Linguistic Skill and Stimulus-Driven Attention: A Case for Linguistic Relativity.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Linguistics
• Psychology

Background:

• The relationship between language and perception is a long-standing debate in cognitive science.
• Previous theories of linguistic relativity proposed significant impacts of language on thought and perception.
• The role of automatic attentional processes in mediating linguistic effects remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and explain linguistic relativity through the mechanism of language-induced automatized stimulus-driven attention (LASA).
• To investigate how the native language automatically influences attention and, consequently, perception.
• To examine the generalizability of these language-induced attentional effects to non-linguistic tasks.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical argument for LASA as a mechanism for linguistic relativity.
• Review of existing empirical evidence supporting automatized stimulus-driven attention in language-independent tasks.
• Analysis of how highly practiced, automatic attentional processes, initially learned for linguistic skills, generalize.

Main Results:

• Language-induced automatized stimulus-driven attention (LASA) automatically influences attention and perception.
• LASA is difficult to suppress due to lifelong practice and manifests in non-linguistic tasks.
• Evidence supports the role of automatized, stimulus-driven attention in language-independent tasks.

Conclusions:

• Linguistic relativity is a demonstrable phenomenon, supported by the mechanism of LASA.
• Automatized attentional processes, originating from linguistic skills, can generalize to non-linguistic perception.
• While real, the impact of linguistic relativity may be less pronounced than proposed by strong proponents.