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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 23, 2025

The Spatial Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

The Spatial Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

Published on: February 19, 2018

Demonstrative Reference and Semantic Space: A Large-Scale Demonstrative Choice Task Study.

Roberta Rocca^1,2,3, Mikkel Wallentin^1,2,4

¹Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics, School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.

Frontiers in Psychology

|April 23, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Speakers use "this" for small, controllable objects and "that" for large, uncontrollable ones. This study reveals demonstrative word choice reflects a broader semantic space tied to the speaker's self.

Keywords:

language manipulability semantics spatial demonstratives the Demonstrative Choice Task

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Linguistics
Psychology

Background:

Spatial demonstratives like 'this' and 'that' are traditionally linked to defining peripersonal and extrapersonal space.
Previous research suggests a bias in demonstrative choice based on object manipulability.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the semantic features influencing demonstrative word choice beyond spatial domains.
To map the semantic space associated with demonstrative use across a wide range of words and features.

Main Methods:

Utilized the Demonstrative Choice Task (DCT) with a large participant pool (N = 2197).
Elicited demonstratives for 506 words, analyzed across 65 + 11 semantic dimensions.
Assessed inter-participant reliability through split-sample comparisons.

Main Results:

Replicated the finding that object manipulability influences demonstrative choice ('this' for manipulable, 'that' for non-manipulable).
Demonstrative choice is also correlated with semantic factors such as valence, arousal, loudness, motion, time, and self-reference.
Demonstrative choices showed high consistency across participants.

Conclusions:

Demonstrative word choice is a structured linguistic behavior influenced by a rich set of semantic features.
The Demonstrative Choice Task can map a generalized semantic space anchored in the speaker's self-concept.
This semantic space extends beyond physical embodiment into abstract conceptual domains.