Language and the Conscious Psyche: Auditory Language as an Answer to the Difficult Problem of David Chalmers

Language, particularly inner speech, may serve as a bridge between the brain's material processes and conscious mental experiences such as emotions and thoughts. Drawing on linguistic, neurological, and evolutionary evidence, the article argues that language enables sensory synchronization, conceptualization of sensory input, memory organization, continuous narrative formation, and modulation of arousal. These processes occur within memory, which acts as a platform for language and, through evolution, can retrieve images and information. By influencing internal arousal, language creates moods that align with retrieved memories, thereby contributing to the formation of qualia. The article suggests that human language evolved from an interpersonal tool into an internal language, as described by Vygotsky, and now influences all psychological functions including perception.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The topic under review, formulated by David Chalmers, addresses a fundamental question: How can brain processes, such as the movements of electrons and chemicals, be translated into mental and conscious experiences, such as emotions, visualizations, and thoughts? Focusing on the role of language—especially inner language—this article suggests that language, as a mediating mechanism, plays a fundamental role in linking the material processes of the brain with psychological experiences through its influence on memory and arousal. Based on linguistic, neurological, and evolutionary evidence, it is argued that language can provide a possible mechanism for the emergence of mental qualities through sensory synchronization, conceptualization of sensory input before conscious processing, memory organization, continuous narrative formation, and influence on arousal. All of these events occur in memory, and memory is both a platform for the emergence and continuation of language and, over the course of evolution, has become capable of retrieving images and information from memory. On the other hand, by influencing internal arousal, language has been able to create a mood appropriate to the images extracted from memory, thus leading to the formation of qualia. This article emphasizes that human language has gradually developed from an interpersonal communication tool to an internal language within an individual (according to Vygotsky) over several hundred thousand years of uninterrupted evolution, and has not stopped at this stage and it is relevant to all human psychological functions, including perception and the description of mental images.