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Language and the Evolution of Cognition

Gärdenfors, Peter LU (1995)
Abstract
The main purpose of this article is to discuss the kinds of mental representations that are required for language to evolve. Firstly, I distinguish between cued and detached representations. A cued representation stands for something that is present in the current external situation of the representing organism, while a detached representation may stand for objects or events that are neither present in the current situation nor triggered by some recent situation. The inner environment of an agent is deÞned as the collection of all detached representations of the agent. The fundamental difference between signal and a symbol is that the reference of a symbol is a detached representation, while a signal refers to a cued representation. Icons... (More)
The main purpose of this article is to discuss the kinds of mental representations that are required for language to evolve. Firstly, I distinguish between cued and detached representations. A cued representation stands for something that is present in the current external situation of the representing organism, while a detached representation may stand for objects or events that are neither present in the current situation nor triggered by some recent situation. The inner environment of an agent is deÞned as the collection of all detached representations of the agent. The fundamental difference between signal and a symbol is that the reference of a symbol is a detached representation, while a signal refers to a cued representation. Icons also refer to detached representations, but unlike symbols, the choice of representation is not arbitrary, since an icon in some aspects resembles the thing it represents (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Cognitive Studies
ISSN
1101-8453
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
326f0890-3faf-41a2-8e13-639dd0933b24 (old id 526164)
alternative location
http://www.lucs.lu.se/ftp/pub/LUCS_Studies/LUCS41.ps
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 09:43:52
date last changed
2018-11-21 20:55:15
@misc{326f0890-3faf-41a2-8e13-639dd0933b24,
  abstract     = {{The main purpose of this article is to discuss the kinds of mental representations that are required for language to evolve. Firstly, I distinguish between cued and detached representations. A cued representation stands for something that is present in the current external situation of the representing organism, while a detached representation may stand for objects or events that are neither present in the current situation nor triggered by some recent situation. The inner environment of an agent is deÞned as the collection of all detached representations of the agent. The fundamental difference between signal and a symbol is that the reference of a symbol is a detached representation, while a signal refers to a cued representation. Icons also refer to detached representations, but unlike symbols, the choice of representation is not arbitrary, since an icon in some aspects resembles the thing it represents}},
  author       = {{Gärdenfors, Peter}},
  issn         = {{1101-8453}},
  keywords     = {{Cognitive Studies}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  title        = {{Language and the Evolution of Cognition}},
  url          = {{http://www.lucs.lu.se/ftp/pub/LUCS_Studies/LUCS41.ps}},
  year         = {{1995}},
}