P

Parallel processing

See neural network

Parole

The act of speaking, as opposed to the linguistic system internalized by speakers of a language (see langue)

Parser

A computer program that assigns grammatical categories (parts of speech) to the words in a sentence and groups them into phrases

Perception

Interpretation or understanding of sensory experiences

Perceptron

A hypothetical nervous system realized as a neural net

Perceptual

Having to do with perception

Performatives

Statements that perform what they state (e.g., “i resign.”)

Phlogiston

An imagined substance invoked to explain combustion, which was thought to occur as a result of the loss of the substance to the atmosphere

Phoneme

 A sound of a language that makes a difference in the meaning of words in that language (e.g., the s and the b of sand and band 

Phonology

The study of the sound systems of language

Phrenology

 A 19th-century system of attributing character traits to an individual based on the relative prominence of regions on the surface of his or her skull

Physiology

The branch of biology dealing with essential life processes and functions

Plural marker

The indication on a noun that it refers to more than one (in English,generally the suffix -s)

Polyglot

One who speaks many languages

Positron emission tomography (PET)

An imaging technique that uses radioactive isotopes (positrons) to measure cerebral blood flow while a subject is carrying out certain cognitive tasks

Preposition

A word occurring in a sentence before a noun, ordinarily locating the action of the sentence in space or time (e.g.,under the house,before noon)

Prescriptive rules

Rules imposed on a language and on its speakers by grammarians, teachers, and so on, as opposed to descriptive rules

Presuppositions

Statements in which a state of affairs is presumed to obtain. In the sentence “Evan didn’t want anymore potatoes,” there is a presupposition that Evan had already had some potatoes

Priming

An effect of the activation of nodes and links associated with a particular concept or proposition. The priming effect is produced when a proposition relatively unrelated to the initial one is activated through the association of nodes and links. Thus access to a more distant concept will be faster if an associated concept has already been activated-and the closer the relation between the two, the faster the access

Principles and parameters

The approach taken by Chomsky and others to factor out general principles that hold for all languages and that govern application of the rules of languages. The finite set of ways in which the principles apply, triggered by the language to which the learner is exposed, are called parameters

Procedural knowledge

The kind of knowledge required for tasks performed so often that they become automatic

Procedural memory

The various forms of  unconscious memory expressed in performance rather than by recollection (e.g.,memory for how to ride a bicycle

Prolog

A high-level computer programming language

Proposition

 A thought that is in some sense complete (e.g.,”That is a fire hydrant.”)

Propositional representations

Thoughts stored, largely unconsciously, as propositions in some language-like form, translatable into actual language when required

Propositional (semantic) network

 A network of associated propositional representations

Proprioception

The (partly unconscious) perceived sensations of one’s balance, one’s movements and positions in space, the force exerted by one’s muscles and the position and location of one’s limbs

Prosopagnosia

The loss of ability to categorize or recognize faces

Prototype

 A version of an entity that one might think of as the “average” of the type, that is , a representation formed of average values for the features characterizing the entity (e.g., the “typical” bird. the “typical” house

Psychometrician

 A researcher who devises and studies methods for measuring intelligence

Psychometrics 

The theory and practice of measurement of psychological variables such as intelligence

Psychophysical parallelism

The position, espoused by Leibniz, that the mind and the body do not interact but, rather, function in parallel