TY - JOUR
T1 - Representation of a sentence and its pragmatic implications
T2 - Verbal, imagistic, or abstract?
AU - Potter, Mary C.
AU - Valian, Virginia V.
AU - Faulconer, Barbara A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported in part by Grant and Spencer Foundation grants to H.-L. Teuber.
PY - 1977/2
Y1 - 1977/2
N2 - To test the hypothesis that the meaning of a sentence is represented in an abstract format rather than one mediated by words or images, 96 spoken sentences were immediately followed by a word or drawing probe. Subjects decided whether or not the probe was related to the meaning of the sentence. Response times to the drawing and word probes did not differ significantly overall. There was no interaction between probe modality and either the imageability of the sentence or the semantic relatedness of the sentence and probe. Unexpected free recall of the probes was better for drawings than for words; subjects accurately recalled the modality of probes. Although modality-specific representations must be computed (since they are retained), it is concluded that the meaning of a sentence or a probe is not represented in a modality-specific format but in an abstract conceptual format. This abstract representation, used in computing the pragmatic implications of the sentence, is directly accessible from either verbal or pictorial stimuli.
AB - To test the hypothesis that the meaning of a sentence is represented in an abstract format rather than one mediated by words or images, 96 spoken sentences were immediately followed by a word or drawing probe. Subjects decided whether or not the probe was related to the meaning of the sentence. Response times to the drawing and word probes did not differ significantly overall. There was no interaction between probe modality and either the imageability of the sentence or the semantic relatedness of the sentence and probe. Unexpected free recall of the probes was better for drawings than for words; subjects accurately recalled the modality of probes. Although modality-specific representations must be computed (since they are retained), it is concluded that the meaning of a sentence or a probe is not represented in a modality-specific format but in an abstract conceptual format. This abstract representation, used in computing the pragmatic implications of the sentence, is directly accessible from either verbal or pictorial stimuli.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/0007357479
U2 - 10.1016/S0022-5371(77)80002-9
DO - 10.1016/S0022-5371(77)80002-9
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0007357479
SN - 0022-5371
VL - 16
SP - 1
EP - 12
JO - Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior
JF - Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior
IS - 1
ER -