Language, embodiment, and the cognitive niche.

@article{Clark2006CognitiveNiche, abstract = {Embodied agents use bodily actions and environmental interventions to make the world a better place to think in. Where does language fit into this emerging picture of the embodied, ecologically efficient agent? One useful way to approach this question is to consider language itself as a cognition-enhancing animal-built structure. To take this perspective is to view language as a kind of self-constructed cognitive niche: a persisting but never stationary material scaffolding whose crucial role in promoting thought and reason remains surprisingly poorly understood. It is the very materiality of this linguistic scaffolding, I suggest, that gives it some key benefits. By materializing thought in words, we create structures that are themselves proper objects of perception, manipulation, and (further) thought.}, address = {School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, David Hume Tower, George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JX, UK.}, author = {Clark, Andy }, citeulike-article-id = {765590}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2006.06.012}, issn = {1364-6613}, journal = {Trends Cogn Sci}, keywords = {\_d\_, cognitive-niche, embodiment, language}, month = {July}, posted-at = {2008-06-25 18:43:04}, priority = {2}, title = {Language, embodiment, and the cognitive niche.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2006.06.012}, year = {2006} }

TY - JOUR ID - Clark2006CognitiveNiche L3 - citeulike-article-id:765590 TI - Language, embodiment, and the cognitive niche. JF - Trends Cogn Sci AD - School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, David Hume Tower, George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JX, UK. SN - 1364-6613 N2 - Embodied agents use bodily actions and environmental interventions to make the world a better place to think in. Where does language fit into this emerging picture of the embodied, ecologically efficient agent? One useful way to approach this question is to consider language itself as a cognition-enhancing animal-built structure. To take this perspective is to view language as a kind of self-constructed cognitive niche: a persisting but never stationary material scaffolding whose crucial role in promoting thought and reason remains surprisingly poorly understood. It is the very materiality of this linguistic scaffolding, I suggest, that gives it some key benefits. By materializing thought in words, we create structures that are themselves proper objects of perception, manipulation, and (further) thought. KW - _d_ KW - cognitive-niche KW - embodiment KW - language AU - Clark, Andy PY - 2006/07/13/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2006.06.012 ER -