Drawing on philosophy and linguistics, cognitive scientists have begun to see the basic metaphors that we use all the time not just as turns of phrase, but as keys to the structure of thought. By taking these everyday metaphors as literally as possible, psychologists are upending traditional ideas of how we learn, reason, and make sense of the world around us. The result has been a torrent of research testing the links between metaphors and their physical roots...Metaphors are only a minuscule part of the various aspects of language to draw from, but they are unique, because in light of this research on the physical, they offer a way to test that influence. For example, the article cites how researchers have found that sitting on a hard surface while solving a problem makes the problem harder to solve (I'm picturing a group of people in suits sitting in an uncomfortable conference room discussing complex financial strategies for a company).
But what I find more interesting--and perhaps, more relevant--is how this same research could be applied to digitality and how it is beginning to create links between the structure of language and thought. With digitality, you lose that physical influence, and are left with textual, visual, and spacial cues that can inhabit an infinite number of forms. Let's take our group of uncomfortable businessmen out of the conference room, put them into their comfy office chairs, and have them meet in a virtual room (I'm thinking something similar to Second Life) that is free from hard chairs, icy stares, and other physical influences. How is the task perceived now? Individually or collectively, what kind of metaphors would they draw from occupying a digital space? This is what cognitive research needs to answer.
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