Language

Abstract Concepts

Abstract concepts like “love” or “trust” pose a unique challenge in cognitive science. Unlike concrete concepts such as “red,” which derive meaning from direct sensory experiences, abstract concepts lack physical referents. This absence raises questions about how such concepts are represented in the mind and complicates the prevailing ’embodied’ theory of concept representation, which suggests that concepts gain meaning through bodily experiences.

At LISN, we tackle these challenges by exploring alternative grounding for abstract concepts. We investigate whether emotional or metaphorical experiences provide the basis for understanding abstract words. For example, ’trust’ is often considered a ‘big’ concept because it elicits strong emotions (Yao et al., 2013) and is metaphorically associated with large objects like ‘castle’ or ‘cathedral’ (Yao, Taylor, & Sereno, 2022). Our research also examines the possibility that abstract concepts have a more episodic and context-dependent grounding compared to concrete ones. For instance, the concept of ’love’ can vary significantly depending on the context, such as a romantic dinner or a care home, unlike more concrete concepts like ‘cat,’ which consistently evoke features like fur and paws. We extend this inquiry to understand how embodied experiences influence language comprehension across various contexts and life stages.

Structural Processing

Structural processing in language is a complex cognitive function that extends beyond mere syntax. It involves breaking down sentences into components such as subjects, verbs, and objects, and understanding their interrelationships to extract meaning. This function also intersects with other cognitive domains like prosody - the intonation in spoken sentences - and arithmetic operations, highlighting its role as a domain-general mechanism crucial for structuring language, cognition, and communication.

At LISN, our focus is twofold. First, we explore the link between implicit prosody in reading, commonly known as “inner speech,” and syntactic processing. This helps us understand how the ‘melody’ of language in our minds influences sentence interpretation (Yao & Scheepers, 2018). Second, we study how sentence structures in different languages affect cognition among their speakers. For example, Chinese sentences often omit subjects and focus on topics, whereas English sentences require subjects and emphasise them. This difference could lead to varying attentional focuses and mental representations. We also examine the contrasting structures between left-branching languages like Chinese and right-branching languages like English, suggesting different structural hierarchies between languages. Through these investigations, we aim to untangle the complexities of structural processing and its influence on cognition and communication.

Eye Movements in Reading

Eye movements in reading offer a rich data source for understanding cognitive processes such as attention, memory, and language comprehension. Captured through eye-tracking technology, these movements include quick jumps called saccades and brief pauses known as fixations, where most information absorption takes place. Factors like text complexity and reader familiarity affect the duration of these fixations and the length of saccades. The parafoveal region of the eye also provides a ‘preview’ of upcoming words during saccades, facilitating smoother reading. Lexical variables such as word frequency, predictability, and orthography further influence these eye movements, offering insights into ocular control and cognitive processes in reading.

At LISN, we engage in targeted research projects to explore this complex landscape. For instance, one study examines the interaction between word frequency and contextual predictability in relation to parafoveal preview, aiming to understand their combined impact on fixation durations (Sereno et al., 2018). Another research line investigates how altering the perceptual quality of the parafoveal preview might affect the processing of the previewed word’s spelling, subsequently influencing lexical selection in later fixations. Through these studies, LISN aims to clarify the multifaceted factors that influence eye movements in reading, thereby enriching broader theories of cognition and language processing.

Language and Emotion

The processing of emotion words involves a complex interplay between language and emotional cognition. One layer of complexity arises from the interaction between a word’s concreteness and its emotional valence. For example, concrete emotion words like “kiss” or “snake” often elicit stronger emotional and cognitive responses than abstract ones like “love” or “fear,” likely because they more easily evoke sensory experiences. Beyond this, the processing of emotion words is influenced by various factors such as the individual’s current emotional state, cultural background, and the context in which the word appears. For instance, a positive mood may facilitate the processing of positively-valenced words, while a negative mood could have the opposite effect.

At LISN, we focus on these nuanced interactions. We examine how concreteness and emotional valence in word processing interact, particularly in the context of alexithymia—a condition characterised by difficulties in identifying and describing emotions (Yao et al., 2018). We also investigate how emotional experiences provide an embodied basis for understanding abstract concepts, thereby extending the ’embodied cognition’ framework to include emotional and abstract language. For example, the abstract concept of “freedom” may be more deeply understood through the emotional experience of relief or exhilaration (Yao et al., 2013). Additionally, we explore the role of mood states in emotion word processing, investigating how they can alter the perceived emotional charge of words (Sereno et al., 2015). Through these research avenues, LISN aims to offer a comprehensive understanding of emotion word processing, enriching both theoretical frameworks and practical applications in cognitive science.