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Related Concept Videos

Language and Cognition01:27

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.
Introduction to Cognitive Psychology01:20

Introduction to Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive psychology is the field of psychology dedicated to examining how people think. It attempts to explain how and why we think the way we do by studying the interactions among human thinking, emotion, creativity, language, and problem-solving, as well as other cognitive processes. Cognitive psychology studies how information is processed and manipulated in remembering, thinking, and knowing.
This field emerged in the mid-20th century, following a period dominated by behaviorism, which...
Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language01:10

Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language

Language is a system of communication that allows the expression of thoughts, ideas, and feelings. The brain processes language in both hemispheres.
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...
Cognitivism01:17

Cognitivism

Cognitive psychology emerged as a significant field in the mid-20th century. It focused on understanding humans' internal mental processes. This approach emphasizes how people perceive, remember, think, and solve problems—elements critical to human cognition.
Previously dominated by behaviorism, which prioritized observable behaviors and largely ignored mental processes, psychology transformed in the 1950s. Cognitive psychologists argue that understanding how we think and process information is...
Cognitive Learning01:21

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...
Lateralization01:28

Lateralization

Brain lateralization refers to the division of mental processes and functions between the two hemispheres of the brain, a phenomenon that optimizes neural efficiency and underpins complex abilities in humans. This specialization allows each hemisphere to perform tasks where it has a comparative advantage, facilitating more refined cognitive capabilities across different domains.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 21, 2026

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization
05:35

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

Language and tool making are similar cognitive processes.

Ralph L Holloway1

  • 1Department of Anthropology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. rlh2@columbia.edu

The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
|June 16, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Human language and stone toolmaking share cognitive roots, differing from animal tool use. Standardized stone tools suggest early language and social skills were present.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Science
  • Anthropology
  • Evolutionary Biology

Background:

  • Human language and stone toolmaking are unique complex behaviors.
  • Non-human primates exhibit tool use, but it differs significantly from human capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the cognitive processes underlying language and stone toolmaking.
  • To investigate the evolutionary relationship between symbolic thought, language, and tool manufacture.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative analysis of cognitive processes in language acquisition and stone tool manufacture.
  • Examination of the symbolic and arbitrary nature of human language versus iconic representation in non-human tool use.
  • Archaeological evidence of early stone tool standardization.

Main Results:

  • Both language and stone toolmaking involve arbitrary transformations of internal symbolization.
  • Non-human tool use primarily relies on iconic transformations.
  • Standardized stone tool patterns indicate advanced communicative and social control skills linked to language.

Conclusions:

  • Language represents a major cognitive discontinuity between humans and other primates.
  • The development of stone toolmaking, particularly standardized forms, provides evidence for the co-evolution of language and complex cognition.