Transcript The Embodiment of Word Meaning

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Words and Meanings
How we understand words and what
they mean
Lotte Meteyard and
Proffessor Gabriella Vigliocco
of University College London
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Language
Language is one of the
most unique things we
do as humans, and it
separates us from other
animals.
It is thought we know
upwards of 20,000
words and we use
language all the time,
usually without any
effort at all.
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Words
How do you know all
these words and how
do you know what
they all mean?
We can only use all
these words because
we have them stored
somehow in our brain.
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Meanings
Each word means
something. Each word
refers to something in the
world, or to something we
have experienced.
For example…
“green” means this colour
“kitten” means one of these
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Storing meaning
When we see, hear,
touch, taste or smell
something we have
an experience of
what that thing was
like.
Our brain responds to
and records these
experiences. For
example, a part of my
brain is active when I
see green
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Understanding meaning
We use words to label
these experiences, like
colours and animals
that we see. We use it
to describe our
experiences to other
people, like eating a
nice cake or going on
holiday.
When I write the word
“green” you can imagine
the colour, even if you
don’t see it
With words, I can
make you imagine
what I am thinking!
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Simulating meaning
One idea is that we
understand a word
because our brains
can simulate what the
word means.
We do this by using
the parts of our brains
that are active when
we actually
experience the thing
itself.
“green”
“green”
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Simulating meaning
So each time I read,
hear or say the word
“green”, my brain
simulates what it is
like when I actually
see green.
I understand
language because I
simulate what it
means.
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Taking part
This simulation should
happen without us
being aware of it, but
by using experiments
we can find out if it
actually does happen!
If you would like to take
part in an experiment to
help us find out, please
ask one of the scientists
here at Live Science,
Thank you!
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Words and meanings
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