The semantic component of the short functional depiction affects categorization of the ambiguous naturally formed object

Abstract

Artifacts (e.g., chair, desk, books) are closely related with peoples’ daily life. Evidences have been accumulated from behavior experiment, brain damage patient, and neural functional imaging to show that the cognitive neural processing mechanisms are different for artifacts and natural kinds. The intention-based model assumes that people categorize an objects’ by reasoning the creator’s intent. Evidence for this model are about “intended function” effect in categorization, naming, and reasoning studies. However, the utility-based model assumes that using-goal is determining how people categorize an object. The interaction between people and objects make object’s properties related the using-goal so that the semantic organization of an artifact concept is coherent. This model can explain evidence from study on both intended function and non-intended function. From a third-party perspective, the commonalty of these two models is that they are both purpose-based and the key difference between them is that the creator’s versus the user’s purpose influences artifact concept’s categorization and reasoning. Previous studies used a natural language depiction-based free naming task but seldom separate syntactic component from the semantic component in these depictions. In this study, we recruited 96 participants and manipulated the plausibility of 6 objects’ function by creating plausible and implausible versions of function depiction to explore how the plausibility of an object’s function affects participants’ categorization judgment. The study had two key findings: The plausibility of an object’s function affects participants’ naming, rating, and reasoning of an artifact. Participants categorize ambiguous depictions of objects as artifacts when objects’ function is plausible and categorize them as natural kinds when their function is implausible. The correlation analysis showed that the more plausible an object’s function is the higher possibility that participants categorize it as an artifact. In summary, presenting the semantic component of an object’s function make ambiguous object categorized more as artifacts. Wang et al. found the role effect which showed that positive role word “you” can illuminate object history effect on categorization judgment. Namely, the role word can affect both the amount of function listed and the object categorization. These findings suggest that role word, object function, and categorization judgment are in a linear mediation relation: role word activate object function, and object function activation categorization judgment. In this current study, we directly probe and proved that the semantic component of object function has effect on artifact concept processing. If with the assumption that both the object man-made formation history and the second person role word can activate object function, then the purpose-based theory can explain both the formation effect and the role effect indicating that the two effects have a common mediating step: first to activate object’s function, then have effect on next cognitive output. Therefore, this point developed the purpose-based model.