Lecture discusses use of metaphors

Some people say their relationship is "at a dead end;" some say that they are "saving time;" and some brag about "winning arguments."\nWe rarely mean these metaphors in a literal sense. But University of California-Berkeley linguistics professor George Lakoff said he believes these metaphors are important signals about how the brain works.\nLakoff, who received his Ph.D. in linguistics from IU in 1966, spoke on "Embodied Mind, Embodied Language: An Overview of Cognitive Linguistics" Monday afternoon. An overflowing crowd of students and faculty listened to the lecture in Room 101 of the psychology building.\nMetaphors help shape our perceptions of the world, Lakoff said. These metaphors can cause problems -- in relationships, for example.\n"Metaphors define what's going wrong in a marriage," he said. \nHe said if one spouse defines marriage as a partnership, that spouse will expect equal burden-sharing. But if the other spouse talks about marriage as a journey, then he or she will have a different set of expectations.\nLakoff said we use thousands of metaphors unconsciously. He argued that these metaphors come from the physical structure of the brain and the way in which different neurons link themselves together.\nMetaphorical speech reflects the structure of the brain, he said. Calling his work "a neural theory of language," Lakoff said all metaphors eventually relate back to physical experience.\nHe suggested we link "more" with "up" because those two events often happen together. When we fill a glass with water, adding more water makes the water level go up, connecting the concepts. \nThe metaphor follows naturally, and, in Lakoff's opinion, explains why we describe the temperature as going "up" when it's hotter outside, among other common sayings.\nA related topic Lakoff spoke on was the relationship between physical actions and human emotion.\nHe said the neural structures which relate to motion, spatial awareness and other physical experiences and actions form the basis for human reason. These neural structures create concepts like "motion" and "containment" -- the same concepts that occur in metaphors around the world.\nLakoff linked language and the brain's structure to empathy. Certain types of brain cells, called "mirror neurons," activate when you watch people doing certain tasks, he said.\n"Suppose you see somebody is angry," Lakoff said. "Via the mirror neurons, the same neurons (which express anger) in you will be active."\nShawn Hurst, a graduate student in anthropology who attended the lecture, said Lakoff's theory of empathy made intuitive sense. \n"When you care for someone and you see they're in pain, doesn't it feel physically painful?" Hurst said. \nFrom this, Lakoff criticizes traditional philosophies. Ideas such as utilitarianism, social contract theory and evolutionary psychology are based on a false assumption, he said. \nMost philosophies "take self-interest for granted," Lakoff said. Because of this, philosophers have had to invent "stories" to explain altruism. \n"You see physical states in other beings and they activate emotional correlates in you," Lakoff said. "We have a biological basis for empathy."\nTelecommunications assistant professor Julia Cox attended the lecture because Lakoff's research complements her work in cognitive and emotional responses to media. \n"The idea of cognition being tied to our physical bodies isn't new," Cox said, but Lakoff's talk represented "a different way of thinking."\nCox said many experts think children have to develop empathy independently. Thus, these experts think children are vulnerable to manipulation by television advertisements.\n-- Contact staff writer Paul Musgrave at rpmusgra@indiana.edu.