none 10.1075/hcp.65.06sce John Benjamins Publishing Company John Benjamins Publishing Company 1757 106989191 3339467 1419929 202412102301000037 10.1075 2024-12-10T17:04:47Z 2019-05-20T02:58:22Z 1 Cognitive Foundations of Language Structure and Use 1387-6724 10.1075/hcp https://benjamins.com/catalog/hcp Marianna Bolognesi University of Oxford https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3292-8968 Gerard J. Steen University of Amsterdam Cognition, language and communication Human language is the most powerful communication system that evolution has produced. Within this system, we can talk about things we can physically see, such as cats and tables, but also about more abstract entities, such as theories and feelings. But how are these abstract concepts grounded in human cognition and represented in the mind? How are they constructed in language? And how are they used in natural communication settings? This book addresses these questions through a collection of studies that relate to various theoretical frameworks, ranging from Conceptual Metaphor Theory to Words as Social Tools. Contributors investigate how abstract concepts are grounded in the mind, represented in language, and used in verbal discourse. This richness is matched by a range of methods used throughout the volume, from neuroimaging to computational modeling, and from behavioral experiments to corpus analyses. 65 6 6 2019 5 20 2019 9789027203182 9789027262523 John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam 10.1075/hcp.65 http://www.jbe-platform.com/content/books/9789027262523 https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1075/hcp.65/html https://www.jbe-platform.com/deliver/fulltext/9789027262523.pdf Elisa Scerrati https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4042-6140 Luisa Lugli https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1770-2327 Roberto Nicoletti https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8765-1997 Anna Maria Borghi https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9455-8408 A study with the Extrinsic Simon task Abstract An emerging class of theories of knowledge assumes that the representation and processing of concepts is achieved by reactivating multiple aspects of experience. Abstract concepts such as freedom and justice constitute a challenge for these theories because they have no clearly identifiable referent that we can experience. The Words As social Tools theory (WAT) posits that while both concrete and abstract concepts activate sensorimotor networks, the linguistic network is activated more by abstract than by concrete concepts given that the mode of acquisition of abstract concepts relies more on language. In this chapter we extend this argument and report results from an experiment with the Extrinsic Simon task suggesting that when we process abstract words we re-enact the experience of their acquisition and/or explain to ourselves their meaning. 6 6 2019 5 20 2019 101 118 10.1075/hcp.65.06sce https://benjamins.com/catalog/hcp.65.06sce https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1075/hcp.65.06sce/html 10.1162/jocn_a_00430 10.1017/S0140525X10000853 10.1017/S0140525X15000631 10.1111/tops.12096 10.1037/0022-3514.83.2.380 Behavioral and Brain Sciences Barsalou 22 577 1999 10.1017/S0140525X99002149 Perceptual symbols systems 10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093639 10.3758/s13423-016-1028-3 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199217274.003.0013 10.1093/cercor/bhp055 10.1046/j.1460-9568.1999.00753.x 10.1162/jocn_a_00263 10.1146/annurev.neuro.25.112701.142946 Topics in Cognitive Science Bolognesi 10 3 2018 10.1111/tops.12354 Abstract Concepts: Structure, Processing and Modeling Body-Language-Communication: An International Handbook on Multimodality in Human Interaction. 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