What's Cognitive About Rhetoric?

Our capacity for mimesis -- the capacity to represent experiences and states-of-affairs in iconic and indexical formats under strict bodily control -- molds later symbolic thought and action. Culture is not the initial product of language, language is the product of a particular manifestation of Mimetic Culture.

Van Evera Oakley, Todd. Social Science Research Network (2008). Articles>Rhetoric>Research>Cognitive Psychology