Jove
Visualize
Contact Us

Related Experiment Videos

Property instantiation in conceptual combination

E J Wisniewski1

  • 1University of North Carolina, USA. edw@uncg.edu

Memory & Cognition
|December 16, 1998
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

When concepts combine.

Psychonomic bulletin & review·2011
Same author

On the necessity of alignment: reply to Costello and Keane (2001).

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2001
Same author

Similarity, alignment, and conceptual combination: comment on Estes and Glucksberg.

Memory & cognition·2000
Same author

What makes a man similar to a tie? Stimulus compatibility with comparison and integration.

Cognitive psychology·2000
Same author

A structural account of global and local processing.

Cognitive psychology·1999
Same author

On the equivalence of superordinate concepts.

Cognition·1996
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

People transfer specific property representations during conceptual combination, rather than abstract ones. This instantiation process influences how we interpret combined concepts and make judgments about them.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Conceptual Representation

Background:

  • Understanding conceptual combination is key to cognitive science.
  • Previous theories proposed abstract property transfer during concept merging.
  • The role of specific versus abstract property representations remained unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how properties are transferred during conceptual combination.
  • To determine if property transfer involves specific or abstract representations.
  • To test predictions derived from a property instantiation account.

Main Methods:

  • Four experiments were conducted to examine property transfer.
  • Participants' interpretations of combined concepts were analyzed.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Judgments of plausibility, preference, and similarity were collected.

    • Main Results:

    • Evidence supports the instantiation of properties, not abstract copying.
    • Property transfer is specific to the combined concept.
    • The degree of similarity between concepts influences property instantiation.

    Conclusions:

    • Conceptual combination involves creating specific property instances.
    • This instantiation view challenges abstract transfer theories.
    • Findings have implications for theories of metaphor, induction, and conceptual combination.