Work

Language as a Cognitive Technology: English-Speakers Match Like Pirahã When You Don't Let Them Count

Year: 2008

Type: article

Abstract: The Pirahã, an Amazonian hunter-gatherer tribe, lack words for numbers and are unable to complete simple matching tasks when the tasks require memory for exact quantities (Gordon, 2004; Frank et al., in press).Here we show that American participants perform similarly to the Pirahã when asked to execute the same kinds of matching tasks under verbal interference.These results provide support for the hypothesis that number words act as a "cognitive technology": a method for quickly and efficiently storing information via abstraction.We review a variety of other evidence supporting this proposal from the domains of color, navigation, and theory of mind.

Source: eScholarship (California Digital Library)

Authors: MIcheal C. Frank, Evelina Fedorenko, Edward Gibson

Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Categorization, perception, and language

Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2586754902

FWCI: 1.108

Cites: 28

Cited by: 14

Related to: 10