Language can shape how you think in subtle and profound ways. But most researchers only study English speakers.
  • There is a flaw in brain research: ignoring languages other than English.
  • Language influences perception, memory, mathematics and decision making.
  • Piraha natives of the Amazon are not very good at arithmetic compared to native English speakers.
  • Different languages have different vocabularies and categories of words to describe feelings, which correlates with differences in the perception of the environment.
  • Language influences how people remember accidents and how they interact with the world.
  • Grammatical structures ultimately influence how people process information.
  • So far, there is no consensus on the direction in which the influence of language on thinking extends.
  • It is important to focus on the universal aspects of cognition in order to understand what shapes a language, cognition or culture.