Abstract concepts, language and sociality: from acquisition to inner speech
Open accessAbstract
The problem of representation of abstract concepts, such as ‘freedom’ and ‘justice’, has become particularly crucial in recent years, owing to the increased success of embodied and grounded views of cognition. We will present a novel view on abstract concepts and abstract words. Since abstract concepts do not have single objects as referents, children and adults might rely more on input from others to learn them; we, therefore, suggest that linguistic and social experience play an important role for abstract concepts. We will discuss evidence obtained in our and other laboratories showing that processing of abstract concepts evokes linguistic interaction and social experiences, leading to the activation of the mouth motor system. We will discuss the possible mechanisms that underlie this activation. Mouth motor system activation can be due to re-enactment of the experience of conceptual acquisition, which occurred through the mediation of language. Alternatively, it could be due to the re-explanation of the word meaning, possibly through inner speech. Finally, it can be due to a metacognitive process revealing low confidence in the meaning of our concepts. This process induces in us the need to rely on others to ask/negotiate conceptual meaning. We conclude that with abstract concepts language works as a social tool: it extends our thinking abilities and pushes us to rely on others to integrate our knowledge. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use, and representation in the brain’.
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Inner speech can underpin social metacognition, a mechanism for preparing to interact with others to ask for information, understand what they intend, or negotiate concepts and word meanings.
“Similarly, IS can underpin social metacognition, a mechanism for preparing to interact with others to ask for information, understand what they intend (i.e., accessing the content of their concepts), or negotiate concepts and word meanings [23,67,71] (Figure 2).”
From Inner speech as language process and cognitive tool (2023) · cites this paper as [67]
The ‘Inner speech’ section proposes that inner speech can prepare someone to interact with others when uncertain of their knowledge. ‘Inner grounding’ links social metacognition to seeking others’ input, and ‘Inner grounding and language: evidence’ predicts preparation to ask or negotiate conceptual meaning. The paper does not specifically say that this process helps us understand others’ intentions or access the content of their concepts. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredInner speech is proposed to be crucial both during the acquisition and processing of abstract concepts.
“Mouth activation in such studies may betray the involvement of IS, proposed to be crucial both during the acquisition and processing of abstract concepts [25,67].”
From Inner speech as language process and cognitive tool (2023) · cites this paper as [67]
The “Inner speech” section proposes that processing abstract concepts likely involves inner speech. The Abstract and Introduction describe linguistic and social input as important for acquiring abstract concepts, but do not specifically assign that role to inner speech; the paper also presents inner speech as a possible mechanism rather than establishing it as crucial. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredDuring abstract concept processing, the mouth motor system is activated.
“Various evidence reveals that, during abstract concept processing, the mouth motor system is activated: for example, people are faster when responding to abstract concepts with the mouth than with the hands, unlike with concrete concepts (reviewed in [67,68]).”
From Inner speech as language process and cognitive tool (2023) · cites this paper as [67]
Inner speech can facilitate the acquisition and processing of abstract concepts such as 'freedom' or 'justice' compared to concrete concepts.
“Several studies suggest that IS can facilitate the acquisition and processing of abstract concepts such as 'freedom' or 'justice' compared to concrete concepts, which have more obvious perceptual dimensions and typically take a single object as referent.”
From Inner speech as language process and cognitive tool (2023) · cites this paper as [67]
Wine experts' expertise-specific advantage in recognizing wine odors was not mediated by language.
“Experts were better at recognizing odors of wines, but not wine-related and common odors, and their expertise-specific advantage was not mediated by language.”
From Inner speech as language process and cognitive tool (2023) · cites this paper as [66]
The cited paper’s ‘Inner grounding and language: evidence’ section discusses abstract concepts, sensory dimensions, and linguistic acquisition, not wine-odor recognition. Searches for wine experts, odor recognition, and language mediation found no passage addressing the claimed expertise-specific advantage. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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- Authors
- Borghi, A. M., Barca, L., Binkofski, F., & Tummolini, L.
- Affiliations
- National Research Council (IT)
- Universitätsklinikum Aachen (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Borghi, Anna M.
- Venue
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2018-06-18
- Volume
- 373
- Issue
- 1752
- Pages
- 20170134
- ISSN
- 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-2970
- PMC
- PMC6015830
- OpenAlex
- W2808212810
- Cited by
- 85
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 1
- Type
- conference abstract
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- IRIS Research product catalog (Sapienza University of Rome) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Sapienza University of Rome (RG11715C7F1549F7)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Categorization, perception, and language
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Keywords
- abstract concepts, abstract words, conceptual development, inner speech, social cognition, embodied cognition, grounded cognition, metacognition, social learning
- MeSH terms
- Concept Formation, Humans, Language, Social Behavior, Speech
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