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Grasping the invisible: semantic processing of abstract words
Lenka Zdrazilova1, Penny M Pexman
1University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|May 18, 2013
Summary
This study explored how abstract word meanings are represented using semantic richness. Key variables like context availability influenced word processing tasks, offering insights into semantic grounding.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Psycholinguistics
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Understanding abstract word meaning representation is a persistent challenge in cognitive science.
- Previous research focused on concrete words, leaving abstract word semantics less explored.
- The semantic richness approach offers a framework to quantify word meaning properties.
Purpose of the Study:
- To extend the semantic richness approach to abstract nouns.
- To investigate the impact of six semantic richness variables on lexical-semantic processing.
- To examine how these variables affect performance in lexical decision and semantic categorization tasks.
Main Methods:
- Examined 207 abstract nouns using six semantic richness variables: context availability (CA), sensory experience rating (SER), valence, arousal, semantic neighborhood (SN), and number of associates (NoA).
- Employed two behavioral tasks: lexical decision task (LDT) and semantic categorization task (SCT).
- Controlled for lexical and orthographic factors to isolate semantic richness effects.
Main Results:
- Semantic richness variables significantly predicted latencies in both LDT and SCT.
- Context availability (CA) showed significant effects in the lexical decision task.
- Sensory experience rating (SER) and valence demonstrated significant effects in the semantic categorization task.
Conclusions:
- Semantic richness dimensions significantly influence the processing of abstract words.
- The influence of specific semantic richness variables is task-dependent.
- Findings support a dynamic, multidimensional framework for understanding abstract semantic representation and grounding.
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