Department of Psychology and Brain & Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario.
Top Cogn Sci. 2018 Jul;10(3):518-532. doi: 10.1111/tops.12328. Epub 2018 Mar 2.
concepts typically are defined in terms of lacking physical or perceptual referents. We argue instead that they are not devoid of perceptual information because knowledge of real-world situations is an important component of learning and using many abstract concepts. Although the relationship between perceptual information and abstract concepts is less straightforward than for concrete concepts, situation-based perceptual knowledge is part of many abstract concepts. In Experiment 1, participants made lexical decisions to abstract words that were preceded by related and unrelated pictures of situations. For example, share was preceded by a picture of two girls sharing a cob of corn. When pictures were presented for 500 ms, latencies did not differ. However, when pictures were presented for 1,000 ms, decision latencies were significantly shorter for abstract words preceded by related versus unrelated pictures. Because the abstract concepts corresponded to the pictured situation as a whole, rather than a single concrete object or entity, the necessary relational processing takes time. In Experiment 2, on each trial, an abstract word was presented for 250 ms, immediately followed by a picture. Participants indicated whether or not the picture showed a normal situation. Decision latencies were significantly shorter for pictures preceded by related versus unrelated abstract words. Our experiments provide evidence that knowledge of events and situations is important for learning and using at least some types of abstract concepts. That is, abstract concepts are grounded in situations, but in a more complex manner than for concrete concepts. Although people's understanding of abstract concepts certainly includes knowledge gained from language describing situations and events for which those concepts are relevant, sensory and motor information experienced during real-life events is important as well.
概念通常是在缺乏物理或感知参照的情况下定义的。相反，我们认为它们并非没有感知信息，因为对现实情况的了解是学习和使用许多抽象概念的重要组成部分。虽然感知信息和抽象概念之间的关系并不像具体概念那样直接，但基于情境的感知知识是许多抽象概念的一部分。在实验 1 中，参与者对抽象词进行词汇判断，这些词之前是相关和不相关的情境图片。例如，分享一词之前是两个女孩分享一根玉米的图片。当图片呈现 500 毫秒时，反应时没有差异。然而，当图片呈现 1000 毫秒时，与不相关图片相比，与相关图片相关的抽象词的反应时显著缩短。由于抽象概念对应于整个图片情境，而不是单个具体对象或实体，因此必要的关系处理需要时间。在实验 2 中，在每个试验中，一个抽象词呈现 250 毫秒，立即呈现一张图片。参与者判断图片是否显示正常情况。与不相关的抽象词相比，与相关的抽象词相关的图片的反应时显著缩短。我们的实验提供了证据，表明对事件和情境的知识对于学习和使用至少某些类型的抽象概念很重要。也就是说，抽象概念是基于情境的，但与具体概念相比，方式更为复杂。尽管人们对抽象概念的理解肯定包括从描述与这些概念相关的情境和事件的语言中获得的知识，但在现实生活事件中经历的感觉和运动信息也很重要。
