Bridging Language and Consciousness: Insights from Brains, Minds, and Machines

Language and consciousness are highly intertwined hallmarks of human cognition, but the precise nature of their relationship is yet to be understood. Indeed, the debate about the relationship between language and consciousness involves several disciplines. The philosophical debate focuses on the language of thought and the role of language in higher-order consciousness. On the other hand, psychological sciences study the impact of language (e.g., inner speech) on perception and neurosciences investigate the brain networks linking language and consciousness. Again, computational models simulate and reproduce language and conscious processes in artificial systems, thus creating a bridge between the human mind and machines. Finally, large language models robotic architectures take advantage of knowledge about language and consciousness (natural language processing, cognitive robotics, machine consciousness, etc.), providing deep insights into the human mind. This highly interdisciplinary research topic brings together high-quality research to capture the state-of-arts and stimulate the investigations into how linguistic processes interact with conscious processes, from philosophical, psychological, neuroscientific, modeling, and technological perspectives.

The goal of this Topic is to bring together experts across different disciplines, thus stimulating the reciprocal influences between language and consciousness studies. In particular, this collection aims to clarify how linguistic processes interact with various dimensions of conscious experience (e.g., self-awareness, perceptual experience, subjective reportability, and volitional/intentional processes), thus uncovering the neural and computational mechanisms underlying this interaction. Last, this collection aims to consider a technological perspective that highlights the reciprocal influence of language-guided and conscious-like machines and human minds. We invite contributions from a vast range of disciplines: linguistics, philosophy of mind, psychology (cognitive, developmental, evolutionary, comparative), neuroscience (cognitive neuroscience, clinical neuropsychology, neurology), computational modeling (cognitive modeling, robotics, artificial intelligence), robotics and AI (e.g., cognitive robotics, machine consciousness, large language models). Furthermore, we welcome all kinds of approaches: experimental studies, theoretical analyses, computational models, robotic and AI applications. We especially encourage contributions that bridge different frameworks and/or that provide new insights, challenge existing paradigms, or propose novel methods for investigating the relationships between language and consciousness.

Possible themes include, but are not limited to:
• The nature, function, and neural basis of inner speech and its role in conscious thought.
• How language influences perception, cognition, and consciousness (linguistic relativity and the Sapir-Worf hypothesis).
• Similarity and differences between the neural bases of language and those of consciousness.
• The role of language in the development of self-consciousness and the theory of mind.
• Evolutionary and comparative perspectives on the co-emergence of language and complex forms of consciousness.
• Philosophical accounts of how language relates to phenomenal and access consciousness, and the "language of thought" debate.
• Impact of language disorders (e.g., aphasia) or differences (e.g., bilingualism) on conscious experience.
• Embodied, enactive, and situated approaches to language and consciousness.
• Computational models (cognitive, neuro-inspired, and/or bio-plausible approach), Artificial Intelligence systems and robotic approaches exploring language-consciousness interactions.
• The possibility of the development of forms of consciousness in Large Language Models.
• The impact of LLM on human language and self-consciousness