Words have a weight: language as a source of inner grounding and flexibility in abstract concepts
- PDF / 926,593 Bytes
- 17 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 93 Downloads / 183 Views
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Words have a weight: language as a source of inner grounding and flexibility in abstract concepts Guy Dove1 · Laura Barca2 · Luca Tummolini2 · Anna M. Borghi3
© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The role played by language in our cognitive lives is a topic at the centre of contemporary debates in cognitive (neuro)science. In this paper we illustrate and compare two theories that offer embodied explanations of this role: the WAT (words as social tools) and the LENS (language is an embodied neuroenhancement and scaffold) theories. WAT and LENS differ from other current proposals, because they connect the impact of the neurologically realized language system on our cognition to the ways in which language shapes our interaction with the physical and social environment. Examining these theories together, their tenets and supporting evidence, sharpens our understanding of each, but also contributes to a better understanding of the contribution that language might make to the acquisition, representation and use of abstract concepts. Here we focus on how language provides a source of inner grounding, especially metacognition and inner speech, and supports the flexibility of our thought. Overall, the paper outlines a promising research program focused on the importance of language to abstract concepts within the context of a flexible, multimodal, and multilevel conception of embodied cognition.
Introduction What role does language play in our cognitive lives? Is it a rich source of inner grounding or simply a vehicle for communicating our thoughts? Our purpose in this essay is to examine the varied ways in which grounded simulations of linguistic experience might help us acquire, represent, and use new concepts. The idea under consideration is that the multimodal networks associated with the dynamic production and processing of language provide an effective means of acquiring information that goes beyond our immediate experience. These networks can play a role in most concepts but are especially important in abstract concepts. We identify some of the ways that embodied language influences the acquisition and retrieval of abstract knowledge by acting as a source of inner grounding and means of social action. We defend the thesis that words, as physical symbols that we
* Guy Dove [email protected] 1
University of Louisville, Louisville, USA
2
Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies of the Italian National Research Council (ISTC-CNR), Rome, Italy
3
Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
manipulate in an embodied fashion, enable us to leverage cognitive resources that would not be available to us otherwise: they enhance our perception, they allow us to sharpen and refine our representation of categories, particularly of those that are not directly tied to our immediate experience; they provide a means of coordinating context- and task-specific content; and they facilitate metacognitive processes that evaluate other cognitive operation
Data Loading...
