EXTRACOMMUNICATIVE FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE:VERBAL INTERFERENCE CAUSES CATEGORIZATIONIMPAIRMENTS

摘要

A question that is centrally linked to the study of language evolution iswhether language facilitates or makes possible certain cognitive acts. Such ex-tra-communicative conceptions of language (e.g., Clark, 1998) argue that inaddition to its adaptive value as a communicative tool, language may haveevolved, in part, as a cognitive aid. One source of evidence for this claim comesfrom the study of aphasic patients, who have been observed to suffer not onlyfrom communication deficits that define aphasia, but also on a wide-range oftasks that do not require the overt use of language. Indeed, observations thataphasic patients suffer deficits on a range of nonverbal tasks have led some toconclude that one of the main function of language is the ability to "fixatethoughts," and thus "defect in language may damage thinking" (Goldstein,1948, p.115).