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Updated: May 23, 2026

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization
Published on: April 19, 2017
Understanding cognitive language: The mental idioms in children's talk.
Cognitive terms used by children may simply describe behavior within its context. This behavioral perspective offers a potentially more useful framework for behavior analysis than current cognitive science models.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Philosophy of Mind
Background:
- Ongoing debate exists within behavior analysis regarding the utility of cognitive language.
- Assessing the value of cognitive terms requires a precise understanding of their definitions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To clarify the meaning of common cognitive expressions used by children.
- To evaluate the suitability of cognitive terms for behavior analysis.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of children's usage of typical cognitive expressions through illustrative examples.
- Comparison of the behavioral interpretation of cognitive terms with the computer metaphor in cognitive science.
Main Results:
- Children's cognitive expressions can be interpreted as descriptions of behavior in context.
- Cognitive terms may align better with a behavioral framework than with computational models.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive terms, when accurately defined, may enhance the scientific language of behavior analysis.
- A behavior-analytic interpretation of cognitive language offers a valuable alternative to traditional cognitive science approaches.
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