Language Thought And Perception

This volume offers a collective critical engagement with the thought of Charles Travis, a leading contemporary philosopher of language and mind, and a scholar of the history of analytical philosophy. The work of Charles Travis is fundamentally situated in the analytical tradition, yet is also radically at odds with many assumptions characteristic of the tradition, especially as regards the nature of language and perception as representational capacities. Twelve philosophers explore themes in his work, and Travis gives extended responses. The editors provide an introductory chapter which situates Travis's ideas in the context of contemporary philosophy of language and mind. The volume divides into three sections, relating to language, thought, and perception. Topics covered in detail include: the nature of linguistic and perceptual representation; Frege; Wittgenstein; the role of context in fixing speech content; and the structure of thought.

The essays range across fields foundational to cognitive science, including perception, attention, memory, and language, using formal, experimental, and neuroscientific approaches to issues of representation and learning. These original empirical research essays in the psychology of perception, cognition, and language were written in honor of Henry and Lila Gleitman, two of the most prominent psychologists of our time. The essays range across fields foundational to cognitive science, including perception, attention, memory, and language, using formal, experimental, and neuroscientific approaches to issues of representation and learning. An introduction provides a historical perspective on the development of the field from the 1960s onward. The contributors have all been colleagues and students of the Gleitmans, and the collection celebrates their influence on the field of cognitive science. Contributors Cynthia Fisher, Susan Goldin-Meadow, Katherine Hirsh-Pasek, John Jonides, Phillip Kellman, Michael Kelly, Donald S. Lamm, Barbara Landau, Jack Nachmias, Letitia Naigles, Elissa Newport, W. Gerrod Parrott, Daniel Reisberg, Robert A. Rescorla, Paul Rozin, John Sabini, Elizabeth Shipley, Thomas F. Shipley, John C. Trueswell

C. Cacciari, Preface, G.W. Humphreys and M.J. Riddoch, The old town no longer looks the same: Computation of visual similarity after brain damage, M. Kubovy, Symmetry and similarity: The phonomenology of decorative patterns, S. Glucksberg and D. Manfredi, Metaphoric comparisons, D.L. Medin and R.L. Goldstone, The predicates of similarity, D. Gentner and A.B. Markman, Similarity is like analogy: Structural alignment in comparison, R. Simone, The search for similarity in the linguist's cognition. The chapters collected in this volume are based on the papers presented at the workshop Similarity in Language, Thought and Perception held in 1991 at the International Center for Semiotic and Cognitive Studies of San Marino. A vast number of linguistic expressions serve the purpose of expressing similarity (e.g. seems, is like, is similar to, etc.). Of course similarity's role extends well beyond language. As many of the chapters collected in this volume show, it is intertwined with reasoning, categorization processes, visual processes, attention and so forth. The main questions addressed by the chapters are: How is visual similarity computed by the brain and what are the mechanisms responsible for it? How is similarity mentally represented? What is the relationship between literal and figurative similarity? Similarity as an epistemological "tool". The chapters collected here address the complexity of a topic such as similarity mainly from a cognitive viewpoint. This is of course only one perspective, albeit a promising and new one with respect to a topic that has been fascinating scholars and artists for centuries.

Every language has a way of talking about seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. This can be done through lexical means, and through grammatical evidentials. The studies presented here focus on the experssions of perception and cognition in languages of Africa, Oceania, and South America.

Do perception and action share some of the same cognitive structures? What is the relationship between cognitive processes for sequencing, timing, and error detection in perception and action? Such issues form the basis for this fresh and absorbing study of the perception and production of language and other cognitive skills such as chess and piano playing. The Organization of Perception and Action provides a coherent and innovative synthesis of available data, challenges classical theories, and offers new insights into relations between language, thought, and action. Its broad, interdisciplinary approach and wealth of detailed examples extend from the motor control of typing to the role of attention in perception and action and the flexibility of conscious vs. unconscious processes. Not only researchers, but anyone with a general interest in the cognitive and brain sciences will find in this book new and interesting insights into topics long considered fundamental to psychology and related disciplines.