extremely complex system (language) effortlessly
Youngsters learn an extremely complex system (language) in a short amount of time
Youngsters do not need instruction to learn their mother tongue

4. Nativism
Do youngsters who are born deaf can learn an impoverished language at a level that is higher than the level they hear?
Youngsters develop Creole from pidgin
Infants do not hear grammar; they hear a string of words and infer the syntactic rules language (impoverishment of the stimulus)
Infants often hear ungrammatical sentences, yet they learn the grammar

5. Nativism: Learning Paradox
Fodor’s learning paradox: one learns something only if one knows it in advance
To learn a language you have to know that language in advance
What you know is at a higher level than what you learn

6. Nativism In the case of language, infants are born with:
a universal grammar (UG) - a data base of grammar
 language acquisition device (LAD) - hypothesis tester

7. Nativism
If the child is born with a LAD and no UG, he doesn’t have anything to hypothesize on
If the child is born with a UG and no LAD, he cannot hypothesize about the language

8. Nativism The UG is the cognitive code.
Unique to humans
Universal for humans
If one can describe it, one has cracked the cognitive code.

9. Nativism Relations between learning and development
Only learning (deductive)
No development
Similar to classical behaviorism

10. Nativism: Language Acquisition Device
hypothesize the grammar in the language you are exposed to
see if the hypothesis fits the grammar
if yes, continue with the hypothesis
if no, make a new hypothesis

11. Nativism
If that is how children learn language, it is impossible, in principle, to develop to a higher level
How can you hypothesize something that is not already there?
Nativists say you cannot

12. Nativism
As a consequence, it is best to build the most powerful system so that it is there in infancy

13. Argument between Piaget and Chomsky
CHOMSKY’S POINT:
Chomsky: One cannot construct more powerful structures because hypothesis testing cannot take place at a level that is higher than one’s highest level
e.g., conservation: a child cannot hypothesize conservation if he is at the intuitive stage

14. Argument between Piaget and Chomsky
Chomsky: One cannot construct more powerful structures because hypothesis testing cannot take place at a level that is higher than one’s highest level
Fodor’s learning paradox
e.g., conservation: a child cannot hypothesize conservation if he is at the intuitive stage

15. Piaget Rebuttal
Piaget: I don’t have to accept hypothesis testing as the mechanism for learning
I believe children learn and develop through disequilibrium

16. Piaget Rebuttal I can describe learning and development in
Child development (ontogeny)
History of disciplines (Piaget & Garcia; Kuhn)
My system allows me to describe two disparate developments: ontogeny and historical development

17. Piaget Rebuttal
You, the nativists cannot describe the development of disciplines in history in terms of innate modules within humans
Bottom line:
I can describe two developments and you can describe one
I don’t believe the description you give to language acquisition

18. Nativism: Modularity
1. Encapsulation - it is impossible to interfere with the inner workings of a module. 2. Unconscious - it is difficult or impossible to reflect on the operations of module. 3. Speed - modules are very fast. 4. Shallow outputs - modules provide limited output, without information about the intervening steps that led to that output.

19. Nativism: Modularity
5. Obligatory firing - modules operate reflexively, providing predetermined outputs for predetermined inputs regardless of the context. 6. Ontogenetic universals - modules develop in a characteristic sequence. 7. Localization - modules are mediated by dedicated neural systems.

20. Nativism: Modularity
8. Pathological universals - modules breakdown in characteristic fashion following insult to the system. 9. Domain specificity - as discussed above.