Chapter 9 Language and the Brain Second Edition ….pptVIP

Language and the Development of Consciousness: Degrees of Disembodiment Helena Hong Gao Philip David Zelazo Department of Psychology University of Toronto Required readings: Gao, H. H. Zelazo, P. D. (to appear 2005). Language, Consciousness, and Embodiment. In W. F. Overton and U. Mueller (eds.), Body in mind, mind in body: Developmental perspectives on embodiment and consciousness. Lawrence Erilbaum Associates, INC., Publishers. Seitz, Jay A. (2000). The bodily basis of thought. New Ideas in Psychology. Vol 18(1). pp. 23-40 Recommended readings: Zlatev, Jordan. (2004). Embodiment, Language and Mimesis.? In T. Ziemke, J. Zlatev and R. Frank, Body, Language and Mind: Vol 1: Embodiment. Berlin. Johnson, Mark. (1987). The Body in the Mind: The Bodily Basis of Meaning. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Embodiment vs. disembodiment Child development is simultaneously a process of embodiment and a process of disembodiment. Embodiment occurs as the child grows physically and becomes enmeshed in an ever-expanding web of social and physical interactions with the environment. But at the same time, aspects of psychological development, including the development of language, allow the child to disengage from the flow of sensorimotor processing via increasingly complex forms of cognitive mediation. This cognitive mediation allows the child imaginatively to transcend time and space—to be disembodied. The Levels of Consciousness Model (Zelazo, 2004) Children are increasingly able to reflect on their own conscious experiences (e.g., from just seeing something, to knowing that they are seeing something, to knowing that they know this, and so on) Consequently, to formulate and use increasingly complex sets of rules for regulating their behavior. Examples of Disembodiment in Children’s Behavior Examples of age-related changes in children’s ability to disengage from a compelling construal of a situation. E.g., In children’s pretend play children become more likely, over