Linguistics Departmental Research Seminar – Darko Odic (UBC Psychology)
January 26, 2024, 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm
Dr. Darko Ordic (UBC Psychology) will give an in-person research seminar 3:30-4:30pm, January 26th, 2024.
Title: How much language is in thought?
Abstract:
In this talk, I present recent work from my lab arguing that language acts as instructions for directing – but not creating – thoughts. I argue that: (1) Language does not automatically activate “predictive cascades” (i.e., Bayesian priors) or that, if it does, those do not affect our perception; (2) That language can indicate the relevant sortals for perceptual enumeration (both breaking and combining objects freely); and (3) That language provides instructions for superlative comparison in many perceptual operations. My ultimate argument is that language is a tool for improving the performance – not competency – of perception and cognition.