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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.
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.
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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...
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...
Vision01:24

Vision

Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.
Visual System01:26

Visual System

Light enters the eye through the cornea, a transparent, dome-shaped surface covering the surface of the eyeball that helps to direct and focus incoming light. This light is then channeled toward the pupil, an adjustable opening whose size is controlled by the iris. The iris, a pigmented muscle, regulates the amount of light entering the eye by contracting or dilating the pupil, thereby ensuring optimal light levels for clear vision.
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 12, 2026

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects
07:36

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects

Published on: November 30, 2018

Interaction between language and vision: it's momentary, abstract, and it develops.

Banchiamlack Dessalegn1, Barbara Landau

  • 1University of Chicago, Department of Psychology, 5848 S. University Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. banchiamlack@gmail.com

Cognition
|April 3, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Language influences visual memory in 4-year-olds, especially with asymmetric spatial or non-spatial predicates. Younger children show no benefit, while older children perform at ceiling, suggesting abstract language representations are key for this effect.

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 12, 2026

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects
07:36

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects

Published on: November 30, 2018

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
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Using Eye Movements Recorded in the Visual World Paradigm to Explore the Online Processing of Spoken Language
09:27

Using Eye Movements Recorded in the Visual World Paradigm to Explore the Online Processing of Spoken Language

Published on: October 13, 2018

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive psychology
  • Developmental psychology
  • Linguistics

Background:

  • Previous research indicated 4-year-olds better recall visual features with asymmetric spatial language.
  • The current study investigates how language, specifically asymmetric predicates, impacts visual memory retention across different age groups.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the developmental trajectory of language's influence on visual information processing.
  • To determine the role of abstract linguistic representations in modulating non-linguistic memory.

Main Methods:

  • Three experiments involved 3, 4, and 6-year-olds performing a delayed-matching task with visual stimuli (color-split blocks).
  • Participants received different linguistic instructions, including spatial asymmetric, non-spatial asymmetric, and control sentences.
  • Performance was assessed based on accuracy in recalling visual configurations.

Main Results:

  • Four-year-olds showed improved visual memory with both spatial and non-spatial asymmetric predicates, though the effect varied.
  • Three-year-olds did not benefit from any linguistic manipulation.
  • Six-year-olds achieved ceiling performance regardless of the linguistic condition.

Conclusions:

  • By age 4, language's impact on visual memory relies on abstract linguistic representations and is task-specific.
  • Language engagement in non-linguistic tasks appears to become more automatic with development.