US-Germany Cooperative Research: International: Embodied Processing of Verbal and Numerical Information

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

0233175 Glenburg This award supports the PI and graduate students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in a collaboration with Mike Rinck of the Institute for General Psychology at the Technical University of Dresden, Germany. The combined efforts of the German and US groups will test the hypothesis that understanding of language is action based and extends the hypothesis to the domain of numerical cognition. According to the theory, words and phrases are indexed to perceptual symbols or actual objects in the environment. Ultimately, understanding language is understanding the actions described to the implications for action in the situation described. Recent work has supported the hypothesis for English, and the present work will test it for German. This work has considerable implication for both basic and applied research. The project also has an educational objective. The project will allow the graduate students involved to benefit from performing research in another country. They will develop a heightened appreciation of the world around them while also learning important new technical skills.