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THE INVISIBLE ODDNESS OF LANGUAGE
Abstract
Language can stimulate simulations of perception. But it is not yet clear how sequences of such perceptions can be integrated with one another, for example in response to sustained texts, such as literary texts. One possibility is that readers assume a version of the body endowed with extra powers, such as omniscience. But this account relies on implausible post hoc explanations. A second possibility is that the integration of perceptual simulations offline need be no more problematic than the integration of gappy and incomplete perceptual cues online. But online cues can be integrated through grounding in specific points in time and space. I propose that perceptual simulations can be integrated through patterns associated with language and texts themselves.
Keywords
Embodied, literary, text, language, perception, patterning, integration
THE INVISIBLE ODDNESS OF LANGUAGE
Introduction
Hearing and reading language can produce simulations of perception (examples include Kosslyn et al 2005 and Speer et al 2009).
These can be experienced both at and below the level of awareness. They include mental imagery, simulations of actions and the organisation of incoming information over time by perceptual event boundaries (examples include Kosslyn et al 2005, Hauk et al 2008, and Speer et al 2009). Work in the cognitive sciences has revealed an unexpected degree of overlap between the neural resources used for perception, and those used for perceptual simulations (Reddy et al 2009). In this essay I investigate the ways in which perceptual simulations generated by texts might be integrated, and suggest that this integration is different from the grounding of online perceptions in the body. I start by identifying some general differences between linguistic and perceptual input. Then I look at two differences between language and perception in more depth, using internal evidence...