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Spatial characteristics of thematic role representation
A Chatterjee1, L M Maher, K M Heilman
1Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham 35294, USA.
Neuropsychologia
|May 1, 1995
Summary
This study reveals that the concepts of agent and patient roles in actions are spatially represented before language grammar. Humans show a consistent left-right bias when drawing these roles, suggesting a non-linguistic spatial foundation.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Linguistics
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Humans map agent (doer) and patient (recipient) roles onto grammatical subject and object.
- The possibility of conceptualizing thematic roles independent of language remains unexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if thematic roles (agent, patient) can be conceptualized spatially, independent of linguistic structures.
- To determine if non-linguistic representations of thematic roles exhibit unique characteristics.
Main Methods:
- Participants were asked to draw stick figures representing agents and patients.
- Thematic role depiction was analyzed for systematic spatial biases.
- Drawing tasks were performed in contexts stripped of surface sentential form to isolate conceptualization.
Main Results:
- A systematic spatial bias was observed, with agents consistently located to the left of patients.
- This spatial bias was most pronounced when sentence structure was absent, indicating a non-linguistic origin.
- Motor output and auditory input effects partially mitigated the bias.
Conclusions:
- Thematic roles of agent and patient appear to have a nascent spatial representation.
- This spatial conceptualization precedes their projection onto grammatical structures.
- Findings suggest a non-linguistic basis for fundamental aspects of action conceptualization.