Download or read book Language in Mind written by Dedre Gentner and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2003-03-14 with total page 548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea that the language we speak influences the way we think has evoked perennial fascination and intense controversy. According to the strong version of this hypothesis, called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis after the American linguists who propounded it, languages vary in their semantic partitioning of the world, and the structure of one's language influences how one understands the world. Thus speakers of different languages perceive the world differently. Although the last two decades have been marked by extreme skepticism concerning the possible effects of language on thought, recent theoretical and methodological advances in cognitive science have given the question new life. Research in linguistics and linguistic anthropology has revealed striking differences in cross-linguistic semantic patterns, and cognitive psychology has developed subtle techniques for studying how people represent and remember experience. It is now possible to test predictions about how a given language influences the thinking of its speakers. Language in Mind includes contributions from both skeptics and believers and from a range of fields. It contains work in cognitive psychology, cognitive development, linguistics, anthropology, and animal cognition. The topics discussed include space, number, motion, gender, theory of mind, thematic roles, and the ontological distinction between objects and substances. Contributors Melissa Bowerman, Eve Clark, Jill de Villiers, Peter de Villiers, Giyoo Hatano, Stan Kuczaj, Barbara Landau, Stephen Levinson, John Lucy, Barbara Malt, Dan Slobin, Steven Sloman, Elizabeth Spelke, and Michael Tomasello

Download or read book The Cambridge Handbook of Psycholinguistics written by Michael Spivey and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-08-20 with total page 1297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our ability to speak, write, understand speech and read is critical to our ability to function in today's society. As such, psycholinguistics, or the study of how humans learn and use language, is a central topic in cognitive science. This comprehensive handbook is a collection of chapters written not by practitioners in the field, who can summarize the work going on around them, but by trailblazers from a wide array of subfields, who have been shaping the field of psycholinguistics over the last decade. Some topics discussed include how children learn language, how average adults understand and produce language, how language is represented in the brain, how brain-damaged individuals perform in terms of their language abilities and computer-based models of language and meaning. This is required reading for advanced researchers, graduate students and upper-level undergraduates who are interested in the recent developments and the future of psycholinguistics.

Download or read book Language Cognition and the Way We Think written by Nikola A. Kompa and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2024-07-25 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The cognitive potency of the human mind can be fully appreciated only if it is conceived of as a linguistic mind. This is the starting point of Nikola Kompa's investigation into the relationship between language and cognition. Underpinned by philosophical ideas from Plato to Ockham, and from Locke to Vygotsky, Kompa uses theories within the philosophy of language, mind, and cognitive science and draws on neuro-psychology and psycholinguistic studies to explore core ideas about language and cognition. How did language transform our ancestors into creatures of considerable cognitive and social accomplishment? How does language augment cognition? Is language only a means of communicating our ideas or is a means of thinking itself? Her study has repercussions for a broad range of questions, from how humans differ from other animals and what a cognitive architecture looks like if it approximates the achievements of the human mind, to questions of education and cross-cultural communication. Theorizing and forming hypotheses about how language and cognition might have coevolved, how the availability of (symbolic) labels enhance various cognitive functions, what the cognitive function of inner speech might be and how inner speech and thought relate to each other, Kompa addresses the perennial philosophical question of what the benefits of having a language might be, and brings into sharper relief the intimate connection between linguistic and other cognitive functions. Informed by recent discussions on language evolution, labels, and inner speech, this timely contribution helps us understand more about how language changes the way we think.

Download or read book The Bilingual Mind written by Aneta Pavlenko and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-02-06 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If language influences the way we think, does it mean that bilinguals think differently in their respective languages? Interweaving cutting edge research, case studies and personal experience, this book will take you on a quest to unlock the mysteries of the bilingual mind.

Download or read book The Stuff of Thought written by Steven Pinker and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2007-09-11 with total page 524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This New York Times bestseller is an exciting and fearless investigation of language from the author of Rationality, The Better Angels of Our Nature and The Sense of Style and Enlightenment Now. "Curious, inventive, fearless, naughty." --The New York Times Book Review Bestselling author Steven Pinker possesses that rare combination of scientific aptitude and verbal eloquence that enables him to provide lucid explanations of deep and powerful ideas. His previous books - including the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Blank Slate - have catapulted him into the limelight as one of today's most important popular science writers. In The Stuff of Thought, Pinker presents a fascinating look at how our words explain our nature. Considering scientific questions with examples from everyday life, The Stuff of Thought is a brilliantly crafted and highly readable work that will appeal to fans of everything from The Selfish Gene and Blink to Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

Download or read book 7 000 Universes written by Lera Boroditsky and published by William Heinemann. This book was released on 2016-07-14 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book How the Body Shapes the Way We Think written by Rolf Pfeifer and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2006-10-27 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of embodied intelligence and its implications points toward a theory of intelligence in general; with case studies of intelligent systems in ubiquitous computing, business and management, human memory, and robotics. How could the body influence our thinking when it seems obvious that the brain controls the body? In How the Body Shapes the Way We Think, Rolf Pfeifer and Josh Bongard demonstrate that thought is not independent of the body but is tightly constrained, and at the same time enabled, by it. They argue that the kinds of thoughts we are capable of have their foundation in our embodiment—in our morphology and the material properties of our bodies. This crucial notion of embodiment underlies fundamental changes in the field of artificial intelligence over the past two decades, and Pfeifer and Bongard use the basic methodology of artificial intelligence—"understanding by building"—to describe their insights. If we understand how to design and build intelligent systems, they reason, we will better understand intelligence in general. In accessible, nontechnical language, and using many examples, they introduce the basic concepts by building on recent developments in robotics, biology, neuroscience, and psychology to outline a possible theory of intelligence. They illustrate applications of such a theory in ubiquitous computing, business and management, and the psychology of human memory. Embodied intelligence, as described by Pfeifer and Bongard, has important implications for our understanding of both natural and artificial intelligence.

Download or read book How To Think written by John Paul Minda and published by Robinson. This book was released on 2021-04-29 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book will get you thinking about thinking. We understand more about the brain than ever before and we also have more tools than ever before to help us think. This book will show you how your brain works, how your mind works, why we all make certain mistakes in thinking and why that's not always a bad thing. In order to understand how people behave, you need to understand how people think. And if you want to understand how people think, you need to have a basic understanding of cognitive psychology, cognitive science and cognitive neuroscience. This book explains cognition and the links between the brain, the mind and behaviour in a clear and straightforward way. Through interesting case studies and research examples, Minda shows how the brain is involved in mental activity, how memory works, how language affects thought, how good (and bad) decisions are made, and why we make predictable errors in our thinking. With practical applications for everyday life, this a book that helps us become better thinkers, better learners and better problem-solvers. In the current era of big data, algorithms and AI, Minda argues that knowing about how humans think-how you think-is more important than ever before.

Download or read book Language in Cognition written by Cedric Boeckx and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2010-04-29 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This textbook explores the ways in which language informs the structure and function of the human mind, offering a point of entry into the fascinating territory of cognitive science. Focusing mainly on syntactic issues, Language in Cognition is a unique contribution to this burgeoning field of study. Guides undergraduate students through the core questions of linguistics and cognitive science, and provides tools that will help them think about the field in a structured way Uses the study of language and how language informs the structure and function of the human mind to introduce the major ideas in modern cognitive science, including its history and controversies Explores questions such as: what does it mean to say that linguistics is part of the cognitive sciences; how do the core properties of language compare with the core properties of other human cognitive abilities such as vision, music, mathematics, and other mental building blocks; and what is the relationship between language and thought? Includes an indispensable study guide as well as extensive references to encourage further independent study

Download or read book Script Effects as the Hidden Drive of the Mind Cognition and Culture written by Hye K. Pae and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-10-14 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access volume reveals the hidden power of the script we read in and how it shapes and drives our minds, ways of thinking, and cultures. Expanding on the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis (i.e., the idea that language affects the way we think), this volume proposes the “Script Relativity Hypothesis” (i.e., the idea that the script in which we read affects the way we think) by offering a unique perspective on the effect of script (alphabets, morphosyllabaries, or multi-scripts) on our attention, perception, and problem-solving. Once we become literate, fundamental changes occur in our brain circuitry to accommodate the new demand for resources. The powerful effects of literacy have been demonstrated by research on literate versus illiterate individuals, as well as cross-scriptal transfer, indicating that literate brain networks function differently, depending on the script being read. This book identifies the locus of differences between the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans, and between the East and the West, as the neural underpinnings of literacy. To support the “Script Relativity Hypothesis”, it reviews a vast corpus of empirical studies, including anthropological accounts of human civilization, social psychology, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, applied linguistics, second language studies, and cross-cultural communication. It also discusses the impact of reading from screens in the digital age, as well as the impact of bi-script or multi-script use, which is a growing trend around the globe. As a result, our minds, ways of thinking, and cultures are now growing closer together, not farther apart.

Download or read book Thinking and Speaking in Two Languages written by Aneta Pavlenko and published by Multilingual Matters. This book was released on 2011-01-19 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Until recently, the history of debates about language and thought has been a history of thinking of language in the singular. The purpose of this volume is to reverse this trend and to begin unlocking the mysteries surrounding thinking and speaking in bi- and multilingual speakers. If languages influence the way we think, what happens to those who speak more than one language? And if they do not, how can we explain the difficulties second language learners experience in mapping new words and structures onto real-world referents? The contributors to this volume put forth a novel approach to second language learning, presenting it as a process that involves conceptual development and restructuring, and not simply the mapping of new forms onto pre-existing meanings.

Download or read book Are language and thought interdependent to the extent that only language makes intelligent thought possible written by Anne-Katrin Clemens and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2012-09-27 with total page 23 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, grade: 1,7, Humboldt-University of Berlin (Anglistik/ Amerikanistik), course: English Language in Social and Cultural Context, language: English, abstract: Learning a foreign language does not seem to affect semantic representations in the first language. But does it change cognition in any way? We do know that the brain accommodates a foreign language purely anatomically up to the age of twelve and we know that this heightened flexibility in our neurological pathways allows for more flexible combining of core-knowledge systems, thus giving an advantage in other cognitive areas. What we do not know is if it actually changes our perception of the world.

Download or read book The Grammar Network written by Holger Diessel and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-08-15 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a dynamic network model of grammar that explains how linguistic structure is shaped by language use.

Download or read book Cognition in the Wild written by Edwin Hutchins and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1996-08-26 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edwin Hutchins combines his background as an anthropologist and an open ocean racing sailor and navigator in this account of how anthropological methods can be combined with cognitive theory to produce a new reading of cognitive science. His theoretical insights are grounded in an extended analysis of ship navigation—its computational basis, its historical roots, its social organization, and the details of its implementation in actual practice aboard large ships. The result is an unusual interdisciplinary approach to cognition in culturally constituted activities outside the laboratory—"in the wild." Hutchins examines a set of phenomena that have fallen in the cracks between the established disciplines of psychology and anthropology, bringing to light a new set of relationships between culture and cognition. The standard view is that culture affects the cognition of individuals. Hutchins argues instead that cultural activity systems have cognitive properties of their own that are different from the cognitive properties of the individuals who participate in them. Each action for bringing a large naval vessel into port, for example, is informed by culture: the navigation team can be seen as a cognitive and computational system. Introducing Navy life and work on the bridge, Hutchins makes a clear distinction between the cognitive properties of an individual and the cognitive properties of a system. In striking contrast to the usual laboratory tasks of research in cognitive science, he applies the principal metaphor of cognitive science—cognition as computation (adopting David Marr's paradigm)—to the navigation task. After comparing modern Western navigation with the method practiced in Micronesia, Hutchins explores the computational and cognitive properties of systems that are larger than an individual. He then turns to an analysis of learning or change in the organization of cognitive systems at several scales. Hutchins's conclusion illustrates the costs of ignoring the cultural nature of cognition, pointing to the ways in which contemporary cognitive science can be transformed by new meanings and interpretations. A Bradford Book

Download or read book The Language Hoax written by John H. McWhorter and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Japanese has a term that covers both green and blue. Russian has separate terms for dark and light blue. Does this mean that Russians perceive these colors differently from Japanese people? Does language control and limit the way we think? This short, opinionated book addresses the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which argues that the language we speak shapes the way we perceive the world. Linguist John McWhorter argues that while this idea is mesmerizing, it is plainly wrong. It is language that reflects culture and worldview, not the other way around. The fact that a language has only one word for eat, drink, and smoke doesn't mean its speakers don't process the difference between food and beverage, and those who use the same word for blue and green perceive those two colors just as vividly as others do. McWhorter shows not only how the idea of language as a lens fails but also why we want so badly to believe it: we're eager to celebrate diversity by acknowledging the intelligence of peoples who may not think like we do. Though well-intentioned, our belief in this idea poses an obstacle to a better understanding of human nature and even trivializes the people we seek to celebrate. The reality -- that all humans think alike -- provides another, better way for us to acknowledge the intelligence of all peoples.

Download or read book The Language of Thought written by Jerry A. Fodor and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1975 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a compelling defense of the speculative approach to the philosophy of mind, Jerry Fodor argues that, while our best current theories of cognitive psychology view many higher processes as computational, computation itself presupposes an internal medium of representation. Fodor's prime concerns are to buttress the notion of internal representation from a philosophical viewpoint, and to determine those characteristics of this conceptual construct using the empirical data available from linguistics and cognitive psychology.

Download or read book Mind in Motion written by Barbara Tversky and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2019-05-21 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An eminent psychologist offers a major new theory of human cognition: movement, not language, is the foundation of thought When we try to think about how we think, we can't help but think of words. Indeed, some have called language the stuff of thought. But pictures are remembered far better than words, and describing faces, scenes, and events defies words. Anytime you take a shortcut or play chess or basketball or rearrange your furniture in your mind, you've done something remarkable: abstract thinking without words. In Mind in Motion, psychologist Barbara Tversky shows that spatial cognition isn't just a peripheral aspect of thought, but its very foundation, enabling us to draw meaning from our bodies and their actions in the world. Our actions in real space get turned into mental actions on thought, often spouting spontaneously from our bodies as gestures. Spatial thinking underlies creating and using maps, assembling furniture, devising football strategies, designing airports, understanding the flow of people, traffic, water, and ideas. Spatial thinking even underlies the structure and meaning of language: why we say we push ideas forward or tear them apart, why we're feeling up or have grown far apart. Like Thinking, Fast and Slow before it, Mind in Motion gives us a new way to think about how--and where--thinking takes place.