CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN
COGNITION & NEUROSCIENCES/ConnexConnex

A long Western tradition in philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience has assumed a universal about the human mind: We experience space primarily egocentrically (in terms of left/right/front/back). But, thinking about space egocentrically may not be universal. Speakers of many indigenous languages prefer to use geocentric directions, rather than egocentric ones, to talk and think about even small-scale space (e.g. “The fork is to the west of the spoon”). These findings suggest that preference for egocentric spatial cognition, rather than being a universal aspect of human minds, might be a cognitive style that is learned only in some human groups. If so, how do some humans learn to think egocentrically? On one influential view, egocentric thinking is a ‘Whorfian’ effect of language on cognition: Preferring to talk egocentrically causes people to also think egocentrically, even when not using language. On an alternative view, egocentric language and thinking may arise from third, non-linguistic variables: For example, material culture associated with urbanism (e.g. print media, roads) might cause people to prefer egocentric frames of reference both in language and cognition. Here, I will present data failing to support the linguistic origin view, at both developmental and historical timescales. First, urban German children think egocentrically long before they learn to speak egocentrically – suggesting that egocentric language is not necessary for children to learn egocentric thinking. Second, unlike what has been documented more than a decade ago, Hai||om people from rural Namibia, who have been known to prefer geocentric frames of reference both in language and cognition, now prefer to use egocentric frames of reference in thinking, but not in language – suggesting that a linguistic shift is not necessary for a cognitive shift to egocentric thinking. Together, these findings suggest egocentric language may not be the factor that changes humans to egocentric thinkers, both at the timescale of developmental change and at the timescale of historical change. Non-linguistic cultural factors, such as increased contact with urban material culture, might promote egocentric spatial thinking. Together, these results show that culture shapes our minds in one of the fundamental domains of cognition.

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