Gestalt language processing

Scripts and episodic memory

For gestalt language processors, a phrase is often tied to the moment it was first heard: a whole experience stored together, drawing on episodic memory. A line from a favourite show might carry the feeling of that scene, so saying it can mean something much bigger than the words themselves.

Over time, chunks can be broken down, mixed and rebuilt into flexible, self-generated language.

All communication has a function

Whatever shape or form communication takes, whether a script, a repeated phrase, a gesture or a single word, it is doing something for the person: connecting, sharing a feeling, asking, protesting, remembering together. The most useful response is to treat it as communication and respond to what it’s doing, not what it sounds like.

An area still building

Research into gestalt language processing is still building, and understanding continues to grow through study and everyday observation. What’s steady underneath is the principle above: every way of communicating counts.