Stanislas Dehaene tries to explain how when we read a word, the brain gathers and relays information to multiple networks:
Take the verb “bite.” As you remember what it means, your mind briskly evokes the body parts involved: the mouth and teeth, their movements, and perhaps also the pain associated with being bitten. All of these fragments of gesture, motion, and sensation are bound together under the heading “bite.” This link works in both directions: we pronounce the word whenever we talk about this peculiar series of events, but to hear or read the word brings on a swarm of meanings…
Perhaps the easiest way to describe how activation spreads through the dozens of fragments of meaning dispersed in the brain is to compare it to a tidal bore. Some rivers are subject, twice a day, at high tide, to a peculiar phenomenon whereby the leading edge of a massive wave reaches deep into their estuaries. If conditions are right, the wave can travel dozens of miles upstream. No salt water ever reaches this far inland—the tidal bore simply relays a distant rise in water level that spreads in synchrony into the river’s entire system. Only an airplane or satellite can get the true measure of this beautiful natural phenomenon. For a few minutes, a whole network of streams is simultaneously swollen by a powerful surge of water, simply because they all flow into the same sea.
A written or spoken word probably activates fragments of meaning in the brain in much the same way that a tidal bore invades a whole riverbed.
Just stumbled on this seemingly excellent blog and the top post (quoting a blog quoting a book, so many frames of reference) refers to the idea that thoughts are like ripples in water, rebounding off objects and other memories - made-up words don't mean anything, but resonant words will grow in magnitude and impact, depending on your own personal experiences.
Fascinating idea. Must go make more tea and ponder.
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