This paper examines the mind's ability to process verbal information. It takes a biological, emotional, and social stance. It concludes that numerous factors impact the ability to process verbal information. The use of language appears to be the essential difference between humans and animals. The human ability to name things creates power over them and the ability to manipulate them symbolically. "Words and their endless combination of statements, ideas, and concepts provide us with the basic units of thought" (Ehrenberg 13). Most of the information transmitted to us comes via the use of language and most of our thought occurs by means of linguistic signs (Miller 321). In fact, without a conceptual framework to interpret the material we are exposed to it would be meaningless to us, and it the power of the brain and its techniques for acquiring verbal information that makes the unique qualities of the human being so special.
