Language statistics and individual differences in processing primary metaphors

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 667-687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sterling Hutchinson ◽  
Max Louwerse
Keyword(s):  
Embodied Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Linguistic Context ◽  
Metaphor Comprehension ◽  
Conceptual Processing ◽  
Temperature Experiment ◽  
Language Statistics ◽  
Metaphor Processing

AbstractResearch in cognitive linguistics has emphasized the role of embodiment in metaphor comprehension, with experimental research showing activation of perceptual simulations when processing metaphors. Recent research in conceptual processing has demonstrated that findings attributed to embodied cognition can be explained through language statistics. The current study investigates whether language statistics explain processing of primary metaphors and whether this effect is modified by the gender of the participant. Participants saw word pairs with valence (Experiment 1: good–bad), authority (Experiment 2: doctor–patient), temperature (Experiment 3: hot–cold), or gender (Experiment 4: male–female) connotations. The pairs were presented in either a vertical configuration (X above Y or Y above X) matching the primary metaphors (e.g., HAPPY IS UP, CONTROL IS UP) or a horizontal configuration (X left of Y or Y left of X) not matching the primary metaphors. Even though previous research has argued that primary metaphor processing can best be explained by an embodied cognition account, results demonstrate that statistical linguistic frequencies also explain the response times of the stimulus pairs both in vertical and horizontal configurations, because language has encoded embodied relations. In addition, the effect of the statistical linguistic frequencies was modified by participant gender, with female participants being more sensitive to statistical linguistic context than male participants.

Sex Differences in Mental Rotation Performance Through Holding Weights By the Hands

2020 ◽  
pp. 027623662095233
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Muto ◽  
Soyogu Matsushita ◽  
Kazunori Morikawa
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Embodied Cognition ◽  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Mental Rotation Task ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Sensorimotor Processes

Mental rotation is known to be mediated by sensorimotor processes. To deepen our understanding of the role of somatosensory inputs in mental rotation, we investigated the effects of holding weight by the hands on mental rotation performance. In an experiment, 22 male and 22 female students performed a chronometric mental rotation task while holding either light or heavy bags in both hands. Results showed that females holding heavy bags were quicker and more accurate at mental rotation than females holding light bags, as evidenced by shallower slopes for response times (RTs) and error rates. In contrast, males showed no such heavy-bag-induced improvement. Unlike slopes, intercepts for RTs and error rates were equivalent regardless of sex and bag weight. Consistent with previous research on embodied cognition, the present findings demonstrated the facilitatory role of somatosensory cues by weight in mental rotation and suggested sex differences in embodied processes in mental rotation.

scholarly journals The Role of Right and Left Parietal Lobes in the Conceptual Processing of Numbers

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marinella Cappelletti ◽  
Hwee Ling Lee ◽  
Elliot D. Freeman ◽  
Cathy J. Price
Keyword(s):  
Functional Imaging ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Imaging Studies ◽  
Conceptual Processing ◽  
Parietal Lobes ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Posterior Parietal ◽  
Left And Right

Neuropsychological and functional imaging studies have associated the conceptual processing of numbers with bilateral parietal regions (including intraparietal sulcus). However, the processes driving these effects remain unclear because both left and right posterior parietal regions are activated by many other conceptual, perceptual, attention, and response-selection processes. To dissociate parietal activation that is number-selective from parietal activation related to other stimulus or response-selection processes, we used fMRI to compare numbers and object names during exactly the same conceptual and perceptual tasks while factoring out activations correlating with response times. We found that right parietal activation was higher for conceptual decisions on numbers relative to the same tasks on object names, even when response time effects were fully factored out. In contrast, left parietal activation for numbers was equally involved in conceptual processing of object names. We suggest that left parietal activation for numbers reflects a range of processes, including the retrieval of learnt facts that are also involved in conceptual decisions on object names. In contrast, number selectivity in right parietal cortex reflects processes that are more involved in conceptual decisions on numbers than object names. Our results generate a new set of hypotheses that have implications for the design of future behavioral and functional imaging studies of patients with left and right parietal damage.

scholarly journals Ease-of-Simulation Norms for 452 Adjective Metaphors

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei Q Liu ◽  
Louise Connell ◽  
Dermot Lynott
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Rating Scales ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Conscious Awareness ◽  
Single Measure ◽  
Components Analysis ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Processing Effort ◽  
Metaphor Processing

Successful language comprehension results in a multimodal simulation of meaning. Hence, the ease of simulation of a given metaphor is likely to be a critical predictor of performance in metaphor processing. Since simulations are unconscious, and may lose information when brought to conscious awareness, the ease of simulation cannot be directly rated (e.g., as ease of understanding or of generating mental imagery). Therefore, we propose an alternative method of measuring ease of simulation indirectly by assessing the end product of successful metaphor processing using multiple rating scales that, together, offer a proxy for ease of simulation: sensibility, usability, and imaginability of metaphors. We normed 452 sentences comprising adjective metaphors (e.g., Students can be bright; Minutes can be lukewarm) by asking participants to rate the sentences on sensibility, usability, and imaginability scales. We then used principal components analysis to combine these three individual rating scales into a single measure that captured their common variance: ease-of-simulation (EoS). To validate the norms, we examined the extent to which this new EoS measure can explain response times in a metaphor processing task, and found that it better predicted sensibility judgement times than any of the individual ratings, including the ostensibly more relevant sensibility ratings. These findings support the idea that EoS provides a valuable index of processing effort in metaphor comprehension. We hope these norms will benefit research on metaphor processing and the role of simulation in language comprehension.

Awareness in metaphor understanding

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Stöver
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Theoretical Investigation ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Metaphor Comprehension ◽  
Reflective Reasoning ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Difference

This paper argues that a cognitive account of metaphor comprehension needs to include awareness of metaphoricity in order to fully explain the processes involved. In Relevance Theory as well as in other cognitively oriented approaches, much can be gained by making explicit the difference between conscious and subconscious processing: whether a communicator is aware of an expression’s metaphoricity or not may have an impact on the type of cognitive processing involved. A theoretical investigation is offered which explores the potential role of reflective reasoning in metaphor understanding. The discussion is based on the relevance-theoretic account, which explains the subconscious inferential processes involved. However, it leaves open the question of the potential impact of conscious availability of the tension between literal and figurative meaning, which is reminiscent of domain mappings in Cognitive Linguistics. Within metaphor research, a focus on awareness offers valuable findings for cognitively oriented schools of thought.

Effect size matters: the role of language statistics and perceptual simulation in conceptual processing

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 430-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max M. Louwerse ◽  
Sterling Hutchinson ◽  
Richard Tillman ◽  
Gabriel Recchia
Keyword(s):  
Effect Size ◽  
Perceptual Simulation ◽  
Conceptual Processing ◽  
Language Statistics

The Role of Theories of Embodied Cognition in Research and Modeling of Emotions

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 124-138
Author(s):  
Alexandra V. Shiller
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Embodied Cognition ◽  
Mirror Neurons ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Unknown Quantity ◽  
Emotional Processes ◽  
Strong Artificial Intelligence ◽  
European Philosophy ◽  
Postmodern Philosophy

The article analyzes the role of theories of embodied cognition for the development of emotion research. The role and position of emotions changed as philosophy developed. In classical and modern European philosophy, the idea of the “primacy of reason” prevailed over emotions and physicality, emotions and affective life were described as low-ranking phenomena regarding cognitive processes or were completely eliminated as an unknown quantity. In postmodern philosophy, attention focuses on physicality and sensuality, which are rated higher than rational principle, mind and intelligence. Within the framework of this approach, there is a recently emerged theory of embodied cognition, which allows to take a fresh look at the place of emotions in the architecture of mental processes – thinking, perception, memory, imagination, speech. The article describes and analyzes a number of empirical studies showing the impossibility of excluding emotional processes and the significance of their research for understanding the architecture of embodied cognition. However, the features of the architecture of embodied cognition remain unclear, and some of the discoveries of recent years (mirror neurons or neurons of simulation) rather raise new questions and require further research. The rigorously described and clear architecture of the embodied cognition can grow the theoretical basis that will allow to advance the studies of learning processes, language understanding, psychotherapy techniques, social attitudes and stereotypes, highlight the riddle of consciousness and create new theories of consciousness or even create an anthropomorphic artificial intelligence that is close to “strong artificial intelligence.”

scholarly journals A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on metaphor comprehension in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: Do task properties matter?

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 1421-1454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamar Kalandadze ◽  
Valentina Bambini ◽  
Kari-Anne B. Næss
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Response Format ◽  
Metaphor Comprehension ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractIndividuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience difficulty in comprehending metaphors compared to individuals with typical development (TD). However, there is a large variation in the results across studies, possibly related to the properties of the metaphor tasks. This preregistered systematic review and meta-analysis (a) explored the properties of the metaphor tasks used in ASD research, and (b) investigated the group difference between individuals with ASD and TD on metaphor comprehension, as well as the relationship between the task properties and any between-study variation. A systematic search was undertaken in seven relevant databases. Fourteen studies fulfilled our predetermined inclusion criteria. Across tasks, we detected four types of response format and a great variety of metaphors in terms of familiarity, syntactic structure, and linguistic context. Individuals with TD outperformed individuals with ASD on metaphor comprehension (Hedges’ g = −0.63). Verbal explanation response format was utilized in the study showing the largest effect size in the group comparison. However, due to the sparse experimental manipulations, the role of task properties could not be established. Future studies should consider and report task properties to determine their role in metaphor comprehension, and to inform experimental paradigms as well as educational assessment.

scholarly journals The role of cultural practices in the emergence of modern human intelligence

2008 ◽  
Vol 363 (1499) ◽  
pp. 2011-2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin Hutchins
Keyword(s):  
Embodied Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Human Intelligence ◽  
Symbolic Representations ◽  
High Level ◽  
Human Brains

Innate cognitive capacities are orchestrated by cultural practices to produce high-level cognitive processes. In human activities, examples of this phenomenon range from everyday inferences about space and time to the most sophisticated reasoning in scientific laboratories. A case is examined in which chimpanzees enter into cultural practices with humans (in experiments) in ways that appear to enable them to engage in symbol-mediated thought. Combining the cultural practices perspective with the theories of embodied cognition and enactment suggests that the chimpanzees' behaviour is actually mediated by non-symbolic representations. The possibility that non-human primates can engage in cultural practices that give them the appearance of symbol-mediated thought opens new avenues for thinking about the coevolution of human culture and human brains.

A Direct Assessment of the Role of Expectation in Inhibition of Return

2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 783-787 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Spalek
Keyword(s):  
Inhibition Of Return ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Direct Measure ◽  
Imaginary Circle ◽  
Direct Assessment ◽  
Relevant Evidence ◽  
Indirect Measures

An object hidden among distractors can be found more efficiently if previously searched locations are not reinspected. The inhibition-of-return (IOR) phenomenon indexes the tendency to avoid reinspections. Two accounts of IOR, that it is due to inhibition and that it is due to expectation, are generally regarded as incompatible. The relevant evidence to date, however, has been indirect: Inhibition or expectation has been inferred from response times or similar indirect measures. This article reports the first direct measure of IOR, obtained by asking observers to predict the location of the next target in a display containing eight possible locations on an imaginary circle. On any given trial, the previously cued location was chosen less frequently (impairment)—and the opposite location was chosen more frequently (facilitation)—than chance (choice of all other locations was at chance). The impairment is consistent with both inhibition and expectation accounts; the facilitation is consistent only with expectation accounts. This work also shows that inhibition and expectation are not necessarily incompatible: Implementing expectations may entail inhibiting previously cued locations.

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