Consciousness and language
Michael Sharwood Smith, John Truscott
Advances in Consciousness Research October 28, 2010 DOI: 10.1075/aicr.79.18sha (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Proposes that conscious control of language is limited because representations inside a dedicated, sealed-off language module cannot reach the activation levels required for consciousness, while language knowledge generated by non-linguistic cognitive processes outside the module can become conscious due to its more direct connection to the perceptual system. |
Abstract
Our conscious control of language and its acquisition is strictly limited. A processing-oriented perspective to explain this will be outlined called MOGUL according to which some linguistic processes are inherently unconscious while others can be either conscious or not. The former involve representations, found in the dedicated, uniquely human language module, whose sealed-off nature does not permit the activation levels necessary for conscious experience to take place. However, language knowledge created by cognitive processes that are not specifically linguistic, that is, created outside the language module, can indeed be raised to consciousness. This is because they are more directly connected to the perceptual system and are accordingly open to much higher levels of activation.