Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Language and Cognition

Language and Cognition

Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.

Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving

Effective problem-solving consists of two steps: 1. identifying the problem and 2. selecting the appropriate problem-solving strategy (i.e., a plan of action used to find a solution). Humans use four problem-solving strategies:

Language

Language

Language is a unique communication system that uses words and systematic rules to organize and transmit information. Unlike other forms of communication, which may involve postures, movements, odors, or vocalizations, language relies on symbols and grammar. This makes human communication distinct from that of other species, who also communicate but do not use language in the same way humans do.
Corballis and Suddendorf (2007) and Tomasello and Rakoczy (2003) highlight the role of language in...

Cognitive Learning

Cognitive Learning

Cognitive learning is based on purposive behavior, incidental learning, and insight learning.
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...

Components of Language

Components of Language

Language, whether spoken, signed, or written, consists of specific components: lexicon and grammar. The lexicon is the vocabulary of a language, comprising its words. Grammar is the set of rules used to convey meaning through the lexicon. For example, English grammar adds “-ed” to most verbs to indicate past tense. Words are formed by combining phonemes, which are the basic sound units of a language. Different languages have different sets of phonemes (e.g., “ah” vs.

Language Development

Language Development

Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Family Group Conferences as an alternative to Initial Child Protection Conferences for families on the Child Protection pathway: Synopsis.

Health and social care delivery research·2026

Same author

Watch Me Play!: results of a feasibility study of a remotely delivered intervention to promote mental health resilience for children (age 0-8 years) across UK early years and children's services.

BJPsych open·2026

Same author

Addressing the Global Diagnostics Gap for Childhood Leukemias: A Global, Multisite Type 2 Hybrid Validation Study of Nanopore-based Adaptive Sampling Whole Genome Sequencing.

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences·2026

Same author

The Role of YouTube as an Information Platform for Ovarian Cancer: the Educational Quality and Reliability.

Yonsei medical journal·2026

Same author

Cognitive and brain reserve in bilingual speakers with clinical AD variants.

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences·2026

Same author

Therapeutic Targeting of miR-21 Restores SASH1 and Sensitizes HBV-HCC to Sorafenib.

Cancers·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 3, 2026

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Published on: July 22, 2025

Is problem solving dependent on language?

Juliana V Baldo¹, Nina F Dronkers, David Wilkins

¹Department of Psychology, Scripps College, Claremont, CA, USA. jbaldo@scrippscollege.edu

Brain and Language

|February 22, 2005

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Language significantly impacts problem-solving abilities. Impaired language skills in stroke patients and suppressed speech in healthy individuals both led to difficulties in complex problem-solving tasks, suggesting language

More Related Videos

Problem-Solving Before Instruction PS-I: A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities

Problem-Solving Before Instruction PS-I: A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities

Published on: September 11, 2021

The Spatial Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

The Spatial Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

Published on: February 19, 2018

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jan 3, 2026

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Published on: July 22, 2025

Problem-Solving Before Instruction PS-I: A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities

Problem-Solving Before Instruction PS-I: A Protocol for Assessment and Intervention in Students with Different Abilities

Published on: September 11, 2021

The Spatial Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

The Spatial Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

Published on: February 19, 2018

Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Neuroscience
Psycholinguistics

Background:

The relationship between language and cognition remains a complex and debated topic in scientific literature.
Understanding how language influences cognitive functions like problem-solving is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of language in problem-solving.
To examine the effects of language impairment and suppression on cognitive performance.

Main Methods:

Administered the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) to stroke patients with varying language impairments (Experiment 1).
Assessed language abilities (comprehension, naming) and performance on other cognitive tests (Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices, visuospatial functioning).
Tested normal participants on the WCST under conditions of articulatory suppression (Experiment 2).

Main Results:

Stroke patients with greater language impairment performed worse on the WCST.
Language performance correlated significantly with problem-solving tests but not visuospatial tests.
Normal participants showed impaired WCST performance during articulatory suppression compared to baseline.

Conclusions:

Language plays a significant role in complex problem-solving.
Findings suggest that covert language processes may underpin problem-solving abilities.
This research provides evidence for the interdependence of language and higher-order cognition.