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The Whorfian mind : Electrophysiological evidence that language shapes perception

Athanasopoulos, Panos LU ; Wiggett, Alison ; Dering, Benjamin ; Kuipers, Jan Rouke and Thierry, Guillaume (2009) In Communicative and Integrative Biology 2(4). p.332-334
Abstract
Color perception has been a traditional test-case of the idea that the language we speak affects our perception of the world. It is now established that categorical perception of color is verbally mediated and varies with culture and language. However, it is unknown whether the well-demonstrated language effects on color discrimination really reach down to the level of visual perception, or whether they only reflect post-perceptual cognitive processes. Using brain potentials in a color oddball detection task with Greek and English speakers, we demonstrate that language effects may exist at a level that is literally perceptual, suggesting that speakers of different languages have differently structured minds.
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author
; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Communicative and Integrative Biology
volume
2
issue
4
pages
3 pages
publisher
Landes Bioscience
external identifiers
  • scopus:69249129126
ISSN
1942-0889
DOI
10.4161/cib.2.4.8400
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
a0f39e11-fad3-4ba8-9e7f-b4d69c6e4f83
date added to LUP
2024-09-19 11:18:01
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:39:37
@article{a0f39e11-fad3-4ba8-9e7f-b4d69c6e4f83,
  abstract     = {{Color perception has been a traditional test-case of the idea that the language we speak affects our perception of the world. It is now established that categorical perception of color is verbally mediated and varies with culture and language. However, it is unknown whether the well-demonstrated language effects on color discrimination really reach down to the level of visual perception, or whether they only reflect post-perceptual cognitive processes. Using brain potentials in a color oddball detection task with Greek and English speakers, we demonstrate that language effects may exist at a level that is literally perceptual, suggesting that speakers of different languages have differently structured minds.}},
  author       = {{Athanasopoulos, Panos and Wiggett, Alison and Dering, Benjamin and Kuipers, Jan Rouke and Thierry, Guillaume}},
  issn         = {{1942-0889}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{332--334}},
  publisher    = {{Landes Bioscience}},
  series       = {{Communicative and Integrative Biology}},
  title        = {{The Whorfian mind : Electrophysiological evidence that language shapes perception}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cib.2.4.8400}},
  doi          = {{10.4161/cib.2.4.8400}},
  volume       = {{2}},
  year         = {{2009}},
}