Abstract
The relation of abstract concepts to the modality-specific systems is discussed controversially. According to classical approaches, the semantic content of abstract concepts can only be coded by amodal or verbal-symbolic representations distinct from the sensory and motor systems, because abstract concepts lack a clear physical referent. Grounded cognition theories, in contrast, propose that abstract concepts do not depend only on the verbal system, but also on a variety of modal systems involving perception, action, emotion and internal states. In order to contribute to this debate, we investigated the semantic content of abstract concepts using a property generation task. Participants were asked to generate properties for 296 abstract concepts, which are relevant for constituting their meaning. These properties were categorized by a coding-scheme making a classification into modality-specific and verbal contents possible. Words were additionally rated with regard to concreteness/abstractness and familiarity. To identify possible subgroups of abstract concepts with distinct profiles of generated features, hierarchical cluster analyses were conducted. Participants generated a substantial proportion of introspective, affective, social, sensory and motor-related properties, in addition to verbal associations. Cluster analyses revealed different subcategories of abstract concepts, which can be characterized by the dominance of certain conceptual features. The present results are therefore compatible with grounded cognition theories, which emphasize the importance of linguistic, social, introspective and affective experiential information for the representation of abstract concepts. Our findings also indicate that abstract concepts are highly heterogeneous requiring the investigation of well-specified subcategories of abstract concepts, for instance as revealed by the present cluster analyses. The present study could thus guide future behavioral or imaging work further elucidating the representation of abstract concepts.
Highlights
Research on conceptual knowledge is an important topic in cognitive psychology and in cognitive science in general
In order to contribute to this debate, we investigated the semantic content of abstract concepts using a property generation task
Central human abilities, such as problem solving, action planning, object recognition, communication and language crucially depend on conceptual knowledge stored in semantic long-term memory
Summary
Research on conceptual knowledge is an important topic in cognitive psychology and in cognitive science in general. Concepts are defined as mental entities, which provide factual knowledge by integrating our sensory and motor experiences with the environment in a categorical fashion (Humphreys et al, 1988; Kiefer and Pulvermüller, 2012). They refer to concrete objects, and to referents, which are not directly observable, like mental or emotional states, abstract ideas, social constellations and scientific theories. A main question in this regard concerns the role of modality-specific systems in the representation of conceptual knowledge
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