9,782 research outputs found
Effects of communication goals and expectancies on language abstraction.
No full textLanguage abstraction is an important aspect of the description of behavioral events (G.R. Semin & K. Fiedler, 1988) that is typically viewed as a medium by which describers transmit beliefs without conscious awareness or control. Complementary to this view, the authors propose that language abstraction may also be influenced by explicit communication goals such as aggrandizement or derogation, allowing describers to express beliefs that they do not themselves possess. Five studies are reported that support this proposal, showing that explicit communication goals have strong effects on language abstraction that are independent of effects of describers' beliefs or expectancies. Language abstraction is therefore both a medium for the transmission of existing beliefs and a tool by which communicators can create new belief
Elephant cognition in primate perspective
No full textOn many of the staple measures of comparative psychology, elephants show no obvious differences from other mammals, such as primates: discrimination learning, memory, spontaneous tool use, etc. However, a range of more naturalistic measures have recently suggested that elephant cognition may be rather different. Wild elephants sub-categorize humans into groups, independently making this classification on the basis of scent or colour. In number discrimination, elephants show no effects of absolute magnitude or relative size disparity in making number judgements. In the social realm, elephants show empathy into the problems faced by others, and give hints of special abilities in cooperation, vocal imitation and perhaps teaching. Field data suggest that the elephant’s vaunted reputation for memory may have a factual basis, in two ways. Elephants’ ability to remember large-scale space over long periods suggests good cognitive mapping skills. Elephants’ skill in keeping track of the current locations of many family members implies that working memory may be unusually developed, consistent with the laboratory finding that their quantity judgements do not show the usual magnitude effects.Peer reviewe
Abstract concepts in grounded cognition
No full textWhen people think about highly abstract concepts, they draw upon concrete experiences to structure their thoughts. For example, black knights in fairytales are evil, and knights in shining armor are good. The sensory experiences black and white are used to represent the abstract concepts of good and evil. These and similar metaphors are not only used to intentionally communicate the meaning of abstract concepts, but also underlie abstract conceptual thought. Several views on the representation of concepts have emerged over the last decennium which all share the idea that conceptual processing is perceptual in nature. According to these grounded approaches to cognition, conceptual thought consists of representations built on concrete sensory information. Even though people cannot directly see, hear or touch abstract concepts, perceptual information is theorized to play an essential role in abstract conceptual thought. The current thesis investigates to which extent people use perceptual information to think about abstract concepts. The studies reveal that sensory experiences structure abstract thoughts. Chapter 2 proposes that many of our concrete experiences with moral situations are directly related to symmetrical or balanced distributions of rewards and other outcomes, and aims to shows that thinking about moral or immoral words activates associations with perceptual symmetry. People were asked to guess which of two Chinese ideographs correctly translated moral and immoral Dutch words. As expected, they chose more symmetric ideographs for moral words, and more asymmetric ideographs for immoral words. Chapter 3 focuses on the concept of time, which has been shown to be represented with the past at our left, and the future at our right. Since the auditory modality shows a similar sensitivity to spatial information as the visual modality, the previously observed structuring of time in space was assumed to extend to the auditory modality. Past and future related words were presented to participants over headphones. Words were louder in the left or right ear, and people were asked to indicate in which ear they judged the words to be louder. Critical experimental trials were presented equally loud in both ear. Participants thought future related words in these critical trials were louder in the right ear more often than past related words. Chapter 4 shows that sensory dimensions structure abstract dimensions. Black and white represent bad and good. White in isolation, however, is rather neutral. It seems that perceptual information such as the color white does is not intrinsically positive, but can be used in opposition to black to represent the opposition between good and evil. Together, these chapters show that perceptual information influences abstract conceptual processing, even for highly abstract concepts that lack perceptual characteristics. Future research could focus on how the learning of abstract concepts by children can be facilitated by perceptually representing their meaning. Furthermore, metaphors cannot only facilitate, but also constrain moral reasoning, an aspect which has not been investigated. Abstract thought is one of the most sophisticated abilities of human beings, and acknowledging the importance of perceptual representations will substantially improve our understanding of abstract reasoning
Pragmatic aspects of communication and language comprehension in groups of children differentiated by teacher ratings of inattention and hyperactivity.
No full textChildren with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience pragmatic language deficits, but it is not known whether these difficulties are primarily associated with high levels of inattention, hyperactivity, or both. We investigated pragmatic aspects of communication and language comprehension in relation to poor attention and/or high hyperactivity in a nondiagnosed population of 7-11-year-olds. Classroom teachers rated their pupils’ attention and hyperactivity/impulsivity on the ADD-H Comprehensive Teacher Rating Scale (ACTeRS). The three groups were formed: children with poor attention and low hyperactivity (poor attention group), children with good attention and high hyperactivity (high hyperactivity group), children with both poor attention and high hyperactivity (poor attention/high hyperactivity group). Their performance was compared with that of same-age controls in two studies: Study One (N=94) investigated the comprehension of figurative language in and out of context; Study Two (N=100) investigated pragmatic aspects of communication using the Children’s Communication Checklist – Second Edition. Two groups, the poor attention and the poor attention/high hyperactivity groups, were impaired in both their comprehension of figurative language and their communication skills. The high hyperactivity group was impaired in their comprehension of figurative language but they did not exhibit communication impairments. The findings extend work with clinical populations of children with ADHD: Even in a nondiagnosed sample of children, poor attention and elevated levels of hyperactivity are associated with pragmatic language weaknesses
Attention to metaphor: from neurons to representations Metaphor in language, cognition, and communication ;, 7./ Valentina Cuccio, University of Palermo ; with a contribution by Gerard Steen, University of Amsterdam.
No full textIncludes bibliographical references.Intro; Attention to Metaphor; Editorial page; Title page; LCC data; Table of contents; Introduction; 1. Embodied Simulation as bodily attitude; 1.1 Introduction; 1.2 The problem of content; 1.2.1 Representations in bodily formats; 1.3 Embodied Simulation as bodily attitude: Getting attuned to the world; 1.4 Conclusion; 2. The embodied turn; 2.1 Introduction; 2.2 From the Conceptual Metaphor Theory to the Neural Theory of Metaphor; 2.3 From the Neural Theory of Metaphor to the Conceptual Metaphor Theory; 2.4 Conclusion; 3. Between embodiment and culture; 3.1 Introduction3.2 Body schema and body image: A conceptual clarification3.2.1 The body schema; 3.2.2 The body image; 3.3 Levels of embodiment; 3.3.1 Body schema and invisible embodied metonymies; 3.3.2 Body image and visible embodied metaphors; 3.4 Conclusion; Acknowledgment; 4. Attention and deliberateness in metaphor processing; 4.1 Introduction; 4.2 Deliberate Metaphor Theory; 4.2.1 Attention to metaphor; 4.2.2 Attention to metaphor, embodied cognition and social interaction; 4.3 Conceptual Metaphor Theory4.4 Experimental evidence for Conceptual Metaphor Theory as evidence for Deliberate Metaphor Theory4.5 Experimental evidence for Conceptual Metaphor Theory and alternative Deliberate Metaphor Theory interpretations; 4.6 Attention to metaphor: Embodied cognition and social interaction; Acknowledgment; 5. Embodied Simulation and Deliberate Metaphors; 5.1 Introduction; 5.2 Language and attention; 5.3 Embodied Simulation and attention; 5.4 Deliberate metaphors and Embodied Simulation; Conclusion: Attention to metaphor; References; Subject index1 online resource
ACCOUNTING IN CONTEXT OF COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE, AND INFORMATION
No full textAccounting at various times has been referred to as a communication process, a language, and a conveyor of information. Given this condition, an analysis of accounting in terms of the theories relating to those references would enable an understanding of: (1) how well the parts of accounting conform with language theory; (2) how communication theory can aid in the clarification and improvement of the accounting communication process; and (3) how relevant is information theory for the refinement of accounting information. This study is a partial analysis which presents some implications of those theories for accounting.information theory, financial analysis, behavior patterns, financial statements, structure assignment algorithm, predictability, information content, entropy.
The creative power of language in social cognition and intergroup relations.
No full textThis book chapter reviews the relation of language to thought and its implications for intergroup relations. Following recent advances in social psychology, the chapter argues that language, far from merely being a medium for the transmission of stereotypes and prejudices, has the power to create, augment, and transform them. In particular, I examine the implications of the ability of language to contain thought (like a vessel), to focus thought (like a lens), and to reveal thought (like a barometer)
Longitudinal patterns of behavioral, emotional, and social difficulties and self-concept in adolescents with a history of specific language impairment
No full textPurpose: This study explored the prevalence and stability of behavioral difficulties and self-concepts between 8 and 17 years in a sample of children with a history of specific language impairment (SLI). We investigated whether earlier behavioral, emotional and social difficulties (BESD), self-concepts, language, and literacy abilities predicted behavioral difficulties and self-concepts at 16/17 years.
Method: In this prospective longitudinal study, 65 students were followed up with teacher behavior ratings and individual assessments of language, literacy, and self-concepts at 8, 10, 12, 16, and 17 years.
Results: The students had consistently higher levels of five domains of BESD, which had different trajectories over time, and poorer scholastic competence, whose trajectory also varied over time. Earlier language ability did not predict later behavioral difficulties or self-concepts but the prediction of academic self-concept at 16 by literacy at 10 years approached significance.
Conclusions: We demonstrate the importance of distinguishing domains of behavioral difficulties and self-concept. Language, when measured at 8 or 10 years, was not a predictor of behavior or self-concepts at 16 years, or of self-concepts at 17 years. The study stresses the importance of practitioners addressing academic abilities and different social-behavioral domains in delivering support for adolescents with SLI
Offloading Cognition onto Cognitive Technology
No full text"Cognizing" (e.g., thinking, understanding, and knowing) is a mental state. Systems without mental states, such as cognitive technology, can sometimes contribute to human cognition, but that does not make them cognizers. Cognizers can offload some of their cognitive functions onto cognitive technology, thereby extending their performance capacity beyond the limits of their own brain power. Language itself is a form of cognitive technology that allows cognizers to offload some of their cognitive functions onto the brains of other cognizers. Language also extends cognizers' individual and joint performance powers, distributing the load through interactive and collaborative cognition. Reading, writing, print, telecommunications and computing further extend cognizers' capacities. And now the web, with its network of cognizers, digital databases and software agents, all accessible anytime, anywhere, has become our “Cognitive Commons,” in which distributed cognizers and cognitive technology can interoperate globally with a speed, scope and degree of interactivity inconceivable through local individual cognition alone. And as with language, the cognitive tool par excellence, such technological changes are not merely instrumental and quantitative: they can have profound effects on how we think and encode information, on how we communicate with one another, on our mental states, and on our very nature
“Bye alligator,” : mediated discourse as learnable social interaction: a study of the language of novice users of communication channels.
No full textPolyvocality, according to Bakhtin (1986), is integral to all human communication: our understanding of any text is informed by our knowledge of its history of use. Kristeva's work on intertextuality elaborates this picture by emphasising the relationships between texts at a single point in time (Moi, 1986). Between them, these two influential critics have highlighted the importance both of diachronic and of synchronic textual relationships in understanding language in use. In the emergent present of any act of communication, the generally unconscious but still shaping memories of history of use are entwined with the configuring effects of the nature of the communication channel. Just as the model of language as a conduit for ideas has been quizzed and found seriously wanting (Reddy,1993), so 'context' can no longer (if it ever did) work as a container metaphor to identify what lies around the linguistic code. The study of language as social interaction demands examination of attempts at intersubjectivity via texts that can only be approached through active engagement with their spatial and temporal characteristics and, therefore, through active engagement with culturally embedded meanings. In this paper we take data from two kinds of sources in order to explore the issues raised above. Both sets of data are from novice users of a technology communicating with their peers: (a) three- and four-year old children talking with others on a simplified telephone system; and (b) undergraduate students engaged in Internet Relay Chat. Our investigation points up interlocutors' creative deployment of language resources in their encounters with the constraints (understood here as the affordances and limitations) of the mode of communication, and demonstrates ways in which those language resources are permeated by participants' sociocultural understandings. This is evidenced through three lines of inquiry: • the acquisition and manipulation of socially constructed routines in openings and closings; • phonological, graphical and other means of language play; • pursuit of interpersonal goals through negotiation. Finally it is proposed, partly through this paper as an enacting exemplar, that the study of young children's discourse need not proceed from an assumption of deficit and need not be shunted into (cognitivist) psycholinguistics. From the viewpoint of linguistic or discourse theory as centre ground, data from children's discourse need not be separated off as at best a specialist area, at worst an irrelevance to mainstream theorizing appertaining to issues of linguistics, language and the real world. Engaging with new communication channels entails learning, language development, and hence modification to social identity for all. Consideration of such changes must be at the heart of theorizing discourse
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