Fachbereich Philosophie und Geisteswissenschaften

Language and Thought / Sprache und Denken

Literatur

Mo, 20.10.2014

• Pulvermüller, F., Garagnani, M., & Wennekers, T. 2014. Thinking in circuits: Towards neurobiological explanation in cognitive neuroscience. Biological Cybernetics, DOI 10.1007/s00422-014-0603-9

Mo, 27.10.2014

Müller, H. M. 2013. Psycholinguistik - Neurolinguistik: Die Verarbeitung von Sprache im Gehirn. Stuttgart: UTB, Fink. Chapters 10 and 11. (FU online-Zugriff)

Part II: Meaning and grounding in mind and brain

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Mo, 03.11.2014

Meaning in cognitice science

How are concepts organised in the mind?

• Collins, A. M., & Loftus, E. F. 1975. A spreading activation theory of semantic processing. Psychological Review, 82(6), 407-428.

Concepts as combinations 

• Landauer, T. K., & Dumais, S. T. 1997. A solution to Plato's problem: the Latent Semantic Analysis theory of acquisition, induction, and representation of knowledge. Psychological Review, 104, 211-240.

Mo, 10.11.2014
What is grounding – and why is it necessary?
The symbol grounding problem

• Harnad, S. 1990. The symbol grounding problem. Physica D, 42, 335-346.

• Searle, J. R. 1980. Minds, brains, and programs. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3(3), 417-457.

Symbolic system vs symbol grounding

• Barsalou, L. W., Kyle Simmons, W., Barbey, A. K., & Wilson, C. D. 2003. Grounding conceptual knowledge in modality-specific systems. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(2), 84-91.

Mo, 17.11.2014
Empirical evidence for grounding
Müller, H. M. 2013. Psycholinguistik - Neurolinguistik: Die Verarbeitung von Sprache im Gehirn. Stuttgart: UTB, Fink, chapters 8-12. (FU online-Zugriff)
Behavioural evidence for grounding of language in action and perception

• Fischer, M. H., & Zwaan, R. A. 2008. Embodied language: a review of the role of the motor system in language comprehension. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psycholology, 61(6), 825-850.

Brain evidence for grounding of language in action

• Pulvermüller, F. 2005. Brain mechanisms linking language and action. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6(7), 576-582.

Mo, 24.11.2014
The ‘embodiment debate’
Does the evidence indeed support grounding and ‘embodiment’ of meaning?

• Bedny, M., & Caramazza, A. 2011. Perception, action, and word meanings in the human brain: the case from action verbs. Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1224, 81-95. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06013.

• Mahon, B. Z., & Caramazza, A. 2008. A critical look at the embodied cognition hypothesis and a new proposal for grounding conceptual content. Journal of Physiology, Paris, 102(1-3), 59-70.

Action perception theory and the embodiment debate

• Pulvermüller, F. 2013. How neurons make meaning: Brain mechanisms for embodied and abstract-symbolic semantics. Trends in Cognitive Science, 17(9), 458-470. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2013.06.004

• Pulvermüller, F. 2013. Semantics embodiment, disembodiment, and misembodiment: In search for meaning in modules and neuron circuits. Brain and Language, 127(1), 86-103.

Part III: Language and thought: theoretical approaches

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Mo, 01.12.2014
Introduction to theory and data on linguistic relativity
The relationship between language and thought in literature

• von Hofmannsthal, H. 1959. Ein Brief. In: Gesammelte Werke in Einzelausgaben, Frankfurt a.M.: S. Fischer, Prosa Band 2, pp. 11-14.

• Orwell, G. 1964. Grammatik der Neusprache (Anhang). In: 1984, Konstanz: Diana, pp. 273-280.

Grandfathers of linguistic relativity: Humboldt, Boas, Sapir, Whorf

• Whorf, B. L. 1963. Sprache – Denken – Wirklichkeit. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, pp. 12-15.

• Boas, F. 1911. Introduction to the Handbook of American Indian Languages. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press (selected citations)

• Sapir, E. 1921. Language. An introduction to the study of speech. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World; Mandelbaum, D. G. (ed.) 1949. Selected Writings of Edward Sapir in Language, Culture, and Personality. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press (selected citations)

• von Humboldt, W. 1979. Schriften zur Sprachphilosophie. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, pp. 10-20.

Mo, 08.12.2014
Linguistic relativity in current cognitive and linguistic science
Would people speaking different languages think differently?

• Wolff, P., & Holmes, K. J. (2011). Linguistic relativity. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 2(3), 253-265.

What thoughts are made of?

• Boroditsky, L., & Prinz, J. (2008). What thoughts are made of. In G. R. Semin & E. T. Smith (Eds.), Embodied grounding: Social, cognitive, affective, and neuroscientific approaches (pp. 98-115). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.       

Online influences as linguistic habituation

• Slobin, D. I. 1996. From ´thought and language´ to ´thinking for speaking´. In: John J. Gumperz, Stephen C. Levinson (eds.) 1996, pp. 70-96.

Online influences as neuronal feedback circuits

• Lupyan, G. 2012. Linguistically modulated perception and cognition: the label feedback hypothesis. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 54. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00054

Part IV: Language and thought: experimental evidence

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Mo, 15.12.2014
Objects, substances, & object categorization
Objects versus substances in conceptualizing the material world

• Imai, M., & Mazuka, R. 2003. Reevaluating Linguistic Relativity: Language-Specific Categories and the Role of Universal Ontological Knowledge in the Construal of Individuation. In: Language in mind: Advances in the study of language and thought (Gentner D., Goldin-Meadow S., eds.), pp. 429-464. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Object categorization a – EEG

• Boutonnet, B., Dering, B., Vinas-Guasch, N., & Thierry, G. 2013. Seeing Objects through the Language Glass. In: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 25(10), 1702-1710. doi: Doi 10.1162/Jocn_a_00415

Object categorization b – behavioral

• Gilbert, A. L., Regier, T., Kay, P., & Ivry, R. B. 2008. Support for lateralization of the Whorf effect beyond the realm of color discrimination. Brain and Language, 105(2), 91–98. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2007.06.001

Mo, 05.01.2015
Space & spatial relations
Frames of reference in conceptualizing space

• Levinson, S. C., Kita, K., Haun, D. B. M., Rasch, B. H. 2002. Returning the tables: language affects spatial reasoning. Cognition, 84, 155–188.

• Majid, A., Bowerman, M., Kita, S., Haun, D. B., & Levinson, S. C. 2004. Can language restructure cognition? The case for space. Trends Cogn Sci, 8(3), 108-114. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2004.01.003

Spatial relations of objects

• Bowerman, M., Choi, S. 2003. Space under construction: Language-specific spatial categorisation in first language acquisition. In: Language in mind: Advances in the study of language and thought (Gentner D., Goldin-Meadow S., eds.), pp. 387-427. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Mo, 12.01.2015
Time & motion
Conception of time in terms of space

• Boroditsky, L. 2001. Does Language Shape Thought?: Mandarin and English Speakers’ Conceptions of Time. Cognitive Psychology 43, 1–22.

Motion language and event perceptions and memory

• von Stutterheim, C., Andermann, M., Carroll, M., Flecken, M., & Schmiedtová, B. (2012). How grammaticized concepts shape event conceptualization in language production: insights from linguistic analysis, eye tracking data, and memory performance. 50(4), 833–867. doi: 10.1515/ling-2012-0026

• Slobin, D. I. 2003. Language and Thought Online: Cognitive Consequences of Linguistic Relativity. In: Language in mind: Advances in the study of language and thought (Gentner D., Goldin-Meadow S., eds.), pp. 157-191. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Mo, 19.01.2015
Color
Categorical effects of color terms on perception – behavioural evidence

• Winawer, J., Witthoft, N., Frank, M.C., Wu, L., Wade, A.R., Boroditsky 2007. Russian blues reveal effects of language on color discrimination. In: PNAS 104 (19) S. 7780-7785.

• Regier, T., Kay, P., Gilbert, A.L., Ivry, R.B. 2010. Language and thought: Which side are you on, anyway? In: B. Malt, P. Wolff (Hgg.): Words and the mind: Perspectives on the language-thought interface, New York

Categorical effects of color terms on perception – neurophysiological evidence

• Thierry, G., Athanasopoulos, P., Wiggett, A., Dering, B., & Kuipers, J. R. 2009. Unconscious effects of language-specific terminology on preattentive color perception. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U S A, 106(11), 4567-4570. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0811155106

Mo, 26.01.2015
Emotions & mental states
Emotional facial expressions

• Fugate, J. M. B. 2013. Categorical perception for emotional faces. Emotion Review, 5(1), 84–89. doi: 10.1177/1754073912451350 Lindquist, K. A., & Gendron, M. 2013. What’s in a word? Language constructs emotion perception. Emotion Review, 5(1), 66–71. doi: 10.1177/1754073912451351

Language and children’s theory of mind

• deVilliers, J. G., & de Villiers, P. A. 2003. Language for Thought: Coming to Understand False Beliefs. In: Language in mind: Advances in the study of language and thought (Gentner D, Goldin-Meadow S, eds.), pp. 387-427. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Part V: Integration and discussion

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Mo, 02.02.2015
Summary of experimental evidence and discussion of conclusions
Does language influence perception and thought? In what sense? Based on which (strong) evidence?

• Boroditsky, L., & Prinz, J. 2008. What thoughts are made of. In G. R. Semin & E. T. Smith (Eds.), Embodied grounding: Social, cognitive, affective, and neuroscientific approaches (pp. 98-115). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Wolff, P., & Holmes, K. J. 2011. Linguistic relativity. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 2(3), 253-265.

• Lupyan, G. 2012. Linguistically modulated perception and cognition: the label feedback hypothesis. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 54.