Roman Feiman
Department of Linguistics
Brown University

Towards a theory of thought: How compositional semantics can inform psychology

When we speak, we express thoughts. When other people understand what we say, they have reverse-engineered what we were thinking. Psychologists have long been interested in what thoughts are, while linguists have been interested in characterizing the meanings of linguistic expressions. In this talk, I’ll argue for a methodology for psychologists who are interested in thinking: take up linguists’ formal theories of meaning as candidate computational-level descriptions of thought. I’ll share experimental work that takes this approach, and give examples of how it can shed light on long-standing debates in psychology: which kinds of reasoning are natural, and whether thought precedes or co-develops with language.

Trainees are invited to join the speaker, along with our MindCORE speaker Jesse Snedeker, for brunch on Friday morning at 10:30am before the 12pm MindCORE Seminar. To sign up, please email: pennmindcore@sas.upenn.edu.