philosophy, innate ideas are revealed through the Socratic Method of investigation. In linguistics, universal grammar must have input from the environment (primary linguistic data) in order for children to achieve an individual grammar (output). Biologically, our perceptual faculties are pre-wired, but they require environmental stimuli in order to develop correctly. The neurological structures in our brain that represent the location of LTM are also biologically pre-wired, yet environmental input is needed in order for memory to flourish. All of these ideas speak to the crux of Plato's Problem, which is how to account for the gap between knowledge and limited experience. For some scientific and philosophical disciplines, the answer to this conundrum is innateness, or biological pre-wiring. Innate knowledge is what bridges the gap between the limited information one gleans from the environment (poverty of the stimulus) and one's actual knowledge. References Further reading Blake, Randolph, and Robert Sekuler. Perception. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Bruner, J. S., & Kenney, H. J. (1965). Representation and mathematics learning. In L. N. Morrisett and J. Vinsonhaler (Eds.), Mathematical learning. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 30 (Serial No. 99). Carnie, Andrew. Syntax. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002. Cherry, C. (1966). On human communication. (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Chomsky, Noam. Modular Approaches to the Study of the Mind. San Diego: San Diego State University Press, 1984. Dresher, Elan. Language and Mind Forum. 2000. Ahmanson Foundation. 15 Mar. 2006 <http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/linguistics/langmind.htm#dresher> Kemerling, Garth. A Dictionary of Philosophical Terms and Names. 2002. 11 Apr. 2006. <http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/index.htm> Mayer, Richard E. Thinking, Problem Solving, Cognition. 2nd ed. New York, NY: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1991. McGilvray, James, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Chomsky. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Meno:Introduction. 2004. Farlex, Inc. 15 Mar. 2006. <http://plato.thefreelibrary.com/Meno/1-1> Moray, N. (1959). Attention in dichotic listening: Affective cues and the influence of instructions. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 11, 56–60. Nisbett, R. E., & Ross, L. (1980). Human preferences: Strategies and shortcomings of social judgment. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Plato: (427 B.C. – 347 B.C.). 2004. Farlex, Inc. 15 Mar. 2006. <http://plato.thefreelibrary.com> Pojman, Louis P. Classics of Philosophy. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003. Russell, Bertrand. The History of Western Philosophy. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1945. Solso, Robert L., M. Kimberly MacLin, and Otto H. MacLin. Cognitive Psychology. 7th ed. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 2005. External links Concepts in epistemology Language