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Sure, but thought does not end or get impeded in aphasia, merely the ability to use language. People can reason, gesture, react, which tells us they're either d

Sure, but thought does not end or get impeded in aphasia, merely the ability to use language. People can reason, gesture, react, which tells us they're either divergent or entirely separate abilities. Any language is an external program that runs a cultural control system, not a communication system that directly connects mental states.

Mathnerd314 11mo ago
You can't generalize like that. Aphasia is a symptom - of course by definition it is merely the inability to use language. But people with stroke will typically show a lot of impairment, not only aphasia - they will have difficulties reasoning, gesturing, reacting, etc. Different people will have different abilities and different levels of impairment, but this tells you very little - it is not like each ability has its own little neuron in the brain, fMRI has confirmed that most activities involve several different parts of the brain. There are complex thoughts that require linguistic involvement to process, sign language and dancing combine gesturing with language, etc. The main thing the OP paper shows is that language is pervasive and intricately involved in how activities map to mental states.
- DrierCycle 11mo ago
  I'm not sure it's generalizing, it's simply been demonstrated in testing. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07522-w https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07522-w
  - Mathnerd314 11mo ago
    Yeah, so what that paper shows is that 6-7 cognitive tasks show low involvement with the language areas. What it doesn't show is that all cognitive tasks are independent of the language areas. As the paper itself admits, some forms of reasoning seem to involve language.
    - DrierCycle 11mo ago
      It demonstrates what divides the brain, actually, if you read her other papers and public layperson statements as well where she claims we don't use "language to think" as mental events are specific and language is arbitrary.

Mathnerd314 11mo ago

You can't generalize like that. Aphasia is a symptom - of course by definition it is merely the inability to use language. But people with stroke will typically show a lot of impairment, not only aphasia - they will have difficulties reasoning, gesturing, reacting, etc. Different people will have different abilities and different levels of impairment, but this tells you very little - it is not like each ability has its own little neuron in the brain, fMRI has confirmed that most activities involve several different parts of the brain. There are complex thoughts that require linguistic involvement to process, sign language and dancing combine gesturing with language, etc. The main thing the OP paper shows is that language is pervasive and intricately involved in how activities map to mental states.

DrierCycle 11mo ago
I'm not sure it's generalizing, it's simply been demonstrated in testing. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07522-w https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07522-w
- Mathnerd314 11mo ago
  Yeah, so what that paper shows is that 6-7 cognitive tasks show low involvement with the language areas. What it doesn't show is that all cognitive tasks are independent of the language areas. As the paper itself admits, some forms of reasoning seem to involve language.
  - DrierCycle 11mo ago
    It demonstrates what divides the brain, actually, if you read her other papers and public layperson statements as well where she claims we don't use "language to think" as mental events are specific and language is arbitrary.