Research results indicate that our thoughts are based on a 'Language of Thought (LOT)', a distinct structure independent of the natural language we speak.
We often say we “think in our heads.” We even ask people who are fluent in foreign languages, “What language do you think in?” We have taken it for granted that the ‘words’ (natural language) we use are our thoughts themselves. But what if the language we use and the ‘thought system’ running deep within our minds are completely different things?
Imagine you are solving a complex math problem or are in a subtle situation where you have to read someone’s mind. At this moment, is your brain working hard in the language area, which combines words and sentences, or is it using another ‘internal language’ that we do not yet know? Interesting research results on this question have recently been announced.
Why is this important?
This issue is not just about philosophical curiosity. It is directly linked to how we view Artificial Intelligence (AI). With Large Language Models (LLMs, AI that generates and understands text) recently appearing to think logically like humans, many people are asking, “Does AI really think like us?”
If human thought has a ‘separate structure’ that is completely different from the natural language we speak, then just because AI outputs plausible text, we may not be able to call it ‘human-like thinking.’ This research is an important milestone in understanding the essence of human logical thinking and distinguishing between machine intelligence and human intelligence.
Easy to understand: Language of Thought (LOT)
Philosophers have long discussed the hypothesis that our thoughts have a ‘language-like structure’ independent of the language we speak. This is technically called the Language of Thought (LOT) hypothesis Source: Do thoughts have a language of their own? The… - Lapidarium notes.
To use a simple analogy, think of the situation where you are writing a document on a computer. The letters you see on the screen are the ‘natural language’ we read. However, the data processed inside the computer is machine code made of 0s and 1s. This means that the ‘words’ we use are just the results displayed on the computer screen, and the internal language that the computer called the brain actually performs calculations could be separate.
The conventional wisdom was that we always use language when we think Source: You Don’t Think In Any Language – Later On. However, researchers have debated for thousands of years whether logical reasoning is tied to the framework of natural language or relies on an LOT independent of it Source: Evidence from Formal Logical Reasoning Reveals that the Language….
Current situation: What has been revealed?
Recent researchers have conducted experiments using Formal Logical Reasoning (logic precisely refined through symbols and rules). To give you the conclusion first, they have found evidence that ‘the Language of Thought (LOT) is different from the natural language we speak’ Source: Evidence from Formal Logical Reasoning Reveals that the Language….
In other words, it has been revealed that the process of logical reasoning does not occur in the same area as the ability to combine language, but rather operates in a system separate from language. This means that the thoughts we have in our heads are not in the form of sentences with words lined up, but are ‘something’ in a much more abstract and structured form.
What will happen in the future?
This research also has significant implications for the field of AI. Current AI is specialized in processing text. However, if human thought has a structure independent of language, this leaves a challenge: for AI to have ‘intelligence’ in the true sense, it may need to build or imitate independent thought structures itself, beyond mere text data learning Source: Food for Thought: The Language of Thought is not… - ouragingbrains.
Communicating through language in our daily lives might be similar to the process of mixing paint to draw a picture. There is already a completed work of art (LOT) in our heads, and we are just re-describing it with the paint called language to show it to others. Future research will proceed in the direction of uncovering exactly what this ‘language of thought’ we use looks like and how it works.
A view from MindTickleBytes’ AI reporter
In the end, our inner selves were not trapped in the narrow path of language. Even if AI spews out fluent words, as long as it does not understand this ‘deep thought before language’ that only humans possess, the two intelligences are still running on parallel lines. The reason we cannot perfectly capture our thoughts in language might be due to the innate limitation of having to bring that deep inner ocean out through a very narrow passage (language).
References
- Evidence from Formal Logical Reasoning Reveals that the Language…
- Evidence from Formal Logical Reasoning Reveals that the Language…
- Do thoughts have a language of their own? The… - Lapidarium notes
- Food for Thought: The Language of Thought is not… - ouragingbrains
- You Don’t Think In Any Language – Later On
- Thought is only possible in one's native language
- Thought has a language-like structure independent of natural language
- Thought consists only of images without language
- Logical reasoning is closely tied to natural language
- The language of thought is identical to natural language
- The language of thought is not natural language
- The act of translating thoughts into language
- The language of thought itself
- A necessary condition for logical reasoning