Gestures of the abstract

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fey Parrill ◽  
Kashmiri Stec
Keyword(s):  
Physical Space ◽  
Horizontal Axis ◽  
Abstract Thinking ◽  
Reference Tracking ◽  
Expected Frequency ◽  
Manual Gesture ◽  
Spatial Resources ◽  
Dominant Side

Abstract Speakers perform manual gestures in the physical space nearest them, called gesture space. We used a controlled elicitation task to explore whether speakers use gesture space in a consistent way (assign spaces to ideas and use those spaces for those ideas) and whether they use space in a contrastive way (assign different spaces to different ideas when using contrastive speech) when talking about abstract referents. Participants answered two questions designed to elicit contrastive, abstract discourse. We investigated manual gesture behavior. Gesture hand, location on the horizontal axis, and referent in corresponding speech were coded. We also coded contrast in speech. Participants’ overall tendency to use the same hand (t(17) = 13.12, p = .001, 95% CI [.31, .43], d = 2.53) and same location (t(17) = 7.47, p = .001, 95% CI [.27, .47], d = 1.69) when referring to an entity was higher than expected frequency. When comparing pairs of gestures produced with contrastive speech to pairs of gestures produced with non-contrastive speech, we found a greater tendency to produce gestures with different hands for contrastive speech: (t(17) = 4.19, p = .001, 95% CI [.27, .82], d = 1.42). We did not find associations between dominant side and positive concepts or between left, center, and right space and past, present, and future, respectively, as predicted by previous studies. Taken together, our findings suggest that speakers do produce spatially consistent and contrastive gestures for abstract as well as concrete referents. They may be using spatial resources to assist with abstract thinking, and/or to help interlocutors with reference tracking. Our findings also highlight the complexity of predicting gesture hand and location, which appears to be the outcome of many competing variables.

What’s wrong with IVR system service? A spatial theorisation of customer confusion and frustration

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 386-405
Author(s):  
Benjamin P.W. Ellway
Keyword(s):  
Interactive Voice Response ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Spatial Perspective ◽  
Content Type ◽  
System Service ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
Recent Emergence ◽  
Spatial Resources ◽  
Ivr Systems

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the important question of what is wrong with interactive voice response (IVR) system service by expanding a spatially informed conceptualisation of virtual navigation which recognises the experience of movement within and through space. Design/methodology/approach – First, previous research on IVR systems is reviewed to highlight key themes to a service audience. Second, the metaphorical aspects of language used by the popular and trade press to describe IVR systems is examined. Usability and design issues are identified from previous research as a basis from reinterpreting them from a spatial perspective of navigation. Findings – Both figurative and conceptual spatial metaphors are used to describe the IVR system as an enclosed physical space, within which customers enter, feel stuck, get lost, or try to escape from. The usability issues of human memory, linearity, and feedback, can be reinterpreted from a spatial perspective as a basis for explaining confusion and frustration with IVR systems. Research limitations/implications – Since the paper is conceptual, further research is needed to empirically investigate different types and features of IVR systems. The possible influence of age and culture upon the spatial nature of experience is especially interesting topics for future study. Practical implications – The paper identifies the absence of space as an inherent limitation of IVR systems. It subsequently recommends that firms should provide spatial resources to support customer use of IVR systems, which is supported by the recent emergence of visual IVR. Originality/value – The paper introduces the broader literature on IVR systems to the service field as a basis for raising awareness about this ubiquitous technological component of telephone-based service delivery. It applies and develops a highly abstract conceptual perspective to examine and interpret the representation and experience of IVR systems, as a basis for explaining the confusion, frustration, and dislike of them.

Do Writing Directions Influence How People Map Space onto Time?

2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 173-184
Author(s):  
Wenxing Yang ◽  
Ying Sun
Keyword(s):  
Mental Representations ◽  
Space Time ◽  
Horizontal Axis ◽  
Causal Role ◽  
Writing Systems ◽  
Temporal Cognition ◽  
Japanese Speakers ◽  
Psychological Experiments ◽  
Vertical Up

Abstract. The causal role of a unidirectional orthography in shaping speakers’ mental representations of time seems to be well established by many psychological experiments. However, the question of whether bidirectional writing systems in some languages can also produce such an impact on temporal cognition remains unresolved. To address this issue, the present study focused on Japanese and Taiwanese, both of which have a similar mix of texts written horizontally from left to right (HLR) and vertically from top to bottom (VTB). Two experiments were performed which recruited Japanese and Taiwanese speakers as participants. Experiment 1 used an explicit temporal arrangement design, and Experiment 2 measured implicit space-time associations in participants along the horizontal (left/right) and the vertical (up/down) axis. Converging evidence gathered from the two experiments demonstrate that neither Japanese speakers nor Taiwanese speakers aligned their vertical representations of time with the VTB writing orientation. Along the horizontal axis, only Japanese speakers encoded elapsing time into a left-to-right linear layout, which was commensurate with the HLR writing direction. Therefore, two distinct writing orientations of a language could not bring about two coexisting mental time lines. Possible theoretical implications underlying the findings are discussed.

The Case Study of Technology Leakage in Cyber-Physical Space

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-173
Author(s):  
Min-Su Jung ◽  
◽  
Hang-Bae Chang
Keyword(s):  
Physical Space

Emplacing Berlin: Digital Itineraries and Short-term Study Abroad in the City

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard B. Apgar
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
Term Study ◽  
Digital Maps ◽  
Short Term Study ◽  
The City

As destination of choice for many short-term study abroad programs, Berlin offers students of German language, culture and history a number of sites richly layered with significance. The complexities of these sites and the competing narratives that surround them are difficult for students to grasp in a condensed period of time. Using approaches from the spatial humanities, this article offers a case study for enhancing student learning through the creation of digital maps and itineraries in a campus-based course for subsequent use during a three-week program in Berlin. In particular, the concept of deep mapping is discussed as a means of augmenting understanding of the city and its history from a narrative across time to a narrative across the physical space of the city. As itineraries, these course-based projects were replicated on site. In moving from the digital environment to the urban landscape, this article concludes by noting meanings uncovered and narratives formed as we moved through the physical space of the city.

An Adjustment of Reference Tracking PID Controllers for a First-order System with a Dead Time

2016 ◽  
Vol 136 (5) ◽  
pp. 676-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akihiro Ishimura ◽  
Masayoshi Nakamoto ◽  
Takuya Kinoshita ◽  
Toru Yamamoto
Keyword(s):  
Dead Time ◽  
Order System ◽  
Pid Controllers ◽  
Reference Tracking ◽  
First Order

Characteristics of Wind Velocity and Turbulence Intensity at Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines Array

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
Ismail Ismail ◽  
Azhim Asyaratul Azmi ◽  
Erlanda Augupta Pane ◽  
Samsul Kamal
Keyword(s):  
Wind Velocity ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Turbulence Intensity ◽  
Horizontal Axis ◽  
Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines

Cyberspace and Physical Space in a Network City

1997 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-28
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki SHIBUSAWA
Keyword(s):  
Physical Space

Withdrawal: Computations of Aerodynamic Behaviour of Small Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine with NACA4418 airfoil

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Essam E. Khalil ◽  
Gamal E. ElHarriri ◽  
Eslam E. AbdelGhany ◽  
Moemen E. Farghaly
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Horizontal Axis ◽  
Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine
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