思维与语言的关系:来自认知神经科学的证据

Thinking and Language: Evidences from Cognitive Neuroscience

在有关人类心智的研究中,思维与语言的关系始终是一个复杂而重要的课题。借助于新的技术手段和研究思路,当代认知神经科学从新的角度探讨了这个古老而神秘的课题。其研究的基本逻辑是:如果某种特定的思维过程(比如简单的算术运算或者三段论推理)在本质上是“语言的”,那么,在进行这种思维活动时,大脑中负责语言信息处理的区域就会参与;反之,如果某种思维过程在本质上是“空间的”,则大脑中负责空间信息处理的区域就会参与其中。结合来自直观的脑功能图谱证据与其它的跨领域证据(如来自行为实验和脑损伤研究的证据),能够帮助我们更加深入地认识和理解思维与语言的关系问题。

As a basic and important research topic on brain and mind, the relationship between thinking and language still remains unspecified. With the help of new technique and methods, recent cognitive neuroscience provides new insight on this topic. The research logic in this study is, if a thinking process (e.g., the simple arithmetic or syllogism) is “language” in its nature, then the brain areas that participate in language information processing will involve in this process. On the contrary, if a thinking process is “spatial” in nature, then the “special” area will be highlighted in the thinking process. These neuroimaging evidences, together with other evidences (such as the behavioural ones and the brain-damaged ones) enable us to obtain a new comprehension on the relationship between thinking and language.