Department of Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Via Azzo Gardino, 23, 40122, Bologna, Italy.
Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2022 Oct 20;12(1):17572. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-20785-5.
Concepts allow us to make sense of the world. Most evidence on their acquisition and representation comes from studies of single decontextualized words and focuses on the opposition between concrete and abstract concepts (e.g., "bottle" vs. "truth"). A significant step forward in research on concepts consists in investigating them in online interaction during their use. Our study examines linguistic exchanges analyzing the differences between sub-kinds of concepts. Participants were submitted to an online task in which they had to simulate a conversational exchange by responding to sentences involving sub-kinds of concrete (tools, animals, food) and abstract concepts (PS, philosophical-spiritual; EMSS, emotional-social, PSTQ, physical-spatio-temporal-quantitative). We found differences in content: foods evoked interoception; tools and animals elicited materials, spatial, auditive features, confirming their sensorimotor grounding. PS and EMSS yielded inner experiences (e.g., emotions, cognitive states, introspections) and opposed PSTQ, tied to visual properties and concrete agency. More crucially, the various concepts elicited different interactional dynamics: more abstract concepts generated higher uncertainty and more interactive exchanges than concrete ones. Investigating concepts in situated interactions opens new possibilities for studying conceptual knowledge and its pragmatic and social aspects.
概念使我们能够理解世界。关于概念的习得和表现的大多数证据都来自于对单个非语境化单词的研究，并且集中在具体和抽象概念之间的对立上（例如，“瓶子”与“真理”）。在概念研究方面迈出的重要一步是在使用过程中在线互动中对其进行研究。我们的研究通过分析不同种类概念之间的差异来考察概念。参与者被要求完成一项在线任务，在该任务中，他们必须通过回答涉及具体概念（工具、动物、食物）和抽象概念（PS，哲学-精神；EMSS，情感-社会，PSTQ，物理-空间-时间-定量）的子类型的句子来模拟对话交流。我们发现内容上存在差异：食物唤起了内在感觉；工具和动物引起了材料、空间、听觉特征，证实了它们的感觉运动基础。PS 和 EMSS 产生了内在体验（例如，情绪、认知状态、内省），而与视觉属性和具体能动性相关的 PSTQ 则相反。更重要的是，各种概念引发了不同的互动动态：与具体概念相比，更抽象的概念产生了更高的不确定性和更多的互动交流。在情境互动中研究概念为研究概念知识及其语用和社会方面开辟了新的可能性。
