@article {307432, title = {Language and thought are not the same thing: Evidence from neuroimaging and neurological patients}, journal = {Annals of the NY Academy of Sciences}, volume = {1369}, year = {2016}, month = {04/2016}, pages = {132-53}, abstract = {

Is\ thought\ possible without\ language? Individuals with global aphasia, who have almost no ability to understand or produce\ language, provide a powerful opportunity to find out. Surprisingly, despite their near-total loss of\ language, these individuals are nonetheless able to add and subtract, solve logic problems, think about another person{\textquoteright}s thoughts, appreciate music, and successfully navigate their environments. Further, neuroimaging studies show that healthy adults strongly engage the brain{\textquoteright}s\ language\ areas when they understand a sentence, but not when they perform other nonlinguistic tasks such as arithmetic, storing information in working memory, inhibiting prepotent responses, or listening to music. Together, these two complementary lines of evidence provide a clear answer: many aspects of\ thought\ engage distinct brain regions from, and do not depend on,\ language.

}, keywords = {aphasia; cognitive control; executive functions; fMRI; functional specificity; language; music; navigation; neuropsychology; numerical cognition; semantics; syntax; theory of mind}, doi = { 10.1111/nyas.13046}, author = {Fedorenko, E and Varley, R} }