Perception as a Context for Conceptual Processing and Language Understanding

In the research on language understanding, context is defined in terms of words that help to construct the meaning of the target word or passage of text. Here, it is argued that the definition of context in language understanding should be broader in order to incorporate perception as an essential component of meaning. A theory of perceptual symbol systems is provided as a framework for understanding the role of perception in solving the symbol grounding problem for higher-level cognition. Theory posits that symbolic thought acquires its meaning only through reactivation of perceptual experiences of objects or states in the world to which the though refers to. Empirical evidence supporting the theory is also reviewed