WITH THE FUTURE BEHIND THEM

Analysis of the language and gesture of South America's indigenous Aymara people indicates a reverse concept of time. Contrary to what had been thought a cognitive universal among humans - a spatial metaphor for time that places the future ahead of oneself and the past behind - the Amerindian group from the Andes locates this imaginary abstraction the other way around: with the past in front of them and the future behind. The study, published in the current issue of the journal Cognitive Science, was led by Embodied Cognition Laboratory director Rafael Núñez

For details on the research study, see This Week@UCSD or the UCSD NewsRelease. The research was also featured in articles in:

• New York Times
• San Diego Union-Tribune
• Science

• NPR's "Living on Earth"
• BBC World Service
• CBC's/NPR's "As It Happens"