words refer to concepts that cannot be directly experienced through our senses (e.g. , ). How we ground the meanings of abstract words is one of the deepest problems in cognitive science today. We investigated this question in an experiment in which 62 participants were asked to communicate the meanings of words (20 abstract nouns, e.g. ; 10 concrete nouns, e.g. ) to a partner without using the words themselves (the taboo task). We analysed the speech and associated gestures that participants used to communicate the meaning of each word in the taboo task. Analysis of verbal and gestural data yielded a number of insights. When communicating about the meanings of abstract words, participants' speech referenced more people and introspections. In contrast, the meanings of concrete words were communicated by referencing more objects and entities. Gesture results showed that when participants spoke about abstract word meanings their speech was accompanied by more metaphorical and beat gestures, and speech about concrete word meanings was accompanied by more iconic gestures. Taken together, the results suggest that abstract meanings are best captured by a model that allows dynamic access to multiple representation systems.This article is part of the theme issue 'Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain'.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6015825 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0138 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Unlabelled: Thiosulfate-citrate-bile salts-sucrose (TCBS) agar is a selective and differential media for the enrichment of pathogenic . We observed that an exonuclease VII ( ) mutant of failed to grow on TCBS agar, suggesting that DNA repair mutant strains may be hampered for growth in this selective media. Examination of the selective components of TCBS revealed that bile acids were primarily responsible for toxicity of the mutant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF[Differential analysis of intestinal flora in patients with hepatic blastomycosis based on second-generation sequencing].
Zhonghua Yu Fang Yi Xue Za Zhi
January 2025
Department of Basic Medicine, College of Medicine, Qinghai University, Xining810016, China.
Exploring the variability of the intestinal flora of patients with hepatic blastocysticercosis and searching for members of the intestinal microflora that may play a role in the disease process by means of macro-genome sequencing technology. A case-control study was used to include fecal samples from patients with hepatic vesicular schistosomiasis admitted to Qinghai Provincial People's Hospital between October 2023 and January 2024 and individuals attending health checkups. The experimental group (AE group) consisted of 10 patients with liver vesicular schistosomiasis and the control group (NC group) consisted of 9 individuals attending health checkups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElectrostatically tuning radical addition and atom abstraction reactions with distonic radical ions.
Chem Sci
January 2025
Molecular Horizons and School of Chemistry and Molecular Bioscience, University of Wollongong Wollongong New South Wales 2522 Australia
Although electrostatic catalysis can enhance the kinetics and selectivity of reactions to produce greener synthetic processes, the highly directional nature of electrostatic interactions has limited widespread application. In this study, the influence of oriented electric fields (OEF) on radical addition and atom abstraction reactions are systematically explored with ion-trap mass spectrometry using structurally diverse distonic radical ions that maintain spatially separated charge and radical moieties. When installed on rigid molecular scaffolds, charged functional groups lock the magnitude and orientation of the internal electric field with respect to the radical site, creating an OEF which tunes the reactivity across the set of gas-phase carbon-centred radical reactions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNumerical dynamics and optimal control for multi-strain age-structured epidemic model.
J Math Biol
January 2025
College of Mathematical Sciences, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China.
In this paper, a novel age-structured epidemiological model that simultaneously considers multiple viral strains is proposed. We develop a numerical framework for the study of the dynamics and optimal control by a linearly implicit Euler method, in which the biological meaning is unconditionally preserved. The first order convergence of numerical solutions in a finite time is derived from a uniform numerical boundedness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Body composition is studied in athletes as a means of measuring physical fitness and progression of training. Athletes can utilize body composition in multiple ways to guide training toward athlete specific goals. Several different methods exist with varying levels of cost, invasiveness, reading complexity, and availability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!