Mental representation: What can pitch tell us about the distance effect?

R KADOSH; W BRODSKY; M LEVIN; A HENIK

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2007.08.002

Verbal vs. visual coding in modified mental imagery map exploration task

Psihologija ◽

10.2298/psi1101039c ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 44 (1) ◽

pp. 39-60 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ivana Cirovic ◽

Suncica Zdravkovic

Keyword(s):

Word Frequency ◽

Mental Imagery ◽

Mental Representation ◽

Lexical Processing ◽

Distance Effect ◽

Visual Modality ◽

Lexical Frequency ◽

Visual Coding ◽

Symbolic Distance ◽

Exploration Task

We modified classical mental exploration task introducing verbal modality. Consequently, we could test robust effects from lexical processing in an attempt to understand whether the underlying mental representation is strictly propositional. In our three experiments, in addition to map modality (visual or verbal), lexical frequency, concreteness and visual frequency were also varied. The symbolic distance effect was replicated, regardless of map modality. Exploration of distances was regularly faster on pictorial maps. Effects of lexical frequency and concreteness were not significant for verbal maps. However, when visual frequency was introduced on pictorial maps both type of frequencies generated measurable effects. Our findings directly contradict the assumptions of propositional theories (1) subjects were faster in the visual modality, which would be difficult to explain if the perceptual code had to be transformed into propositional, (2) word frequency and concreteness did not contribute as would be expected if propositional code were a default.

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A Multiple Definitions Model of Classification into Fuzzy Categories

10.31234/osf.io/mvfu3 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Thomas M Gruenenfelder

Keyword(s):

Mental Representation ◽

Opposite Effect ◽

Middle Age ◽

Distance Effect ◽

Middle Aged ◽

Satisfactory Explanation ◽

Single Dimension ◽

New Hypothesis ◽

Range Of Values

This paper describes a new hypothesis, referred to as the multiple definitions model, concerning the mental representation of fuzzy concepts. The basic claim of the model is that such concepts are represented as a set of multiple definitions, where each definition is exact. Fuzziness results from the fact that using such concepts requires sampling multiple such exact definitions of the concept. The model was applied to concepts that can be defined as a range of values over a single dimension (such as middle-age), and tested using conjunctions and disjunctions of middle-age (e.g., “A person is middle-aged at both 50 and 63.”). The model predicts that, controlling for the truths of individual ages, the truths of conjunctions involving ages that are close together will be judged higher than the truths of conjunctions involving ages farther apart, and that the opposite effect will occur for disjunctions (the distance effect). The results of two experiments confirmed this prediction. However, both experiments also found that conjunctions were judged truer than the less true of their component ages, and that disjunctions were judged less true than the truer of their component ages. The model does not predict this “minimax” effect. One possible explanation of the minimax effect was tested; another modeled. The overall conclusion is that the multiple definitions model is a viable contender to explain the distance effect. The minimax effect, however, is still in need of a satisfactory explanation.

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Above and beyond the content: Feelings influence mental simulations

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x19003108 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 43 ◽

Author(s):

Kellen Mrkva ◽

Luca Cian ◽

Leaf Van Boven

Keyword(s):

Mental Representation ◽

Mental Simulation ◽

Past Experience ◽

Prediction Errors

Abstract Gilead et al. present a rich account of abstraction. Though the account describes several elements which influence mental representation, it is worth also delineating how feelings, such as fluency and emotion, influence mental simulation. Additionally, though past experience can sometimes make simulations more accurate and worthwhile (as Gilead et al. suggest), many systematic prediction errors persist despite substantial experience.

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Mental representation of economic crisis in Italian and Swiss samples 1The authors would like to thank Maurizio Mistri for his help in the construction of items. This research was supported by a grant from the Italian Murst (ex 40%).

Swiss Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1024//1421-0185.60.1.11 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 60 (1) ◽

pp. 11-14 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Lucia Savadori ◽

Eraldo Nicotra ◽

Rino Rumiati ◽

Roberto Tamborini

Keyword(s):

Economic Crisis ◽

Mental Representation ◽

Mental Representations ◽

Social Contexts ◽

Raw Material ◽

National Context ◽

Cluster Procedure ◽

Total N ◽

Two Samples ◽

Important Symptom

The content and structure of mental representation of economic crises were studied and the flexibility of the structure in different social contexts was tested. Italian and Swiss samples (Total N = 98) were compared with respect to their judgments as to how a series of concrete examples of events representing abstract indicators were relevant symptoms of economic crisis. Mental representations were derived using a cluster procedure. Results showed that the relevance of the indicators varied as a function of national context. The growth of unemployment was judged to be by far the most important symptom of an economic crisis but the Swiss sample judged bankruptcies as more symptomatic than Italians who considered inflation, raw material prices and external accounts to be more relevant. A different clustering structure was found for the two samples: the locations of unemployment and gross domestic production indicators were the main differences in representations.

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Reading About Persons: The Effects of Conjunctions on the Mental Representation of Person Descriptions

Swiss Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1024/1421-0185.67.1.5 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 67 (1) ◽

pp. 5-18 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sabine Krolak-Schwerdt ◽

Margret Wintermantel ◽

Nadine Junker ◽

Julia Kneer

Keyword(s):

Mental Representation ◽

The Other ◽

Person Memory ◽

Causal Connections ◽

Single Person ◽

On Line

Three experiments investigated the processing of person descriptions that consisted of a number of statements about the characteristics of a person. In one condition, each statement referred to a single person attribute and in the other condition, causal and additive conjunctions to verbally link the statements were introduced. Evidence was found that the introduction of verbal links enhanced participants’ memory about the characteristics of the described person. On-line measures of processing showed that the comprehension of person information was strongly facilitated by the introduction of verbal links. Furthermore, the results were due to the introduction of causal connections between person attributes. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for models of person memory and representation.

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Cognitive Components of Ingroup Projection

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000156 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 45 (1) ◽

pp. 15-30 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Maya Machunsky ◽

Thorsten Meiser

Keyword(s):

Mental Representation ◽

Cognitive Representation ◽

Social Categories ◽

Projection Model ◽

Minimal Group ◽

Model Experiments ◽

Superordinate Category ◽

Cognitive Components ◽

Per Se

This research investigated whether relative ingroup prototypicality (i.e., the tendency to perceive one’s own ingroup as more prototypical of a superordinate category than the outgroup) can result from a prototype-based versus exemplar-based mental representation of social categories, rather than from ingroup membership per se as previously suggested by the ingroup projection model. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that a prototype-based group was perceived as more prototypical of a superordinate category than an exemplar-based group supporting the hypothesis that an intergroup context is not necessary for biased prototypicality judgments. Experiment 3 introduced an intergroup context in a minimal-group-like paradigm. The findings demonstrated that both the kind of cognitive representation and motivational processes contribute to biased prototypicality judgments in intergroup settings.

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Exploring the Boundaries of the Number–Temporal Order Association

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000285 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 62 (3) ◽

pp. 198-205 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Dana Ganor-Stern

Keyword(s):

Embodied Cognition ◽

Mental Representation ◽

Temporal Order ◽

Past Research ◽

Numerical Comparison ◽

Negative Number ◽

Comparison Task ◽

Negative Numbers ◽

The Past

Past research has shown that numbers are associated with order in time such that performance in a numerical comparison task is enhanced when number pairs appear in ascending order, when the larger number follows the smaller one. This was found in the past for the integers 1–9 ( Ben-Meir, Ganor-Stern, & Tzelgov, 2013 ; Müller & Schwarz, 2008 ). In the present study we explored whether the advantage for processing numbers in ascending order exists also for fractions and negative numbers. The results demonstrate this advantage for fraction pairs and for integer-fraction pairs. However, the opposite advantage for descending order was found for negative numbers and for positive-negative number pairs. These findings are interpreted in the context of embodied cognition approaches and current theories on the mental representation of fractions and negative numbers.

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