Speakers of different languages remember visual scenes differently
1–10 of 109 posts
Re: Speakers of different languages remember visual scenes differently
#2»Language can have a powerful effect on how people experience events. Here, we examine how the languages people speak guide attention and influence what they remember from a visual scene. When hearing a word, listeners activate other similar-sounding words before settling on the correct target. We tested whether this linguistic coactivation during a visual search task changes memory for objects. Bilinguals and monolinguals remembered English competitor words that overlapped phonologically with a spoken English target better than control objects without name overlap. High Spanish proficiency also enhanced memory for Spanish competitors that overlapped across languages. We conclude that linguistic diversity partly accounts for differences in higher cognitive functions such as memory, with multilinguals providing a fertile ground for studying the interaction between language and cognition.«
Re: Speakers of different languages remember visual scenes differently
#3Man this reminds me of this trip I took to the Maldives as a kid. While spending time with locals, I learned the word "feyli," a term unique to their Dhivehi language. "Feyli" describes the feeling of sand between your toes as waves recede on a beach, a sensation familiar to many but so specific that English doesn't have a singular word for it.
Before being introduced to feyli I simply enjoyed beach walks as a sum of various experiences - the warmth, the sound, the view. having a label for that specific feeling of sand sifting between my toes made it stand out in isolation. Each time I walked along the shore, my attention would hone in on that particular sensation, heightening my awareness and deepening the experience. It felt as though that one word added a new layer to my sensory palette
Love how nuances in language can carve out niches in our perception, spotlighting elements of our environment that might otherwise blend into the background
Re: Speakers of different languages remember visual scenes differently
#4[deleted]
Re: Speakers of different languages remember visual scenes differently
#5Hey, looks like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapir-Whorf_hypothesis has finally been proven. Joking :-)
Re: Speakers of different languages remember visual scenes differently
#6That's not a surprise.
I mean, it's pretty difficult to have a thought without using language. When we watch a scene, we kinda describe it automatically using words, and that description is bound to be affected by the language used.
I wonder what was the everyday experience of a human before language. It must have been pretty different from the world we experience as literate monkeys.
Re: Speakers of different languages remember visual scenes differently
#7Reminds of Julian Jayne's essay, where he says that remembering is essentially re-narrating memories to yourself.
Re: Speakers of different languages remember visual scenes differently
#8Reminds of Julian Jayne's essay, where he says that remembering is essentially re-narrating memories to yourself.
I think it goes beyond simple rearranging. We actively change them. Maybe not many people are immune to this
Re: Speakers of different languages remember visual scenes differently
#9Man this reminds me of this trip I took to the Maldives as a kid. While spending time with locals, I learned the word "feyli," a term unique to their Dhivehi language. "Feyli" describes the feeling of sand between your toes as waves recede on a beach, a sensation familiar to many but so specific that English doesn't have a singular word for it. Before being introduced to feyli I simply enjoyed beach walks as a sum of…
as my old fried Witty used to say, the limits of my language are the limits of my world.
Re: Speakers of different languages remember visual scenes differently
#10»Language can have a powerful effect on how people experience events. Here, we examine how the languages people speak guide attention and influence what they remember from a visual scene. When hearing a word, listeners activate other similar-sounding words before settling on the correct target. We tested whether this linguistic coactivation during a visual search task changes memory for objects. Bilinguals and monoli…
They say often that French are bad at quick math and Chinese are better due to the nature of their numeric system