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11:00 - 12:30
Parallel sessions 8
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11:00 - 12:30
Room: HSZ - N3
Chair/s:
Barbara Kaup, David Dignath
This symposium examines the interplay between linguistic and non-linguistic cognition. While some cognitive functions appear to depend on language, others seem rather independent of it and many more integrate both aspects. In psychology, however, the distinction between linguistic and non-linguistic cognition is rarely made explicitly and there is currently no consensus on how language may shape, enable or constrain thought.

The symposium brings together perspectives from cognitive research, developmental psychology and animal cognition to address three questions:

(1) How are language and thought related?
(2) Which cognitive functions are inherently linguistic, and which are not?
(3) To what extend can language modulate domains traditionally considered non-linguistic?

Part 1 of the double symposium brings together comparative and ontogenetic perspectives, focusing on animal cognition and human development. (see detailled description there)

Part 2 adopts a cognitive psychology perspective. First, Carolin Dudschig examines common mechanisms in linguistic and non-linguistic processing by means of electrophysiological investigations. Rasha Abdel-Rahman's contribution addresses the question of whether language influences the formation of visual representations. Senne Braem investigates how semantic knowledge guides learning of new tasks. Tally Miller tests the influence of verbal labels on the categorization of musical stimuli. Finally, Günther Knoblich discusses the role of linguistic and non-linguistic cognition in joint action.
At the end of the double symposium, philosopher Hong Yu Wong will integrate these diverse perspectives in a concluding discussion, aiming to clarify when, whether, and how cognition harnesses the faculty of language.
Submission 465
Effects of Language on Mental Imagery
SymposiumTalk-02
Presented by: Rasha Abdel Rahman
Rasha Abdel Rahman 1, Martin Maier 1, Asifa Majid 2
1 Humboldt-University, Berlin, Germany
2 University of Oxford, United Kingdom
How does mental imagery allow us to represent and simulate the world? Recent evidence suggests that mental imagery, like perception, is influenced by higher-level cognitive factors. Particularly, language and semantic knowledge -both known to modulate visual perception - may also play a role in structuring the content and vividness of mental images. This study investigates how language and semantic knowledge shape mental imagery and what this reveals about the similarities of perceiving and imagining. In two experiments using behavioral measures and event-related brain potentials that reflect basic-level and high-level vision-related brain activity, we investigated the time course of mental imagery of objects. In addition, we investigated influences of object-related semantic knowledge and the categorical structure of native language. In line with theoretical frameworks of predictive processing, our results show that perception and imagery are both active and constructive processes that have early top-down mechanisms in common. These findings suggest that what we see with the mind’s eye may be shaped early on by high-level factors such as our world knowledge and the language we speak.