Functional Features in Language and Space Insights from Perception, Categorization, and Development

by Carlson, Laura; van der Zee, Emile

• ISBN13: 9780199264339
• ISBN10: 0199264333
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-02-17
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The notions of 'function', 'feature' and 'functional feature' are associated with relatively new developments and insights in several areas of cognition. This book brings together different definitions, insights and research related to defining these notions from such diverse areas aslanguage, perception, categorization and development. Each of the contributors in this book explicitly defines the notion of 'function', 'feature' or 'functional feature' within their own theoretical framework, presents research in which such a notion plays a pivotal role, and discusses thecontribution of functional features in relation to their insights in a particular area of cognition. As such, this book not only presents new developments devoted to defining 'function', 'feature' and 'functional feature' in several sub-disciplines of cognitive science, but also offers a focusedaccount of how these notions operate within the cognitive interface linking language and spatial representation. All book chapters are accessible for the interested novice, and offer the specialized researcher new empirical and theoretical insights into defining function, both with respect to thelanguage and space interface and across cognition. The introduction to the book presents the reader with the main issues and viewpoints that are discussed in more detail in each of the book chapters.

Author Biography

Laura Carlson is Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Notre Dame. Her publications include journal articles published in Psychological Science, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human, Perception and Performance,Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition and Journal of Memory and Language. Emile van der Zee is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Lincoln. His publications include Cognitive Interfaces: Constraints on Linking Cognitive Information (2000, with Urpo Nikanne), and Representing Direction in Language and Space (2003, with Jon Slack) both published by Oxford University Press.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
List of Contributors	xii
1 Functional Features in Language and Space	1	(10)
Laura A. Carlson and Emile van der Zee
1.1 Part One-Features: Derived from Perception, Action, and Embodiment	3	(2)
1.2 Part Two-Function: Definitions and Influence	5	(1)
1.3 Part Three-Features that are Functional: Categorization, Learning, and Language	6	(2)
1.4 Part Four-Overview of Research in Space and Language	8	(3)
PART ONE-FEATURES: DERIVED FROM PERCEPTION, ACTION, AND EMBODIMENT
2 Language is Grounded in Action	11	(14)
Arthur Glenberg and Michael Kaschak
2.1 Theories of Meaning u
2.2 Testing the Indexical Hypothesis	17	(4)
2.3 The Action-sentence Compatibility Effect	21	(3)
2.4 Conclusions	24	(1)
3 The Bicycle Pedal is in Front of the Table. Why some Objects do not Fit into some Spatial Relations	25	(14)
Manuel de Vega and Maria J. Rodrigo
3.1 Introduction	26	(1)
3.2 Meaning as Embodied Representation	27	(2)
3.3 Figures and Grounds	29	(2)
3.4 A Study on Locative Sentences	31	(5)
3.5 Concluding Remarks	36	(3)
4 Dissociation between Verbal and Pointing Responding in Perspective Change Problems	39	(14)
Ranxiao Frances Wang
4.1 Introduction	40	(3)
4.2 Experiment 1	43	(3)
4.3 Experiment 2	46	(4)
4.4 General Discussion	50	(3)
5 An Ecological Approach to the Interface between Language and Vision	53	(18)
Rajesh Kasturirangan
5.1 Introduction	53	(2)
5.2 Schematization and Context Sensitivity	55	(2)
5.3 A Model of the Language-Perception Interface	57	(8)
5.4 Predictions	65	(3)
5.5 Conclusions	68	(3)
6 Contextual, Functional, and Geometric Components in the Semantics of Projective Terms	71	(22)
Carola Eschenbach
6.1 Introduction	72	(2)
6.2 A Common Model of Reference Systems and Projective Prepositions	74	(1)
6.3 Functional Asymmetries and Principal Directions	75	(7)
6.4 German Projective Terms beyond Prepositions	82	(5)
6.5 Conclusion	87	(6)
7 Verbs and Directions: The Interaction of Geometry and Function in Determining Orientation	93	(20)
Christopher Habel
7.1 Introduction	94	(1)
7.2 Describing Turning Situations Using the German Verb drehen	95	(5)
7.3 Conceptual Semantics for the German Verb drehen	100	(12)
7.4 Conclusion	112	(1)
8 Between Space and Function: How Spatial and Functional Features Determine the Comprehension of between	113	(18)
Emile van der Zee and Matt Watson
8.1 Introduction	114	(1)
8.2 Spatial Features Representing Referent Distributions	114	(6)
8.3 Visual Functional Features	120	(1)
8.4 Linguistic Functional Features	121	(1)
8.5 General Functional Features	122	(1)
8.6 Dynamic-Kinematic Features	123	(1)
8.7 One Lexical Concept but more than one Corresponding Spatial Prototype	124	(1)
8.8 The Meaning of between in Context	125	(6)
PART TWO-FUNCTION: DEFINITIONS AND INFLUENCE
9 The HIPE Theory of Function	131	(18)
Lawrence Barsalou, Steven Sloman, and Sergio Chaigneau
9.1 Introduction	131	(1)
9.2 The HIPE Theory	132	(6)
9.3 Causal Chains in HIPE	138	(7)
9.4 Applications	145	(4)
10 Towards a Classification of Extra-geometric Influences on the Comprehension of Spatial Prepositions	149	(14)
Kenny Coventry and Simon Garrod
10.1 Introduction	149	(2)
10.2 In and On	151	(2)
10.3 Projective Prepositions; over, under, above, below, in front of and behind	153	(5)
10.4 Other Prepositions: The Case of between	158	(2)
10.5 Putting Geometric and Extra-geometric Constraints Together: The Functional Geometric Framework	160	(3)
11 Is it in or is it on? The Influence of Geometry and Location Control on Children's Descriptions of Containment and Support Events	163	(12)
Lynn Richards and Kenny Coventry
11.1 Introduction	163	(1)
11.2 In and on: The Importance of the Extra-geometric Factor of Location Control in Adult Comprehension and Production	164	(2)
11.3 Influences of Form and Function: The Development of Object Naming	166	(2)
11.4 The Development of in and on in a Child's Lexicon, and the Pre-linguistic Understanding of Containment and Support	168	(2)
11.5 Where's the Orange? Geometric and Functional Factors in Children's Production of in and on	170	(3)
11.6 Summary and Conclusions	173	(2)
12 Defining Functional Features for Spatial Language	175	(16)
Laura Carlson and Edwin Covell
12.1 Introduction	175	(3)
12.2 The Functional Bias	178	(3)
12.3 Classificatory Features of the Reference Objects	181	(5)
12.4 Principal Components Analysis of the Reference Objects	186	(3)
12.5 Implications and Conclusions	189	(2)
13 Attention in Spatial Language: Bridging Geometry and Function	191	(14)
Terry Regier, Laura Carlson, and Bryce Corrigan
13.1 Introduction	191	(1)
13.2 An Attentional Account of Spatial Terms	192	(3)
13.3 Testing the AVS Model	195	(3)
13.4 Bridging Geometry and Function	198	(2)
13.5 Object Function, Attention, and the AVS Model	200	(1)
13.6 Can the AVS Model Account for Functional Effects?	200	(3)
13.7 Discussion	203	(2)
14 Being Near the Ceramic, but not Near the Mug: On the Role of Construal in Spatial Language	205	(14)
Sandeep Prasada
14.1 Introduction	206	(1)
14.2 Object and Substance Construals and Functional Information	207	(6)
14.3 Construal, Functional Properties, and Spatial Language	213	(4)
14.4 A Note on Conventional Objects	217	(1)
14.5 Conclusion	217	(2)
15 Force and Function in the Acquisition of the Preposition in	219	(16)
Claude Vandeloise
15.1 Introduction	220	(1)
15.2 Force, Movement, and Function	220	(2)
15.3 The Role of Force in the Use of the Preposition in	222	(2)
15.4 Containment and the Family Resemblance C/c	224	(2)
15.5 The Acquisition of the Preposition in	226	(3)
15.6 Relative Importance of Geometric and Dynamic Factors in the Use of the Preposition in	229	(6)
PART THREE-FEATURES THAT ARE FUNCTIONAL: CATEGORIZATION, LEARNING, AND LANGUAGE
16 Shape: A Developmental Product	235	(22)
Linda B. Smith
16.1 Introduction	235	(1)
16.2 Some Circumstantial Evidence	236	(4)
16.3 New Evidence on Developmental Changes in the Perception of Shape Similarity	240	(12)
16.4 Toward a Theory of Shape	252	(5)
17 Adaptation of Perceptual and Semantic Features	257	(18)
Brian Rogosky and Robert Goldstone
17.1 Introduction	258	(1)
17.2 Featural Approaches	259	(2)
17.3 Alternatives to Fixed Features	261	(6)
17.4 Semantic Features	267	(6)
17.5 Conclusion	273	(2)
18 Infants' Attention to and Use of Functional Properties in Categorization	275	(18)
Kelly Madole and Lisa Oakes
18.1 Introduction	276	(1)
18.2 Developmental Changes in Infants' Attention to an Object's function	277	(2)
18.3 Developmental Changes in Infants' Attention to Appearance-Function Correlations	279	(3)
18.4 Developmental Changes in Infants' Ability to use Function as a Basis for Categorization	282	(5)
18.5 Developmental Changes in Background Knowledge Constrain Infants' attention to Appearance-Function Correlations	287	(3)
18.6 Conclusions	290	(3)
19 Developmental Constraints on the Representation of Spatial Relation Information: Evidence from Preverbal Infants	293	(18)
Paul C. Quinn
19.1 Introduction	294	(1)
19.2 Early Category Representations for Objects	294	(1)
19.3 Early Category Representations for Spatial Relations	295	(12)
19.4 Speculations on an Overall Course of Development for the Representation of Objects and Spatial Relations	307	(1)
19.5 Conclusions	308	(3)
20 Path Expressions in Finnish and Swedish: The Role of Constructions	311	(20)
Urpo Nikanne
20.1 Introduction	311	(1)
20.2 Conceptual Structure Representation	312	(3)
20.3 The Problem	315	(4)
20.4 Different Ways to Analyze the Swedish Construction	319	(3)
20.5 Differences in Syntactico-conceptual Linking between Finnish and Swedish	322	(3)
20.6 Formulation of the Swedish Construction	325	(2)
20.7 Conclusion	327	(4)
PART FOUR-THE PERVASIVENESS OF FUNCTIONAL FEATURES IN LANGUAGE AND SPACE
21 Form and Function	331	(18)
Barbara Tversky
21.1 Introduction	331	(1)
21.2 Accounting for Spatial Language	332	(1)
21.3 Referring to Things	333	(8)
21.4 Naming Emphasizes Function	341	(3)
21.5 Referring to Spatial Relations	344	(3)
21.6 Parting Words	347	(2)
References	349	(28)
Author Index	377	(8)
Index of Terms	385