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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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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 1, 2025

Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effect of Induced Emotion on Grammar Learning

Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effect of Induced Emotion on Grammar Learning

Published on: January 29, 2020

Brain responses to a lab-evolved artificial language with space-time metaphors.

Tessa Verhoef¹, Tyler Marghetis², Esther Walker³

¹Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science, Leiden University, Gorlaeus Building, Einsteinweg 55, 2333 CC Leiden, the Netherlands; Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, Mail Code 0515; 9500, Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0515, USA.

|March 5, 2024

Summary

The brain’s response to learning a new language mirrors its cultural evolution. Neural sensitivity develops for universal conventions quickly, and for idiosyncratic ones more slowly, reflecting how language structure emerges.

Keywords:

Artificial language learning Iterated learning LPC Language comprehension Language evolution Metaphor N400 P600

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Last Updated: Jul 1, 2025

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Published on: November 30, 2018

Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Linguistics
Evolutionary Psychology

Background:

Artificial languages developed using space to represent time.
Universal and idiosyncratic conventions emerged during language evolution.
Previous studies explored language evolution in iterated communication.

Purpose of the Study:

Investigate if brain responses during language acquisition reflect the language's evolutionary process.
Examine neural processing of artificial space-time languages.
Understand the link between cultural language evolution and individual brain responses.

Main Methods:

Recorded participants' electroencephalography (EEG) during learning.
Utilized an artificial space-time language in an iterated communication task.
Analyzed neural responses to language conventions and their evolution.

Main Results:

Brain responses to the artificial language were language-like, showing an N400-like component.
Neural sensitivity to universal conventions developed rapidly.
Neural sensitivity to idiosyncratic conventions developed slowly, mirroring cultural evolution.

Conclusions:

The brain's learning process for language conventions parallels the cultural evolution of those conventions.
Neural biases may influence the emergence of structure in language.
This research opens avenues for studying neural influences on language learning and transmission.