A word of the adult language, as opposed to a word created by the child. See Language development
Author Archives: Brian Hopkins
Control group
A group of individuals who do not receive the experimental treatment being studied. This group serves as a comparison for the experimental group who do receive the treatment of interest. See Experimental method
Control parameter
In dynamical systems terminology, it is not an ordering principle, but rather guides a system through its respective collective states (as defined by order parameters) in non-specific ways. Looked at another way, it is a boundary condition that acts as a constraint on the dynamics of the order parameter. When increased or scaled up beyond …
Contrast sensitivity
Visual sensitivity to varying levels of brightness. While visual acuity concerns the discrimination of stimuli with maximum contrast, contrast sensitivity has to do with the detection of visual displays that are neither maximally dark nor light. If the visual display consists of a sine wave grating pattern of alternating dark and light bars (or stripes), …
Continuous performance task
A type of computer-based task that demands active cognitive performance over an extended period. Good performance in such a task requires extended periods of sustained attention, and extended activation of brain areas involved in sustained attention. Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder show deficits on continuous performance tasks, which are taken to imply deficits in …
Contour
The pattern of upward and downward changes in pitch of speech. See Pitch
Contexts (of expression)
Variations in behavior and its control that occur as a function of internal and external events. See Ability, Context (cultural), Context (interview), Conversational context
Context (cultural)
The ecological and social environment in which individuals function and that they share with members of a larger group (e.g., ethnic group or national group). See Affordance, Context (interview), Contexts (of expression), Culture, Cross-cultural psychology, Embodied cognition, Environment, Internalization, Umwelt
Context (interview)
That which surrounds or accompanies a behavior or event. For example, the verbal or linguistic context of a question in an interview may include the other questions and answers that preceded it. The non-verbal or non-linguistic context may include the interviewer’s non-verbal behaviours (e.g., gestures and facial expressions), salient props (e.g., pictures, toys or other …
Content analysis
Also called textual analysis and first used in 1910 by Max Weber (1864-1920), one of the founders of sociology, it is the systematic coding of the contents of a text or narrative using a variety of techniques based on emergent or a priori rules of coding. In emergent coding, categories are established after some preliminary …