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Language basically seems to have two main evolutionary purposes: The first one is the obvious one that we use it to share a common concept space with one anothe

Language basically seems to have two main evolutionary purposes: The first one is the obvious one that we use it to share a common concept space with one another. The second one I am not so sure about, but it seems that language also greatly enhances our thinking. We can exploit the phonological short-term memory in shape of the inner monologue essentially as a scratchpad to efficiently keep track of recent thoughts, and grammars are a great way of combining concepts, so that we can just plug different concepts into the same grammatical structure and obtain new thoughts that might still be grounded in reality due to intuition about the way concepts are typically combined. Moreover, we seem to be able to better verify the soundness of our thinking using language. Oftentimes a thought becomes much clearer when encoded in language. Perhaps grammatical structures are very efficiently linked to causal experiences such that we can very swiftly debug language-coded meanings. The efficient code might also reduce the cognitive load such that we process longer chains of reasoning at a time.

ewzimm 10y ago
I think language is essentially hacking our memory model which developed around emotional associations with the world. We have sensory input which we translate into associations like danger or pleasure and need to store those in a way that relates in useful ways to the complexities of the way the world works so that we can function as animals. Something like a shriek which might signal danger in one situation might signal happiness in another. For most people, words start out as sounds, which we are primed by biology to remember and react to. We then form relations around these sounds and their associated symbols or textures for the blind (which sensory input is primary doesn't really matter) and reinforce our associations with emotions and other words to form complex relationships. When we have formed enough of these conections, we can start to establish complex logical arguments around their arrangement and connections. Logical problems become clear in the same way that we are able to react to dangers or opportunities in the real world through the application of memory associations. So when we string a series of words together, we aren't just bringing up the direct meaning of the sentence. We're bringing into working memory all the various levels of association which those words bring. We're always thinking in these multiple dimensions, whether or not we're directly aware of it. Words are just ways to direct the flow of these associations based on our memories and experiences. When I'm thinking about a sentence, I tend to try to focus more on the periphary thoughts and emotions which they bring to mind rather than focusing on the base meaning.
- hacker42 10y ago
  Our memory is not a model, it is the actual memory we refer to when we talk about memory models. :) Moreover I don't think emotions play a critical role here in the sense that I could imagine a neural architecture without any emotions that still has language. The idea you've mentioned last is basically what I mean by the scratchpad: We can kind of start associating and explore peripheral thoughts based on a sentence and fairly reliably return the the exact thought from a while ago since our phonological memory is so good.
  - ewzimm 10y ago
    What I mean by memory model is the way our brain handles access to information and structures the flow of thought. Thought can exist without emotion, and likely does in many living things, but I think the way we structure language is specifically related to our capacity for emotion and the way we attach abstract emotional states to sensory stimulation. I would consider emotion the precursor to symbolic thought in the specific way we do it.

ewzimm 10y ago

I think language is essentially hacking our memory model which developed around emotional associations with the world. We have sensory input which we translate into associations like danger or pleasure and need to store those in a way that relates in useful ways to the complexities of the way the world works so that we can function as animals. Something like a shriek which might signal danger in one situation might signal happiness in another. For most people, words start out as sounds, which we are primed by biology to remember and react to. We then form relations around these sounds and their associated symbols or textures for the blind (which sensory input is primary doesn't really matter) and reinforce our associations with emotions and other words to form complex relationships. When we have formed enough of these conections, we can start to establish complex logical arguments around their arrangement and connections. Logical problems become clear in the same way that we are able to react to dangers or opportunities in the real world through the application of memory associations. So when we string a series of words together, we aren't just bringing up the direct meaning of the sentence. We're bringing into working memory all the various levels of association which those words bring. We're always thinking in these multiple dimensions, whether or not we're directly aware of it. Words are just ways to direct the flow of these associations based on our memories and experiences. When I'm thinking about a sentence, I tend to try to focus more on the periphary thoughts and emotions which they bring to mind rather than focusing on the base meaning.

hacker42 10y ago
Our memory is not a model, it is the actual memory we refer to when we talk about memory models. :) Moreover I don't think emotions play a critical role here in the sense that I could imagine a neural architecture without any emotions that still has language. The idea you've mentioned last is basically what I mean by the scratchpad: We can kind of start associating and explore peripheral thoughts based on a sentence and fairly reliably return the the exact thought from a while ago since our phonological memory is so good.
- ewzimm 10y ago
  What I mean by memory model is the way our brain handles access to information and structures the flow of thought. Thought can exist without emotion, and likely does in many living things, but I think the way we structure language is specifically related to our capacity for emotion and the way we attach abstract emotional states to sensory stimulation. I would consider emotion the precursor to symbolic thought in the specific way we do it.