scholarly journals That means something to me: the effect of linguistic and emotional experience on the acquisition and processing of novel abstract concepts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Espey ◽  
Marta Ghio ◽  
Christian Bellebaum ◽  
Laura Bechtold
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Imagery Task ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Emotional Information ◽  
Semantic Judgment ◽  
Electrophysiological Measurements ◽  
Abstract Words

This study aimed to investigate the acquisition and representation of novel abstract concepts grounded in linguistic and emotional experience. In five linguistic training sessions, participants learned emotional and neutral abstract concepts and either engaged in explicit mental imagery (n = 32) or lexico-semantic processing (n = 34) with the linguistic material. After training, a high lexical decision and semantic judgment accuracy showed that participants successfully acquired the novel concepts. A feature production task showed that emotional concepts were generally enriched by a surplus of (emotion) features, and neutral concepts by relatively more cognition features. More features led to a higher LDT accuracy but not to faster reactions, which cannot be fully explained by noise due to the online assessment as, descriptively, more features slowed down reactions in participants, who did the imagery task and accelerated them for those, who did the rephrasing task. Our findings support the notion that linguistic and emotional information are crucial for grounding abstract concepts, and that this grounding does not rely on explicit imagery. Future research might combine the linguistic training paradigm with controlled reaction time and electrophysiological measurements to further corroborate the experiential grounding of abstract words.

scholarly journals Constructing Semantic Models From Words, Images, and Emojis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armand Stefan Rotaru ◽  
Gabriella Vigliocco
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Visual Model ◽  
Semantic Data ◽  
Text Corpora ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
Best Fit ◽  
Better Than

A number of recent models of semantics combine linguistic information, derived from text corpora, and visual information, derived from image collections, demonstrating that the resulting multimodal models are better than either of their unimodal counterparts, in accounting for behavioural data. Empirical work on semantic processing has shown that emotion also plays an important role especially for abstract concepts, however, models integrating emotion along with linguistic and visual information are lacking. Here, we first improve on visual and affective representations, derived from state-of-the-art existing models, by choosing models that best fit available human semantic data and extending the number of concepts they cover. Crucially then, we assess whether adding affective representations (obtained from a neural network model designed to predict emojis from co-occurring text) improves the model’s ability to fit semantic similarity/relatedness judgements from a purely linguistic and linguistic-visual model. We find that, given specific weights assigned to the models, adding both visual and affective representations improve performance, with visual representations providing an improvement especially for more concrete words, and affective representations improving especially the fit for more abstract words.

Infants acquire words before concepts: A case study

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 121-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Anatolyevna Osokina
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Knowledge System ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Conceptual System ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Concept System ◽  
Language Knowledge ◽  
Abstract Words

The purpose of the paper is to prove that for a child the system of abstract concepts grows from the “material work” with the language. Using the case study method to a particular child we prove that little children can use rather complicated abstract words without knowing the concepts of these words. Children may use such words in proper grammar forms and correct collocations but they can’t explain the meaning of the words or give wrong explanation. It makes us think that in language acquisition process the language knowledge system is being developed earlier than the conceptual system of words meaning but we must understand what language knowledge consists of in this case and what it actually is. Implications for future research include further study of language knowledge system as having its own value independently from concept system of knowledge. Keywords: language acquisition, infant speech, language knowledge system, case study.

scholarly journals The role of emotional valence in learning novel abstract concepts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Vigliocco ◽  
Marta Ponari ◽  
Courtenay Norbury
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Strategy ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Emotional Information ◽  
Emotional Words ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
Better Than

A recent study by Ponari et al. (2017), showed that emotional valence (i.e., whether a word evokes positive, negative or no affect) predicts age-of-acquisition ratings, and that up to the age of 8-9, children know abstract emotional words better than neutral ones. On the basis of these findings, emotional valence has been argued to provide a bootstrapping mechanism for the acquisition of abstract concepts. However, no previous work has directly assessed whether words’ valence, or valence of the context in which words are used, facilitates learning of unknown abstract words. Here, we investigate whether valence supports acquisition of novel abstract concepts. Seven to 10 years old children were taught novel abstract words and concepts (words typically learnt at an older age and that children did not know); words were either valenced (positive or negative) or neutral. We also manipulated the context in which words were presented: for one group of children, the teaching strategy emphasised emotional information; for the other, it emphasised encyclopaedic, non-emotional information. Abstract words with emotional valence were learnt better than neutral abstract words by children up to the age of 8-9, replicating previous findings; no effect of teaching strategy was found. These results indicate that emotional valence supports abstract concepts acquisition, and further suggest that it is the valence information intrinsic to the word’s meaning to have a role, rather than the valence of the context in which the word is learnt.

scholarly journals From Affordances to Abstract Words: The Flexibility of the Sensorimotor Grounding

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Mazzuca ◽  
Chiara Fini ◽  
Arthur Henri Michalland ◽  
Ilenia Falcinelli ◽  
Federico Da Rold ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Word Processing ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Inner Speech ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sensorimotor System ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
Complex Words ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Concrete Words

Recent research has shown that the sensorimotor system plays a significant role in a variety of cognitive processes. In this paper, we will review recent studies performed in our lab (Body Action Language Lab, BALLAB) or in labs with which we collaborate, showing the involvement of the sensorimotor system at different levels. With the purpose of expounding on this aspect, we focus on studies that highlight two main characteristics of the involvement of the sensorimotor systems. First, we concentrate on the flexibility of sensorimotor grounding during interaction with objects. We report evidence showing how social context and current situations influence affordance activation. We then focus on the tactile and kinesthetic involvement in body-object interaction. Second, we illustrate flexible sensorimotor grounding in word use. We review studies showing that not only concrete words, like “bottle,” but also abstract words, like “freedom,” “thinking,” and “perhaps,” are grounded in the sensorimotor system. We report evidence showing that abstract words activate sensory modalities and involve the mouth effector more than concrete words due to their privileged relationship with language, both outer and inner speech. We discuss the activation of the mouth sensorimotor system in light of studies on adults (e.g., studies employing articulatory suppression), children (e.g., studies on the effects of pacifier use on word acquisition and processing), and infants (e.g. studies on emergence of new words). Finally, we pinpoint possible mechanisms at play in the acquisition and use of abstract concepts. We argue that with abstract concepts, we rely more on other people to learn or negotiate the meaning of words; we have called this mechanism social metacognition.Social metacognition is bidirectionally linked to our sensorimotor system. On the one hand, linguistic explanations constitute a primary source of grounding that may be re-enacted when retrieving a concept, for example through inner speech. On the other hand, it leads us to feel closer and be more synchronous in movement with others, who can help us understand the meaning of very complex words. Overall, we show that the sensorimotor system provides a grounding basis not only for objects and concrete words but also for more abstract and concrete ones. We conclude by arguing that future research should address and deepen two different and interrelated aspects concerning the involvement of the sensorimotor system during object and word processing. First, the sensorimotor system is flexibly modulated by the context, as studies on affordances reveal. Second, the sensorimotor system can be involved at different levels, and its role can be integrated and flanked by that of other systems, like the linguistic one, as studies on abstract concepts clearly show. We urge future research aimed at unravelling the role of the sensorimotor system in cognition to fully explore the complexity of this intricate-and sometimes slippery-relation.

Imaginal, Semantic, and Surface-Level Processing of Concrete and Abstract Words: An Electrophysiological Investigation

2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1024-1037 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Caroline West ◽  
Phillip J. Holcomb
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Surface Characteristics ◽  
Imagery Task ◽  
Cognitive Operations ◽  
Semantic Decision ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
Concrete Concepts ◽  
Concrete Words

Words representing concrete concepts are processed more quickly and efficiently than words representing abstract concepts. Concreteness effects have also been observed in studies using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). The aim of this study was to examine concrete and abstract words using both reaction time (RT) and ERP measurements to determine (1) at what point in the stream of cognitive processing concreteness effects emerge and (2) how different types of cognitive operations influence these concreteness effects. Three groups of subjects performed a sentence verification task in which the final word of each sentence was concrete or abstract. For each group the truthfulness judgment required either (1) image generation, (2) a semantic decision, or (3) evaluation of surface characteristics. Concrete and abstract words produced similar RTs and ERPs in the surface task, suggesting that postlexical semantic processing is necessary to elicit concreteness effects. In both the semantic and imagery tasks, RTs were shorter for concrete than for abstract words. This difference was greatest in the imagery task. Also, in both of these tasks concrete words elicited more negative ERPs than abstract words between 300 and 550 msec (N400). This effect was widespread across the scalp and may reflect activation in a linguistic semantic system common to both concrete and abstract words. ERPs were also more negative for concrete than abstract words between 550 and 800 msec. This effect was more frontally distributed and was most evident in the imagery task. We propose that this later anterior effect represents a distinct ERP component (N700) that is sensitive to the use of mental imagery. The N700 may reflect the access of specific characteristics of the imaged item or activation in a working memory system specific to mental imagery. These results also support the extended dual-coding hypothesis that superior associative connections and the use of mental imagery both contribute to processing advantages for concrete words over abstract words.

scholarly journals From Affordances to Abstract Words: The Flexibility of Sensorimotor Grounding

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1304
Author(s):  
Claudia Mazzuca ◽  
Chiara Fini ◽  
Arthur Henri Michalland ◽  
Ilenia Falcinelli ◽  
Federico Da Rold ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sensorimotor System ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Word Use ◽  
Linguistic System ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
Concrete Concepts ◽  
Sensorimotor Mechanisms ◽  
Object Interactions

The sensorimotor system plays a critical role in several cognitive processes. Here, we review recent studies documenting this interplay at different levels. First, we concentrate on studies that have shown how the sensorimotor system is flexibly involved in interactions with objects. We report evidence demonstrating how social context and situations influence affordance activation, and then focus on tactile and kinesthetic components in body–object interactions. Then, we turn to word use, and review studies that have shown that not only concrete words, but also abstract words are grounded in the sensorimotor system. We report evidence that abstract concepts activate the mouth effector more than concrete concepts, and discuss this effect in light of studies on adults, children, and infants. Finally, we pinpoint possible sensorimotor mechanisms at play in the acquisition and use of abstract concepts. Overall, we show that the involvement of the sensorimotor system is flexibly modulated by context, and that its role can be integrated and flanked by that of other systems such as the linguistic system. We suggest that to unravel the role of the sensorimotor system in cognition, future research should fully explore the complexity of this intricate, and sometimes slippery, relation.

Distinct Brain Systems for Processing Concrete and Abstract Concepts

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 905-917 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Binder ◽  
C. F. Westbury ◽  
K. A. McKiernan ◽  
E. T. Possing ◽  
D. A. Medler
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Concrete Word ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Central Interest ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
Concrete Words

Behavioral and neurophysiological effects of word imageability and concreteness remain a topic of central interest in cognitive neuroscience and could provide essential clues for understanding how the brain processes conceptual knowledge. We examined these effects using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging while participants identified concrete and abstract words. Relative to nonwords, concrete and abstract words both activated a left-lateralized network of multimodal association areas previously linked with verbal semantic processing. Areas in the left lateral temporal lobe were equally activated by both word types, whereas bilateral regions including the angular gyrus and the dorsal prefrontal cortex were more strongly engaged by concrete words. Relative to concrete words, abstract words activated left inferior frontal regions previously linked with phonological and verbal working memory processes. The results show overlapping but partly distinct neural systems for processing concrete and abstract concepts, with greater involvement of bilateral association areas during concrete word processing, and processing of abstract concepts almost exclusively by the left hemisphere.

scholarly journals Development of Abstract Word Knowledge

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorraine D. Reggin ◽  
Emiko J. Muraki ◽  
Penny M. Pexman
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Abstract Word ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Contextual Diversity ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Word Acquisition ◽  
Sensorimotor Systems ◽  
Abstract Words

The development of children’s word knowledge is an important testing ground for the embodied account of word meaning, which proposes that word meanings are grounded in sensorimotor systems. Acquisition of abstract words, in particular, is a noted challenge for strong accounts of embodiment. We examined acquisition of abstract word meanings, using data on development of vocabulary knowledge from early school to University ages. We tested two specific proposals for how abstract words are learned: the affective embodiment account, that emotional experience is key to learning abstract word meanings, and the learning through language proposal, that abstract words are acquired through language experience. We found support for the affective embodiment account: word valence, interoception, and mouth action all facilitated abstract word acquisition more than concrete word acquisition. We tested the learning through language proposal by investigating whether words that appear in more diverse linguistic contexts are earlier acquired. Results showed that contextual diversity facilitated vocabulary acquisition, but did so for both abstract and concrete words. Our results provide evidence that emotion and sensorimotor systems are important to children’s acquisition of abstract words, but there is still considerable variance to be accounted for by other factors. We offer suggestions for future research to examine the acquisition of abstract vocabulary.

scholarly journals Emotion and concreteness effects when learning novel concepts in the native language

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-191
Author(s):  
Marc Guasch ◽  
Pilar Ferré
Keyword(s):  
Native Language ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Intentional Learning ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
Concrete Concepts ◽  
Concrete Words ◽  
Better Than

Abstract The aim of the present study was to test the proposal of Kousta et al. (2011), according to which abstract words are more affectively loaded than concrete words. To this end, we focused on the acquisition of novel concepts by means of an intentional learning experiment in which participants had to learn a set of 40 novel concepts in Spanish (definitions) associated with novel word forms (pseudowords). Concreteness (concrete vs. abstract concepts) and emotionality (neutral vs. negative concepts) were orthogonally manipulated. Acquisition was assessed through a recognition task in which participants were asked to match the novel word forms with their definitions. Results showed that concrete concepts were acquired better than abstract concepts. Importantly, the concreteness advantage disappeared when the content of the concept was negative. Hence, emotional (negative) content facilitated the acquisition of abstract concepts, but not of concrete concepts, giving support to the proposal of Kousta et al. (2011).

scholarly journals Infants acquire words before concepts: A case study

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Svetlana Anatolyevna Osokina
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Knowledge System ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Conceptual System ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Concept System ◽  
Language Knowledge ◽  
Abstract Words

Abstract The purpose of the paper is to prove that for a child the system of abstract concepts grows from the “material work” with the language. Using the case study method to a particular child we prove that little children can use rather complicated abstract words without knowing the concepts of these words. Children may use such words in proper grammar forms and correct collocations but they can’t explain the meaning of the words or give wrong explanation. It makes us think that in language acquisition process the language knowledge system is being developed earlier than the conceptual system of words meaning but we must understand what language knowledge consists of in this case and what it actually is. Implications for future research include further study of language knowledge system as having its own value independently from concept system of knowledge. Keywords: Language acquisition, infant speech, language knowledge system, case study.  

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