Minds on the move: Crossing disciplines to shed new light on human cognition

Mobility is integral to mankind, but current cognitive research on migrants is almost nonexistent. Most of the existing knowledge on human cognition is based on data collected from (and by) the wealthiest and least mobile citizens of the world. In turn, most of the migration literature relies on superficial, and at times erroneous, assumptions regarding the cognitive processes underlying migratory phenomenon. However, research conducted to date in reveals striking convergences between core issues relevant to scholars in cognitive science on the one hand, and in migration studies on the other. This current lack on cross-disciplinary dialog has no scientific grounds for two fields, which are inherently interdisciplinary, and yet it has concerning sociopolitical implications. Mapping out a novel research agenda at the crossroads of the cognitive and social sciences, this article stands as an invitation for researchers to engage in further collaborative work involving joint data collections and joint data analyses. This paper argues that researching migrant cognition would give more breadth to cognitive science and more depth to migration studies, which has the potential to better inform the design of public policies. Though the examples of (a) visual perception, (b) future-oriented cognition, and (c) language acquisition, this article shows that pairing the discoveries of migration scholars and cognitive scientists can move forward our understanding on the human mind, in an ever-moving world. This article is categorized under: Economics > Individual Decision-Making Psychology > Theory and Methods Psychology > Comparative Psychology Psychology > Language.