The Challenges of Abstract Concepts

Dove, Guy

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-78471-3_8

Cited by 21 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 162 publications

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“…This approach enables us to entertain different hypotheses concerning the contribution of different subregions of the left ATL. For instance, some of these subregions might encode discourse-related information that contributes to the task- and context-sensitivity of our concepts [30].…”

Section: Neural Correlatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, there are compelling reasons to think that our conceptual system must contain some representations that are not directly tied to experience. Because many abstract concepts have referents that we do not directly perceive or manipulate [7,29,30], it is not immediately clear how they can be grounded in action, emotion and perception systems [31,32]. In other words, embodied cognition faces a symbol ungrounding problem [33,34].…”

Section: Symbol Groundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rethinking the role of language in embodied cognition

Dove

2022

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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There has been a lot of recent interest in the way that language might enhance embodied cognition. This interest is driven in large part by a growing body of evidence implicating the language system in various aspects of semantic memory—including, but not limited to, its apparent contribution to abstract concepts. In this essay, I develop and defend a novel account of the cognitive role played by language in our concepts. This account relies on the embodied nature of the language system itself, diverges in significant ways from traditional accounts, and is part of a flexible, multimodal and multilevel view of our conceptual system. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Concepts in interaction: social engagement and inner experiences’.

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Section: Neural Correlatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Symbol Groundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking the role of language in embodied cognition

Dove

2022

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…One may also claim that there are relevant features of abstract concepts (see Banks & Connell, 2023;Borghi et al, 2022;Dove, 2021;Pexman et al, 2023;Villani et al, 2021) that our model does not capture. For example, that abstract concepts relate more to emotions, mental states, or complex interaction schemes than concrete ones is not implemented (but see Introduction for discussion).…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Verbal Symbols Support Concrete but Enable Abstract Concept Formation: Evidence From Brain‐Constrained Deep Neural Networks

Dobler,

Henningsen‐Schomers,

Pulvermüller

2024

Language Learning

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Concrete symbols (e.g., sun, run) can be learned in the context of objects and actions, thereby grounding their meaning in the world. However, it is controversial whether a comparable avenue to semantic learning exists for abstract symbols (e.g., democracy). When we simulated the putative brain mechanisms of conceptual/semantic grounding using brain‐constrained deep neural networks, the learning of instances of concrete concepts outside of language contexts led to robust neural circuits generating substantial and prolonged activations. In contrast, the learning of instances of abstract concepts yielded much reduced and only short‐lived activity. Crucially, when conceptual instances were learned in the context of wordforms, circuit activations became robust and long‐lasting for both concrete and abstract meanings. These results indicate that, although the neural correlates of concrete conceptual representations can be built from grounding experiences alone, abstract concept formation at the neurobiological level is enabled by and requires the correlated presence of linguistic forms.

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“…From this theoretical point of view, it is rather easy to conceive how the meaning of concrete words, such as book , could be embodied through sensorimotor experience (e.g., since books are usually handled manually, hearing or reading this word supposedly activates hand-related motor system; for some empirical evidence see for example [ 7 , 8 ]). However, this is more complex for abstract concepts because we cannot physically”grasp” them through our senses, nor easily identify the cognitive experience during development that led to the representation of abstract words [ 8 , 9 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Embodied time: Effect of reading expertise on the spatial representation of past and future

Ziegler¹,

Coull²,

Montant³

2022

PLoS ONE

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How do people grasp the abstract concept of time? It has been argued that abstract concepts, such as future and past, are grounded in sensorimotor experience. When responses to words that refer to the past or the future are either spatially compatible or incompatible with a left-to-right timeline, a space-time congruency effect is observed. In the present study, we investigated whether reading expertise determines the strength of the space-time congruency effect, which would suggest that learning to read and write drives the effect. Using a temporal categorization task, we compared two types of space-time congruency effects, one where spatial incongruency was generated by the location of the stimuli on the screen and one where it was generated by the location of the responses on the keyboard. While the first type of incongruency was visuo-spatial only, the second involved the motor system. Results showed stronger space-time congruency effects for the second type of incongruency (i.e., when the motor system was involved) than for the first type (visuo-spatial). Crucially, reading expertise, as measured by a standardized reading test, predicted the size of the space-time congruency effects. Altogether, these results reinforce the claim that the spatial representation of time is partially mediated by the motor system and partially grounded in spatially-directed movement, such as reading or writing.

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The Challenges of Abstract Concepts

Cited by 21 publications

References 162 publications

Rethinking the role of language in embodied cognition

Rethinking the role of language in embodied cognition

Verbal Symbols Support Concrete but Enable Abstract Concept Formation: Evidence From Brain‐Constrained Deep Neural Networks

Embodied time: Effect of reading expertise on the spatial representation of past and future

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