scholarly journals Predicting Context-Dependent Cross-Modal Associations with Dimension-Specific Polarity Attributions Part 1 – Brightness and Aggression

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne C. Schietecat ◽  
Daniël Lakens ◽  
Wijnand A. IJsselsteijn ◽  
Yvonne A. W. de Kort
Keyword(s):  
Correspondence Principle ◽  
Context Dependency ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Affective Dimension ◽  
Evaluation Activity ◽  
Concept Building ◽  
Potency Dimension ◽  
Polarity Correspondence ◽  
Concept Pairs

Although researchers have repeatedly shown that the meaning of the same concept can vary across different contexts, it has proven difficult to predict when people will assign which meaning to a concept, and which associations will be activated by a concept. Building on the affective theory of meaning (Osgood, Suci, & Tannenbaum, 1957) and the polarity correspondence principle (Proctor & Cho, 2006), we propose the dimension-specificity hypothesis with the aim to understand and predict the context-dependency of cross-modal associations. We present three sets of experiments in which we use the dimension-specificity hypothesis to predict the cross-modal associations that should emerge between aggression-related concepts and saturation and brightness. The dimension-specificity hypothesis predicts that cross-modal associations emerge depending upon which affective dimension of meaning (i.e., the evaluation, activity, or potency dimension) is most salient in a specific context. The salience of dimensions of meaning is assumed to depend upon the relative conceptual distances between bipolar opposed concept pairs (e.g., good vs. bad). The dimension-specificity hypothesis proposes that plus and minus polarities will be attributed to the bipolar concepts, and associations between concrete and affective abstract concepts that share plus or minus polarities will become activated. Our data support the emergence of dimension-specific polarity attributions. We discuss the potential of dimension-specific polarity attributions to understand and predict how the context influences the emergence of cross-modal associations.

scholarly journals Polarity Correspondence in Metaphor Congruency Effects: Structural Overlap Predicts Categorization Times for Bi-Polar Concepts Presented in Vertical Space

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Lakens
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Correspondence Principle ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Vertical Position ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Additional Processing ◽  
Polarity Correspondence

Previous research has shown that words presented on metaphor congruent locations (e.g., positive words UP on the screen and negative words DOWN on the screen) are categorized faster than words presented on metaphor incongruent stimuli (e.g., positive words DOWN and negative words UP). These findings have been explained in terms of an interference effect: The meaning associated with UP and DOWN vertical space can automatically interfere with the categorization of words with a metaphorically incongruent meaning. The current studies test an alternative explanation for the interaction between the vertical position of abstract concepts and the speed with which these stimuli are categorized. Research on polarity differences (basic asymmetries in the way dimensions are processed) predicts that +polar endpoints of dimensions (e.g., positive, moral, UP) are categorized faster than –polar endpoints of dimensions (e.g., negative, immoral, DOWN). Furthermore, the polarity correspondence principle predicts that stimuli where polarities correspond (e.g., positive words presented UP) provide an additional processing benefit compared to stimuli where polarities do not correspond (e.g., negative words presented UP). A meta-analysis (Study 1) shows that a polarity account provides a better explanation of reaction times patterns in previous studies than an interference explanation. An experiment (Study 2) reveals that controlling for the polarity benefit of +polar words compared to –polar words did not only remove the main effect of word polarity, but also the interaction between word meaning and vertical position due to polarity correspondence. These results reveal that metaphor congruency effects should not be interpreted as automatic associations between vertical locations and word meaning, but are more parsimoniously explained by their structural overlap in polarities.

scholarly journals Polarities influence implicit associations between colour and emotion

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Kawai ◽  
Gáspár Lukács ◽  
Ulrich Ansorge
Keyword(s):  
Correspondence Principle ◽  
Binary Response ◽  
Implicit Associations ◽  
Conceptual Category ◽  
Perceptual Dimension ◽  
Green Is ◽  
Negative Valence ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Polarity Correspondence ◽  
Emotional Concepts

Colours are linked to emotional concepts. Research on the effect of red in particular has been extensive, and evidence shows that positive as well as negative associations can be salient in different contexts. In this paper, we investigate the impact of the contextual factor of polarity. According to the polarity-correspondence principle, negative and positive category poles are assigned to the binary response categories (here positive vs. negative valence) and the perceptual dimension (green vs. red) in a discrimination task. Response facilitation occurs only where the conceptual category (valence) and the perceptual feature (colour) share the same pole (i.e., where both are plus or both are minus). We asked participants (n = 140) to classify the valence of green and red words within two types of blocks: (a) where all words were of the same colour (monochromatic conditions) providing no opposition in the perceptual dimension, and (b) where red and green words were randomly mixed (mixed-colour conditions). Our results show that red facilitates responses to negative words when the colour green is present (mixed-colour conditions) but not when it is absent (monochromatic conditions). This is in line with the polarity-correspondence principle, but colour-specific valence-affect associations contribute to the found effects.

The strong versions of embodied cognition: Three challenges faced

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omid Khatin-Zadeh ◽  
Zahra Eskandari ◽  
Sergio Cervera-Torres ◽  
Susana Ruiz-Fernandez ◽  
Reza Farzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Embodied Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Mental Simulation ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Context Dependency ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Sensory Processes ◽  
Concrete Concepts

The aim of this article is to discuss three challenges to the so-called “strong” versions of embodiment. The strong versions of embodied cognition (SVEC) have been successful in explaining how concrete concepts (e.g., pencil) may be understood based on sensory processes, yet they have failed to offer a comprehensive understanding of abstract concepts (e.g., freedom). In this regard, this article pinpoints three areas where the SVEC face limitations. First, the SVEC fail to fully support the active or passive perspective that an agent may assume when processing abstract concepts via embodied metaphorical representations. Second, the SVEC do not offer a compelling explanation for three different types of mental simulation proposed for the representation of non-actual motion semantics: enactive perception, perceptual scanning, and imagination. Third, the SVEC fail to account for inter-individual, cross-cultural, and context-dependency in the representation of abstract concepts. To summarize, we argue that the findings from the SVEC should be integrated into broader “weak” embodiment theoretical perspectives, which propose that sensory-motor and modality-independent systems are involved in conceptual representations. Finally, we discuss the implications of our core argument in cognitive neuroscience.

scholarly journals Sensorimotor distance: A fully grounded measure of semantic similarity for 800 million concept pairs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cai Wingfield ◽  
Louise Connell
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Similarity ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Computational Modelling ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Computationally Efficient ◽  
Cognitive Sciences ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Concept Pairs ◽  
Similarity Judgements

Experimental design and computational modelling across the cognitive sciences often rely on measures of semantic similarity between concepts. Traditional measures of semantic similarity are typically derived from distance in taxonomic databases (e.g. WordNet), databases of participant-produced semantic features, or corpus-derived linguistic distributional similarity (e.g. LSA), all of which are theoretically problematic in their lack of grounding in sensorimotor experience. We present a new measure of sensorimotor distance between concepts, based on multidimensional comparisons of their experiential strength across 11 perceptual and action-effector dimensions in the Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms. We demonstrate that, in modelling human similarity judgements, sensorimotor distance has comparable explanatory power to other measures of semantic similarity, explains variance in human judgements which is missed by other measures, and does so with the advantages of remaining both fully grounded and computationally efficient. Moreover, sensorimotor distance is equally effective for both concrete and abstract concepts. We further introduce a web-based tool (https://lancaster.ac.uk/psychology/smdistance) for easily calculating and visualising sensorimotor distance between words, featuring coverage of nearly 800 million word-pairs. Supplementary materials are available at https://osf.io/d42q6/.

The representation of abstract concepts: The role of affect

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Vigliocco ◽  
David P. Vinson ◽  
Pasquale Della Rosa ◽  
Stefano F. Cappa ◽  
Joseph T. Devlin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Abstract Concepts

Embodying Abstract Concepts

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Casasanto ◽  
Sandra Lozano
Keyword(s):  
Abstract Concepts

Latvian agent nouns: their meaning, grammar, and use

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 79-131
Author(s):  
Nicole Nau
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Morphological Process ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Concept Building ◽  
Referential Function ◽  
Colloquial Style ◽  
Verbal Arguments

This article explores semantic and grammatical properties of Latvian agent nouns that are derived from verbs by the suffix -ēj- (for primary verbs) or -tāj- (for secondary verbs). These formations show several peculiarities that distinguish them from agent nouns in other European languages and from similar Latvian nouns formed by other means. They are specialized in meaning, highly regular and transparent. They show verbal features such as aspectuality and combinability with adverbs, and they may inherit verbal arguments. The productivity of the formation is almost unlimited, and many ad hoc formations are found in colloquial style, for example in social media. In discourse, agent nouns often have a referential function, either as the only function or in combination with a concept-building function. The focus of the article is on less institutionalized tokens which show the potential of this morphological process that challenges traditional views about the functions of derivation or its delimitation.

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