Cognitive Science Colloquium series presents:
Barbara Landau,
Professor of Cognitive Science
at Johns Hopkins University
Origins and development of spatial language: Some complexities
October 6th, 4pm, OAK 109
The acquisition of spatial language has historically provided a fertile test-bed for theories of language-thought relationships. Does spatial language emerge driven by pre-linguistic spatial concepts, or does it emerge strictly as a function of the linguistic input provided in the environment?
In this talk, Barbara considers challenges to both positions, focusing on the challenge of accounting for the linguistic combinatorics inherent in spatial language.
Acknowledging the complexities of the mapping between spatial language and underlying concepts forces us to abandon simplistic hypotheses and to think about learning in new and more subtle ways.
Co-sponsored by The Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences
For more information, contact: Brandy Ciraldo at ibacs@uconn.edu