Gary Lupyan
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 918693 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Gary Lupyan |
| NOMBRES | Gary |
| APELLIDO | Lupyan |
| FIRMA | LUPYAN G |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8441-7433 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 24 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 26 |
| OBRAS COMO AUTOR | 24 |
| OBRAS COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2007 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 3 |
Spontaneous mind-wandering thought content is less constrained than controlled stimulus-independent thought
How Important Is Language for Human-Like Intelligence
We use language to communicate our thoughts. But is language merely the expression of thoughts, which are themselves produced by other, nonlinguistic parts of our minds? Or does language play a more transformative role in human cognition, allowing us to have thoughts that we otherwise could (or would) not have? Recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive science have reinvigorated this old question. We argue that language ma…
The unity of sense and mind
If the sound of a trombone had a taste, would it be bitter? In what way is solving a puzzle like navigating a relationship? People consistently map information across sensory modalities and conceptual domains. Such cross-sensory and cross-conceptual mappings have tended to be studied separately. We argue here that these mappings share underlying mechanisms and are more interconnected than previously thought. We present evidence that these mapping…
What we mean when we say semantic
Tulving characterized semantic memory as a vast repository of meaning that underlies language and many other cognitive processes. This perspective on lexical and conceptual knowledge galvanized a new era of research undertaken by numerous fields, each with their own idiosyncratic methods and terminology. For example, “concept” has different meanings in philosophy, linguistics, and psychology. As such, many fundamental constructs used to delineate…
Differences in psychologists' cognitive traits are associated with scientific divides
Scientific research is often characterized by schools of thought. We investigate whether these divisions are associated with differences in researchers' cognitive traits such as tolerance for ambiguity. These differences may guide researchers to prefer different problems, tackle identical problems in different ways, and even reach different conclusions when studying the same problems in the same way. We surveyed 7,973 researchers in psychological…
Mind Melds
What determines whether two people represent something in a similar way? We examined the role of verbal labels in promoting representational alignment. Across two experiments, three groups of participants sorted novel shapes from two visually dissimilar categories. Prior to sorting, participants in two of the groups were pre-exposed to the shapes using a simple visual matching task designed to reinforce the visual category structure. In one of th…
Nameability supports rule-based category learning in children and adults
The present study tested the hypothesis that verbal labels support category induction by providing compact hypotheses. Ninety-seven 4- to 6-year-old children (M = 63.2 months; 46 female, 51 male; 77% White, 8% more than one race, 4% Asian, and 3% Black; tested 2018) and 90 adults (M = 20.1 years; 70 female, 20 male) in the Midwestern United States learned novel categories with features that were easy (e.g., “red”) or difficult (e.g., “mauve”) to …
What is conceptual engineering good for? The argument from nameability
It is often assumed that how we talk about the world matters a great deal. This is one reason why conceptual engineers seek to improve our linguistic practices by advocating novel uses of our words, or by inventing new ones altogether. A core idea shared by conceptual engineers is that by changing our language in this way, we can reap all sorts of cognitive and practical benefits, such as improving our theorizing, combating hermeneutical injustic…
Gaps in the Lexicon Restrict Communication
Across languages, words carve up the world of experience in different ways. For example, English lacks an equivalent to the Chinese superordinate noun tiáowèipǐn, which is loosely translated as “ingredients used to season food while cooking.” Do such differences matter? A conventional label may offer a uniquely effective way of communicating. On the other hand, lexical gaps may be easily bridged by the compositional power of language. After all, …
Verbal interference paradigms
Explanations in the wild
Effects of Language on Visual Perception
A data-driven approach to the semantics of iconicity in American Sign Language and English
A growing body of research shows that both signed and spoken languages display regular patterns of iconicity in their vocabularies. We compared iconicity in the lexicons of American Sign Language (ASL) and English by combining previously collected ratings of ASL signs (Caselli, Sevcikova Sehyr, Cohen-Goldberg, & Emmorey, 2017) and English words (Winter, Perlman, Perry, & Lupyan, 2017) with the use of data-driven semantic vectors derived from Engl…
Finding categories through words
What does a radical exemplar view not predict? A commentary on Ambridge (2020)
This article reviews two aspects of human learning: (1) people draw inferences that appear to rely on hierarchical conceptual representations; (2) some categories are much easier to learn than others given the same number of exemplars, and some categories remain difficult despite extensive training. Both of these results are difficult to reconcile with a learning and categorization system that operates only on specific exemplars. More generally, …
Cultural influences on word meanings revealed through large-scale semantic alignment
Gender stereotypes are reflected in the distributional structure of 25 languages
The Centrality of Language in Human Cognition
The emergence of language-a productive and combinatorial system of communication-has been hailed as one of the major transitions in evolution. By enabling symbolic culture, language allows humans to draw on and expand on the knowledge of their ancestors and peers. A common assumption among linguists and psychologists is that although language is critical to our ability to share our thoughts, it plays a minor, if any, role in generating, controlli…
Arbitrariness, Iconicity, and Systematicity in Language
Iconicity in English and Spanish and Its Relation to Lexical Category and Age of Acquisition
Signed languages exhibit iconicity (resemblance between form and meaning) across their vocabulary, and many non-Indo-European spoken languages feature sizable classes of iconic words known as ideophones. In comparison, Indo-European languages like English and Spanish are believed to be arbitrary outside of a small number of onomatopoeic words. In three experiments with English and two with Spanish, we asked native speakers to rate the iconicity o…
Words and the World
Can what we know change what we see? Does language affect cognition and perception? The last few years have seen increased attention to these seemingly disparate questions, but with little theoretical advance. We argue that substantial clarity can be gained by considering these questions through the lens of predictive processing, a framework in which mental representations—from the perceptual to the cognitive—reflect an interplay between downward…
Linguistically Modulated Perception and Cognition
How does language impact cognition and perception? A growing number of studies show that language, and specifically the practice of labeling, can exert extremely rapid and pervasive effects on putatively non-verbal processes such as categorization, visual discrimination, and even simply detecting the presence of a stimulus. Progress on the empirical front, however, has not been accompanied by progress in understanding the mechanisms by which lang…
What Do Words Do? Towards a Theory of Language-Augmented Thought
Provided for non-commercial research and educational use only. Not for reproduction, distribution or commercial use. This chapter was originally published in the book The Psychology of Learning and Motivation. The copy attached is provided by Elsevier for the author's benefit and for the benefit of the author's institution, for non-commercial research, and educational use. This includes without limitation use in instruction at your institution, d…
Language is not Just for Talking
In addition to having communicative functions, verbal labels may play a role in shaping concepts. Two experiments assessed whether the presence of labels affected category formation. Subjects learned to categorize “aliens” as those to be approached or those to be avoided. After accuracy feedback on each response was provided, a nonsense label was either presented or not. Providing nonsense category labels facilitated category learning even though…
Gender stereotypes are reflected in the distributional structure of 25 languages
Cultural influences on word meanings revealed through large-scale semantic alignment
The Centrality of Language in Human Cognition
The emergence of language-a productive and combinatorial system of communication-has been hailed as one of the major transitions in evolution. By enabling symbolic culture, language allows humans to draw on and expand on the knowledge of their ancestors and peers. A common assumption among linguists and psychologists is that although language is critical to our ability to share our thoughts, it plays a minor, if any, role in generating, controlli…
Differences in psychologists' cognitive traits are associated with scientific divides
Scientific research is often characterized by schools of thought. We investigate whether these divisions are associated with differences in researchers' cognitive traits such as tolerance for ambiguity. These differences may guide researchers to prefer different problems, tackle identical problems in different ways, and even reach different conclusions when studying the same problems in the same way. We surveyed 7,973 researchers in psychological…
What is conceptual engineering good for? The argument from nameability
It is often assumed that how we talk about the world matters a great deal. This is one reason why conceptual engineers seek to improve our linguistic practices by advocating novel uses of our words, or by inventing new ones altogether. A core idea shared by conceptual engineers is that by changing our language in this way, we can reap all sorts of cognitive and practical benefits, such as improving our theorizing, combating hermeneutical injustic…
Language is not Just for Talking
In addition to having communicative functions, verbal labels may play a role in shaping concepts. Two experiments assessed whether the presence of labels affected category formation. Subjects learned to categorize “aliens” as those to be approached or those to be avoided. After accuracy feedback on each response was provided, a nonsense label was either presented or not. Providing nonsense category labels facilitated category learning even though…
Linguistically Modulated Perception and Cognition
How does language impact cognition and perception? A growing number of studies show that language, and specifically the practice of labeling, can exert extremely rapid and pervasive effects on putatively non-verbal processes such as categorization, visual discrimination, and even simply detecting the presence of a stimulus. Progress on the empirical front, however, has not been accompanied by progress in understanding the mechanisms by which lang…
What Do Words Do? Towards a Theory of Language-Augmented Thought
Provided for non-commercial research and educational use only. Not for reproduction, distribution or commercial use. This chapter was originally published in the book The Psychology of Learning and Motivation. The copy attached is provided by Elsevier for the author's benefit and for the benefit of the author's institution, for non-commercial research, and educational use. This includes without limitation use in instruction at your institution, d…
Arbitrariness, Iconicity, and Systematicity in Language
Iconicity in English and Spanish and Its Relation to Lexical Category and Age of Acquisition
Signed languages exhibit iconicity (resemblance between form and meaning) across their vocabulary, and many non-Indo-European spoken languages feature sizable classes of iconic words known as ideophones. In comparison, Indo-European languages like English and Spanish are believed to be arbitrary outside of a small number of onomatopoeic words. In three experiments with English and two with Spanish, we asked native speakers to rate the iconicity o…
Words and the World
Can what we know change what we see? Does language affect cognition and perception? The last few years have seen increased attention to these seemingly disparate questions, but with little theoretical advance. We argue that substantial clarity can be gained by considering these questions through the lens of predictive processing, a framework in which mental representations—from the perceptual to the cognitive—reflect an interplay between downward…
The Centrality of Language in Human Cognition
The emergence of language-a productive and combinatorial system of communication-has been hailed as one of the major transitions in evolution. By enabling symbolic culture, language allows humans to draw on and expand on the knowledge of their ancestors and peers. A common assumption among linguists and psychologists is that although language is critical to our ability to share our thoughts, it plays a minor, if any, role in generating, controlli…
Effects of Language on Visual Perception
A data-driven approach to the semantics of iconicity in American Sign Language and English
A growing body of research shows that both signed and spoken languages display regular patterns of iconicity in their vocabularies. We compared iconicity in the lexicons of American Sign Language (ASL) and English by combining previously collected ratings of ASL signs (Caselli, Sevcikova Sehyr, Cohen-Goldberg, & Emmorey, 2017) and English words (Winter, Perlman, Perry, & Lupyan, 2017) with the use of data-driven semantic vectors derived from Engl…
Finding categories through words
What does a radical exemplar view not predict? A commentary on Ambridge (2020)
This article reviews two aspects of human learning: (1) people draw inferences that appear to rely on hierarchical conceptual representations; (2) some categories are much easier to learn than others given the same number of exemplars, and some categories remain difficult despite extensive training. Both of these results are difficult to reconcile with a learning and categorization system that operates only on specific exemplars. More generally, …
Cultural influences on word meanings revealed through large-scale semantic alignment
Gender stereotypes are reflected in the distributional structure of 25 languages
Gaps in the Lexicon Restrict Communication
Across languages, words carve up the world of experience in different ways. For example, English lacks an equivalent to the Chinese superordinate noun tiáowèipǐn, which is loosely translated as “ingredients used to season food while cooking.” Do such differences matter? A conventional label may offer a uniquely effective way of communicating. On the other hand, lexical gaps may be easily bridged by the compositional power of language. After all, …
Verbal interference paradigms
Explanations in the wild
Mind Melds
What determines whether two people represent something in a similar way? We examined the role of verbal labels in promoting representational alignment. Across two experiments, three groups of participants sorted novel shapes from two visually dissimilar categories. Prior to sorting, participants in two of the groups were pre-exposed to the shapes using a simple visual matching task designed to reinforce the visual category structure. In one of th…
Nameability supports rule-based category learning in children and adults
The present study tested the hypothesis that verbal labels support category induction by providing compact hypotheses. Ninety-seven 4- to 6-year-old children (M = 63.2 months; 46 female, 51 male; 77% White, 8% more than one race, 4% Asian, and 3% Black; tested 2018) and 90 adults (M = 20.1 years; 70 female, 20 male) in the Midwestern United States learned novel categories with features that were easy (e.g., “red”) or difficult (e.g., “mauve”) to …
What is conceptual engineering good for? The argument from nameability
It is often assumed that how we talk about the world matters a great deal. This is one reason why conceptual engineers seek to improve our linguistic practices by advocating novel uses of our words, or by inventing new ones altogether. A core idea shared by conceptual engineers is that by changing our language in this way, we can reap all sorts of cognitive and practical benefits, such as improving our theorizing, combating hermeneutical injustic…
What we mean when we say semantic
Tulving characterized semantic memory as a vast repository of meaning that underlies language and many other cognitive processes. This perspective on lexical and conceptual knowledge galvanized a new era of research undertaken by numerous fields, each with their own idiosyncratic methods and terminology. For example, “concept” has different meanings in philosophy, linguistics, and psychology. As such, many fundamental constructs used to delineate…
Differences in psychologists' cognitive traits are associated with scientific divides
Scientific research is often characterized by schools of thought. We investigate whether these divisions are associated with differences in researchers' cognitive traits such as tolerance for ambiguity. These differences may guide researchers to prefer different problems, tackle identical problems in different ways, and even reach different conclusions when studying the same problems in the same way. We surveyed 7,973 researchers in psychological…
Spontaneous mind-wandering thought content is less constrained than controlled stimulus-independent thought
How Important Is Language for Human-Like Intelligence
We use language to communicate our thoughts. But is language merely the expression of thoughts, which are themselves produced by other, nonlinguistic parts of our minds? Or does language play a more transformative role in human cognition, allowing us to have thoughts that we otherwise could (or would) not have? Recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive science have reinvigorated this old question. We argue that language ma…
The unity of sense and mind
If the sound of a trombone had a taste, would it be bitter? In what way is solving a puzzle like navigating a relationship? People consistently map information across sensory modalities and conceptual domains. Such cross-sensory and cross-conceptual mappings have tended to be studied separately. We argue here that these mappings share underlying mechanisms and are more interconnected than previously thought. We present evidence that these mapping…
Psychology (17 obras) · Cognitive psychology (13 obras) · Categorization, perception, and language (12 obras) · Linguistics (12 obras) · Cognition (11 obras) · Computer Science (11 obras) · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition (11 obras) · Cognitive science (8 obras) · Communication (7 obras) · Multisensory perception and integration (7 obras)