ABSTRACT
Language is a marvelous tool for communication, but it is greatly overrated as a tool for thought. The subscript indicates that the paint going on the wall is the same paint that Sam is spraying. Propositions are popular among cognitive scientists because they represent meaning in a uniform notation, without the specific details used to express the meaning. A dramatically different approach is the perceptual symbols theory proposed by Barsalou. In contrast, perceptual symbols are retrieved by reenacting or simulating perceptual experiences. The growth of cognitive neuroscience has contributed greatly to our understanding of cognitive processes by identifying which parts of the brain are used to perform a variety of cognitive tasks. The simulation hypothesis is simply that the same neurons that produce the initial perceptual experience can be reactivated to produce a reenactment of that experience. Many neuroscientists have provided compelling support for perceptual simulation through neuroimaging studies.
