Combination Of Concepts Research Articles

Lexical and Relational Influences on the Processing of Novel Compounds

To interpret a novel compound (e.g., chocolate twig), one must access the concepts denoted by the words and select a relation that links them together. To examine the role of lexical and relation information on conceptual combination, target combinations were preceded by one of three prime combinations. In Experiment 1, the prime used a semantically similar head noun and either the same or different relation. The third prime was semantically unrelated to the target. Experiment 2 was identical, except the modifier was the semantically related constituent. Although semantic priming was observed in both experiments, relation priming was obtained only when the modifier was similar.

Explanation and Cognition

Explanation and Cognition

Of Bucket Bowls and Coffee Cup Bowls: Spatial Alignment in Conceptual Combination

In three experiments, we evaluated the hypothesis that subjects align spatial aspects of properties during conceptual combination. The results show that subjects align spatial aspects of the modifier with those of the head noun in producing the referent of a combination (Experiments 1 and 3) and in choosing among possible referents of a combination (Experiment 2). These findings show that people do not rely solely on their general world knowledge in mapping a property of the modifier onto the combination. Other results showed that subjects prefer and produce referents based on differences that researchers would classify as nonalignable. This result is not predicted by current theories of alignment which emphasize the psychological importance of alignable differences. We discuss the implications of our results for current views of alignment and conceptual combination.

Similarity and Emergence in Conceptual Combination

The influence of similarity on emergence in interpretations of conceptual combinations was assessed. Participants wrote two definitions for each of eight similar and eight dissimilar word pairs and then listed the important features of each definition. Those features were compared with the features collected from a different group of participants who listed the characteristic properties of the parent concepts presented individually. Features listed for the combinations but not for the parent concepts separately were considered emergent. Similar pairs led to fewer emergent features than dissimilar pairs, and first attempts at defining the combinations produced fewer emergent features than second attempts. Definitions of similar pairs more often assigned a property of one concept to the other, whereas definitions of dissimilar pairs more often identified a thematic relation between the concepts. Similar pairs and first attempts also had higher proportions of features from within the structural alignments of the combinations' parent concepts. The results are consistent with the influence of structural alignment on conceptual combination and with a “quick fix” hypothesis. Members of similar pairs, which could easily be aligned, facilitated the identification of a property of the modifier to project onto the head noun, and their compatible structures required little emergent modification to incorporate the projected property. Dissimilar pairs, whose structures were less readily alignable, provided fewer projectible properties, required more emergent modification to incorporate them, and more often required participants to go beyond the alignable properties of the parent concepts to achieve coherent interpretations. On second definitions, participants may have pursued less satisfactory secondary alignments that led to less property projection more emergent features.

On the necessity of alignment: Reply to Costello and Keane (2001).

In their article, "Testing two theories of conceptual combination: Alignment versus diagnosticity in the comprehension and production of combined concepts," F. J. Costello and M. T. Keane (2001) evaluate the role of alignment in the interpretation of noun-noun combinations. They found that participants were not strongly biased to prefer and produce interpretations with alignable differences. Instead, participants sometimes preferred and produced interpretations with nonalignable differences. These results are surprising given that most research has found advantages of alignable differences over nonalignable differences. Costello and Keane also found that feature diagnosticity better predicted their results, and they concluded that alignment does not play an important role in conceptual combination. However, drawing on recent work, the author of the present article gives an alternative interpretation of Costello and Keane's results, showing that alignment is crucial in conceptual combination. The author also shows that the dual-process model accounts for their results.

Creative cognition, conceptual combination, and the creative writing of Stephen R. Donaldson.

Creative cognition, conceptual combination, and the creative writing of Stephen R. Donaldson.

Creative cognition, conceptual combination, and the creative writing of Stephen R. Donaldson.

This article explores the reported use of conceptual combination in Stephen R. Donaldson's development of the idea for his award-winning fantasy series. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. Donaldson's (1991) own account is used to illustrate the general principles of a creative cognition approach to understanding creativity as well as the more specific role of the basic process of conceptual combination. The links between Donaldson's and others' anecdotal accounts of creativity and laboratory investigations are assessed. The article concludes with an argument for a "convergence" approach in which information from anecdotal accounts and laboratory studies is combined to provide a more complete picture of creative functioning than either approach alone can offer.

Relation and lexical priming during the interpretation of noun–noun combinations.

This research indicates that recent exposure to a similar combination (e.g., oil moisturizer or surgery treatment) influences the processing of a subsequent combination (e.g., oil treatment) by increasing the availability of the lexical entries for the modifier and head noun, and by altering the availability of the relation used to link the two nouns. The amount of lexical and relational priming obtained depends on whether the modifier or head noun is in common between the prime and target. The head noun prime yields more lexical priming than does the modifier prime and this finding suggests that the head noun is more strongly activated than the modifier. In contrast, relation priming is obtained only from the modifier prime and this finding is consistent with the CARIN theory (C. L. Gagné & E. J. Shoben, 1997) but inconsistent with schema-based theories of conceptual combination (e.g., G. L. Murphy, 1988; E. J. Wisniewski, 1996).

Testing two theories of conceptual combination: Alignment versus diagnosticity in the comprehension and production of combined concepts.

People often interpret novel noun-noun combinations by transferring a property from one constituent concept of the combination to the other. Two theories make different predictions about these "property" interpretations. Dual-process theory predicts that properties transferred will be alignable differences of the concepts being combined. Constraint theory predicts that properties transferred will be diagnostic properties of the concepts in which they originate. An experimental study tested these contrasting predictions in interpretation comprehension and interpretation production tasks. The results showed that participants reliably preferred diagnostic property interpretations, whether alignable or nonalignable, in both tasks. There was no reliable preference for alignable interpretations in either task. This confirms constraint theory's predictions about property interpretations and goes against the predictions of dual-process theory.

Testing two theories of conceptual combination: Alignment versus diagnosticity in the comprehension and production of combined concepts.

People often interpret novel noun-noun combinations by transferring a property from one constituent concept of the combination to the other. Two theories make different predictions about these "property" interpretations. Dual-process theory predicts that properties transferred will be alignable differences of the concepts being combined. Constraint theory predicts that properties transferred will be diagnostic properties of the concepts in which they originate. An experimental study tested these contrasting predictions in interpretation comprehension and interpretation production tasks. The results showed that participants reliably preferred diagnostic property interpretations, whether alignable or nonalignable, in both tasks. There was no reliable preference for alignable interpretations in either task. This confirms constraint theory's predictions about property interpretations and goes against the predictions of dual-process theory.

The role of salience in conceptual combination.

The present study investigated three factors that affect the interpretation of novel noun-noun (N-N) combinations: simple feature salience, ontological category, and assessed similarity. Participants read and defined a series of novel N-N combinations in which the feature salience of N1 and N2 was manipulated. Participants also rated the combinations for similarity. The combinations were constrained to be within ontological category. All interpretations were scored in terms of the strategies (property mapping vs. relation linking) used to produce the given interpretations. Highly salient features drove property-mapping interpretations based on those features. Natural kinds produced more property-mapping interpretations than did artifacts. There was no correlation between the proportion of property-mapping interpretations and the assessed similarity of the N-N combinations. These results are discussed as an extension of Estes and Glucksberg's (2000) interactive theory of conceptual combination and argue for the importance of feature salience as a factor in conceptual combination.

Mirror Gas Turbines: A Newly Proposed Method of Exhaust Heat Recovery

A new conceptual combination of Brayton and inverted Brayton cycles with a heat sink by intercooling, which is dubbed the mirror gas turbine, has been evaluated and proposed in this paper. Prior to such evaluations, a preliminary test on the inverted cycle without intercooling was made experimentally to confirm the actual operation. The conventional method of recuperation in gas turbines can be replaced by the mirror gas turbine with a low working temperature of about 450°C at heat exchanger. The combined cycle of Brayton/Rankine for electricity generation plant may be improved by our concept into a system with steam turbines completely removed and with still high thermal efficiency. Ultra-micro turbines will be possible, producing the output power less than 10 kW as well as thermal efficiency of 20 percent.

Feature accessibility in conceptual combination: effects of context-induced relevance.

In conceptual combinations such as peeled apples, two kinds of features are potentially accessible: phrase features and noun features. Phrase features are true only of the phrase (e.g., "white"), whereas noun features are true of both the phrase and the head noun (e.g., "round"). When people comprehend such combinations, phrase features are verified more quickly and more accurately than noun features. We examine relevance as an explanation for this phrase feature superiority. If relevance is the critical factor, then contexts that explicitly make noun features relevant and phrase features irrelevant should reverse the phrase feature superiority (i.e., they should make noun features easier to verify than phrase features). Consistent with the relevance hypothesis, brief contexts that made noun features relevant also made those noun features more accessible than phrase features, and vice versa. We conclude that the phrase feature superiority effect is attributable to the discourse strategy of assigning relevance to modifiers in combinations, unless a context indicates otherwise.

Efficient Creativity: Constraint‐Guided Conceptual Combination

This paper describes a theory that explains both the creativity and the efficiency of people's conceptual combination. In the constraint theory, conceptual combination is controlled by three constraints of diagnosticity, plausibility, and informativeness. The constraints derive from the pragmatics of communication as applied to compound phrases. The creativity of combination arises because the constraints can be satisfied in many different ways. The constraint theory yields an algorithmic model of the efficiency of combination. The C3 model admits the full creativity of combination and yet efficiently settles on the best interpretation for a given phrase. The constraint theory explains many empirical regularities in conceptual combination, and makes various empirically verified predictions. In computer simulations of compound phrase interpretation, the C3 model has produced results in general agreement with people's responses to the same phrases.

Efficient creativity: constraint-guided conceptual combination

This paper describes a theory that explains both the creativity and the efficiency of people’s conceptual combination. In the constraint theory, conceptual combination is controlled by three constraints of diagnosticity, plausibility, and informativeness. The constraints derive from the pragmatics of communication as applied to compound phrases. The creativity of combination arises because the constraints can be satisfied in many different ways. The constraint theory yields an algorithmic model of the efficiency of combination. The C 3 model admits the full creativity of combination and yet efficiently settles on the best interpretation for a given phrase. The constraint theory explains many empirical regularities in conceptual combination, and makes various empirically verified predictions. In computer simulations of compound phrase interpretation, the C 3 model has produced results in general agreement with people’s responses to the same phrases.

A Structural Account of Global and Local Processing

The order of processing, whether global forms are processed prior to local forms or vice versa, has been of considerable interest. Many current theories hold that the more perceptually conspicuous form is identified first. An alternative view is presented here in which the stuctural relations among elements are an important factor in explaining the relative speeds of global and local processing. We equated the conspicuity of the global and local forms in three experiments and still found advantages in the processing of global forms. Subjects were able to process the relations among the elements quickly, even before the elements themselves were identified. According to our alternative view, subjects created equivalence classes of similar and proximate local elements before identifying the constituent elements. The experiments required subjects to decide whether two displays were the same or different, and consequently, the results are relevant to work in higher-level cognition that stresses the importance of comparison processes (e.g., analogy and conceptual combination). We conclude by evaluating related work in higher-level cognition in light of our findings.

Conceptual Combinations: The Role of Similarity

Noun-noun compounds, such as shark lawyer, are claimed to be interpreted via property construction when the noun concepts are similar (Wisniewski, 1996). In Experiment 1, noun-noun compounds with dissimilar constituents were derived from metaphors and were given to participants for interpretation. Property construction interpretations were overwhelmingly preferred, despite the dissimilarity of the constituents. In Experiment 2, noun-noun compounds with dissimilar constituents that satisfied theoretical criteria for metaphorical property attribution (Glucksberg, McGlone, & Manfredi, 1997) were interpreted via property construction. In contrast, compounds with highly similar constituents were interpreted primarily via hybridizational. We consider the implications of these findings for (a) the boundary conditions for the role of similarity in choice of noun-noun compound interpretation and (b) the automaticity of metaphor comprehension.

Property instantiation in conceptual combination.

In four experiments, I examined how a property in one concept is transferred to a second concept during conceptual combination. The results suggest that people instantiate properties: that is, they use a specific representation of a property in the modifier concept to construct a new version of that property that is specific to the combination. If people are instantiating properties, then the modifier property should match its counterpart in the combination to the extent that the modifier and head noun are similar. This observation leads to a variety of predictions (supported by the experiments) about interpretations of similar and dissimilar combinations and about plausibility, preference, and similarity judgments associated with such interpretations. The results argue against an alternative view of transfer that posits that, in general, abstract representations of properties are copied from one concept to another. In this paper, I describe various processing accounts of instantiation and discuss the implications of the instantiation view for theories of metaphor, conceptual combination, and induction.

Relations versus Properties in Conceptual Combination

We evaluate the hypothesis that people interpret noun-noun combinations by first attempting to find a plausible relation in which the constituents play different functional roles (as in “a hawk thatpreyson robins” forrobin hawk). If they do not succeed, they then attempt as a last resort to derive an interpretation based on properties of the modifier (“hawk with ared breast”). In one study, combinations with plausible relations were more often interpreted with properties when their constituents were highly similar. In a second study, property and relation interpretations of the same combination were selectively primed. In a final study, we show that property interpretations characterize the meanings of a number of familiar combinations in the English language. Taken together, the results of these studies run counter to the view that concepts are combined by first attempting to link them by a relation. We describe other reasons to doubt this view and discuss the implications of our findings for models of conceptual combination.

Conceptual combination: conjunction and negation of natural concepts.

The operation of negation on combinations of natural categories was examined in two experiments. In the first, category membership ratings of lists of items were obtained for pairs of concepts considered individually and in two logical combinations: conjunctions (e.g., "Tools which are also Weapons") and negated conjunctions--forms of those conjunctions in which the modifier noun category was negated ("Tools which are not Weapons"). For conjunctions, results supported earlier findings of overextension and the geometric averaging of constituent membership values (Hampton, 1988b). Previous findings of concept dominance and noncommutativity within conjunctions were also replicated, both for typicality ratings and for probability of class membership. For negated conjunctions, the pattern of dominance was similar but interacted with order within the conjunction. Negated conjunctions were also overextended. The second experiment explored how the attributes of negated conjunctions were derived from those of the two component concepts. Frequency of generation of attributes expressed positively (has wheels) or negatively (has no wheels) followed rated frequency in the negated category. The distinctiveness of an attribute to distinguish the complement from the head-noun class was associated with the generation of attributes, particularly when there was relatively high overlap between the two categories.