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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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Author Spotlight: Deciphering the Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Gesture in Communication

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Published on: January 26, 2024

Rethinking the role of language in embodied cognition.

¹Department of Philosophy, University of Louisville, 313 Humanities Building, Louisville, KY 40292, USA.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences

|December 26, 2022

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Language significantly enhances embodied cognition and abstract concept formation by leveraging the embodied language system. This research presents a novel, flexible, and multimodal view of our conceptual system.

Keywords:

cognition concepts embodied grounded cognition language semantic memory

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Linguistics
Neuroscience

Background:

Growing evidence links the language system to semantic memory, particularly abstract concepts.
Existing theories often overlook the embodied nature of language in conceptual processing.

Purpose of the Study:

To propose and support a novel account of language's role in conceptualization.
To emphasize the embodied nature of the language system in this cognitive function.

Main Methods:

Theoretical essay developing a new cognitive account.
Analysis of existing evidence on language and semantic memory.
Integration with embodied cognition and multimodal theories.

Main Results:

Language's contribution to abstract concepts is explained through its embodied nature.
A novel account diverges from traditional, disembodied views of concepts.
The proposed model views the conceptual system as flexible, multimodal, and multilevel.

Conclusions:

Language plays a crucial, embodied role in forming and accessing concepts.
This perspective offers a more integrated understanding of cognition, language, and concepts.
The findings contribute to a broader understanding of concepts in interaction and inner experiences.