--- On Thu, 9/4/08, Chris Doss <lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> We need neuroscience to tell us that people respond to
> symbols and buzzwords?
>
[ws:] That was not what I said. I said that neuroscience shows that symbols are materially ingrained in our neural structures, that is - being exposed to certain types of imagery changes our neural "hardwiring" in way to make us more responsive that imagery in the future. In short, thinking in a certain way changes our brains in a way that favors thinking that way.
That if very different from treating symbols and language as "software" that runs indepnendently of and has no effect on the brain's "hardware". If we were to use the computer metaphor, this would be a situation that using certain type of software materially changes the hardware (aking to visible traces left by frequently used screen displays on old CRT monitors) and dos it in a way that makes using that particular software easier, and running otehr software programs more difficult.
Read the Lakoff's book I recommended.
Wojtek