Natsumi Wada: To the Universe Expanding Inside Your Mind

2023/02/23

I want to see the world inside the mind—.

I grew up moving back and forth between two languages and two physical modes: sign language and spoken/written language. As I encountered translation, interpretation, and thought composed of language in these two worlds, I became interested in the "Umwelt" (self-centered world) formed by bodily sensations and its cognition. In particular, I am very interested in the unknown expansion of "inner speech." Sign language is a language that begins with finding things in the world through pointing and visually tracing their shapes and movements; it expresses memories through the body and has been formed as a natural language through interaction. Between a language that developed by naming various things and a language that developed through imitation and transference, the characteristics of each language differ significantly because the sensory origins of the languages are different.

Now, please let me conduct a small experiment.

"You have decided to go to Yakushima starting tomorrow. Please prepare for your trip to Yakushima."

Please close your eyes and think for about 30 seconds... Are you ready? Now, what kind of scene did you imagine at that moment?

When I ask this question, I get a wide variety of answers. Some recall the feel of a pencil while writing a packing list; some imagine themselves being equipped with necessary items while heading to Yakushima; some feel the damp humidity at the base of a Jomon Sugi cedar; and some see items being packed into a translucent bag. The linguistic world inside the mind is called "inner speech." My interest lies in the richness of the sensory modalities within this world of inner speech. Some recall the sensation of a moving pencil or damp humidity—tactile or somatosensory memories—while others experience images, photographs, or the sounds of words; there is a vast and diverse universe expanding within the mind.

Recollection expanding from sensations, language born through the trial and error of trying to share with someone—through language acquisition, we connect with the world and become able to create countless connections ourselves. What kind of world connections are born from languages with different sensory bases? And what if sensations that have not yet been accumulated as language were to grow within mutual relationships...?

I feel that there are countless unseen worlds within both you and me.