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Related Concept Videos

Language and Cognition01:27

Language and Cognition

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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.
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Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition01:24

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A revisionist approach to Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development has brought new insights that challenge and reinterpret his established ideas. Piaget proposed that the formal operational stage, emerging in adolescence, represents the culmination of cognitive maturity. During this stage, individuals are said to develop abstract thinking, engage in systematic problem-solving, and show a form of egocentrism, believing others are as preoccupied with their behavior as they are...
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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.
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Cognitive Dissonance01:38

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Social psychologists have documented that feeling good about ourselves and maintaining positive self-esteem is a powerful motivator of human behavior (Tavris & Aronson, 2008). In the United States, members of the predominant culture typically think very highly of themselves and view themselves as good people who are above average on many desirable traits (Ehrlinger, Gilovich, & Ross, 2005). Often, our behavior, attitudes, and beliefs are affected when we experience a threat to our...
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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.
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Language Development01:22

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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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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 10, 2026

Lexical Decision Task for Studying Written Word Recognition in Adults with and without Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment
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Intensity of Multilingual Language Use Predicts Cognitive Performance in Some Multilingual Older Adults.

Anna Pot1,2, Merel Keijzer3, Kees de Bot4,5

  • 1Department of Applied Linguistics, University of Groningen, 9712EK Groningen, The Netherlands. a.pot@rug.nl.

Brain Sciences
|May 23, 2018
PubMed
Summary

Frequent use of multiple languages in diverse settings enhances attentional control in older adults. This study suggests nuanced measures of language use, not just proficiency, predict cognitive performance beyond demographics.

Keywords:
attentioncognitive controlinhibitionlanguage usagemultilingualismolder adults

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Gerontology

Background:

  • Bilingual cognitive advantages are inconsistently reported due to varied operationalizations of bilingualism and cognitive tasks.
  • Understanding which aspects of multilingualism drive cognitive benefits and under which conditions is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between multilingualism and cognitive advantages in older adults.
  • To identify specific factors of language use and proficiency that predict cognitive performance.

Main Methods:

  • Administered two cognitive tasks and a detailed background questionnaire to 387 older adults in a multilingual region.
  • Employed linear mixed effects regression and Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression modeling.

Main Results:

  • Frequent use of different languages in distinct contexts correlated with enhanced attentional control.
  • Sensitive measures of language proficiency and context-specific language use predicted cognitive performance, independent of age, gender, income, and education.

Conclusions:

  • Advocates for moving beyond dichotomous, knowledge-based definitions of multilingualism.
  • Highlights the importance of individual-level analysis of language use in diverse social contexts for understanding cognitive advantages.