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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.
Language01:16

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...
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...
Language Development01:22

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...
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.
Components of Language01:24

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. “eh”). Phonemes combine to...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 18, 2026

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task
05:31

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task

Published on: February 26, 2020

How hierarchical is language use?

Stefan L Frank1, Rens Bod, Morten H Christiansen

  • 1Department of Cognitive, Perceptual and Brain Sciences, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP, UK. s.frank@ucl.ac.uk

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|September 15, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Human language comprehension, production, and acquisition may rely fundamentally on sequential structure, not hierarchical phrase structure. This challenges traditional views and suggests new models for understanding language processing.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Computational Linguistics
  • Psychology

Background:

  • Hierarchical phrase structure is traditionally considered central to human language.
  • Simplicity and evolutionary continuity suggest caution in invoking complex hierarchical structures.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review evidence supporting sequential structure as fundamental to language.
  • To propose a non-hierarchical model of language use.
  • To discuss implications and predictions of a sequential structure hypothesis.

Main Methods:

  • Review of recent neurophysiological, behavioral, and computational studies.
  • Development of a preliminary non-hierarchical language model.
  • Analysis of linguistic phenomena through the lens of sequential processing.

Main Results:

  • Evidence suggests sequential sentence structure has significant explanatory power.
  • Hierarchical processing is often not involved in language tasks.
  • Sequential structure may be fundamental to language comprehension, production, and acquisition.

Conclusions:

  • Linguistic phenomena may be better explained by sequential rather than hierarchical structure.
  • A non-hierarchical model offers testable predictions.
  • Findings have broad implications for linguistics, ethology, cognitive neuroscience, psychology, and computer science.