Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 18, 2026

The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition
Published on: February 19, 2018
Modeling interactions between language evolution and demography
1Tilburg Center for Creative Computing, Tilburg University, P.O. Box 90153, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
In this article I provide a review of studies that have modeled interactions between language evolution and demographic processes. The models are classified in terms of three different approaches: analytical modeling, agent-based analytical modeling, and agent-based cognitive modeling. I show that these approaches differ in the complexity of interactions that they can handle and that the agent-based cognitive models allow for the most detailed and realistic simulations. Thus readers are provided with a guideline for selecting which approach to use for a given problem. The analytical models are useful for studying interactions between demography and language evolution in terms of high-level processes; the agent-based analytical models are good for studying such interactions in terms of social dynamics without bothering too much about the cognitive mechanisms of language processing; and the agent-based cognitive models are best suited for the study of the interactions between the complex sociocognitive mechanisms underlying language evolution.
Related Concept Videos
Language and Cognition
Language Development
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...
Modeling with Differential Equations
Components of Language
Population Growth
Exponential Equations for Modeling Growth

