Human Uniqueness, Cognition by Description, and Procedural Memory
Evidence will be reviewed suggesting a fairly direct link between the human ability to think about entities which one has never perceived — here called “cognition by description” — and procedural memory. Cognition by description is a uniquely hominid trait which makes religion, science, and history...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology
2008-09-01
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| Series: | Biolinguistics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5964/bioling.8637 |
| _version_ | 1797338064422436864 |
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| author | John Bolender Burak Erdeniz Cemil Kerimo?lu |
| author_facet | John Bolender Burak Erdeniz Cemil Kerimo?lu |
| author_sort | John Bolender |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Evidence will be reviewed suggesting a fairly direct link between the human ability to think about entities which one has never perceived — here called “cognition by description” — and procedural memory. Cognition by description is a uniquely hominid trait which makes religion, science, and history possible. It is hypothesized that cognition by description (in the manner of Bertrand Russell’s “knowledge by description”) requires variable binding, which in turn utilizes quantifier raising. Quantifier raising plausibly depends upon the computational core of language, specifically the element of it which Noam Chomsky calls “internal Merge”. Internal Merge produces hierarchical structures by means of a memory of derivational steps, a process plausibly involving procedural memory. The hypothesis is testable, predicting that procedural memory deficits will be accompanied by impairments in cognition by description. We also discuss neural mechanisms plausibly underlying procedural memory and also, by our hypothesis, cognition by description. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T09:24:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-14411d28b4624148b88e020783a26ecb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1450-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T09:24:39Z |
| publishDate | 2008-09-01 |
| publisher | PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biolinguistics |
| spelling | doaj.art-14411d28b4624148b88e020783a26ecb2024-01-31T10:09:20ZengPsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for PsychologyBiolinguistics1450-34172008-09-0122-312915110.5964/bioling.86378637Human Uniqueness, Cognition by Description, and Procedural MemoryJohn Bolender0Burak Erdeniz1Cemil Kerimo?lu2Middle East Tech. U.Middle East Technical UniversityInternational Max Planck Research SchoolEvidence will be reviewed suggesting a fairly direct link between the human ability to think about entities which one has never perceived — here called “cognition by description” — and procedural memory. Cognition by description is a uniquely hominid trait which makes religion, science, and history possible. It is hypothesized that cognition by description (in the manner of Bertrand Russell’s “knowledge by description”) requires variable binding, which in turn utilizes quantifier raising. Quantifier raising plausibly depends upon the computational core of language, specifically the element of it which Noam Chomsky calls “internal Merge”. Internal Merge produces hierarchical structures by means of a memory of derivational steps, a process plausibly involving procedural memory. The hypothesis is testable, predicting that procedural memory deficits will be accompanied by impairments in cognition by description. We also discuss neural mechanisms plausibly underlying procedural memory and also, by our hypothesis, cognition by description.https://doi.org/10.5964/bioling.8637basal gangliacerebellumcognition by descriptionknowledge by descriptionlanguage evolutionprocedural memorytheory of descriptions |
| spellingShingle | John Bolender Burak Erdeniz Cemil Kerimo?lu Human Uniqueness, Cognition by Description, and Procedural Memory Biolinguistics basal ganglia cerebellum cognition by description knowledge by description language evolution procedural memory theory of descriptions |
| title | Human Uniqueness, Cognition by Description, and Procedural Memory |
| title_full | Human Uniqueness, Cognition by Description, and Procedural Memory |
| title_fullStr | Human Uniqueness, Cognition by Description, and Procedural Memory |
| title_full_unstemmed | Human Uniqueness, Cognition by Description, and Procedural Memory |
| title_short | Human Uniqueness, Cognition by Description, and Procedural Memory |
| title_sort | human uniqueness cognition by description and procedural memory |
| topic | basal ganglia cerebellum cognition by description knowledge by description language evolution procedural memory theory of descriptions |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5964/bioling.8637 |
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