Human creativity and ingenuity partly depend on divergent thinking -- the ability to generate many varied, original, and elaborate responses. Prior research has found ample evidence of an effect of cognitive factors, including the organization of semantic networks and associative ability, on divergent thinking. Less is known, however, about how…

In order for children to understand and reason about the world in an adult-like fashion, they need to learn that conceptual categories are organized in a hierarchical fashion (e.g., a dog is also an animal). While children learn from their first-hand observation of the world, social knowledge transmission via language can also play an important…

This study investigates how figurative language is processed by learners of a second language (L2). With an experiment testing L2 comprehension of figurative expressions in three categories, each combining shared and unshared first language (L1) and L2 lexical representations and conceptual representations in a different way, the study…

Children learn language by finding verbal expression for their immediate needs. Material wants, a desire to interact with others, and an impulse to explore their world are three dominant needs. (CK)

It has been understood for decades that language and thought are closely related. If one accepts that the thoughts that we construct are based upon the language that we speak and the words that we use, then it follows that the language that we speak influences the way that we think. It is necessary that we possess the words to describe objects,…