Can language restructure cognition? The case for space

Frames of reference are coordinate systems used tocompute and specify the location of objects withrespect to other objects. These have long been thoughtof as innate concepts, built into our neurocognition.However, recent work shows that the use of suchframes in language, cognition and gesture varies crossculturally,and that children can acquire different systemswith comparable ease. We argue that languagecan play a significant role in structuring, or restructuring,a domain as fundamental as spatial cognition. Thissuggests we need to rethink the relation between theneurocognitive underpinnings of spatial cognition andthe concepts we use in everyday thinking, and, moregenerally, to work out how to account for cross-culturalcognitive diversity in core cognitive domains