ACTION IS THE KEY TO OBSERVE THE CONCRETE ABSTRACT …canlab/assets/cns_poster_felipe.pdf · action...
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INTRODUCTION THE CONCRETE/ABSTRACT CATEGORIZATION SCHEME (ALTARRIBA ET AL., 1999) HAS BEEN PART OF LANGUAGE THEORY FOR MANY YEARS AND HAS GUIDED NUMEROUS RESEARCH PROGRAMS. HOWEVER, THERE ARE INHERENT ISSUES WITH CATEGORIZING WORDS IN THIS MANNER THAT ARE ADDRESSED IN CURRENT WORK: 1. Definition and operationalization of the categories ‘concrete’ and ‘abstract’. Using perceivability could facilitate a false dichotomy. We created a new scale that better describes word variability based on how the word is learned through action. 2. Methodology that is used to place a word into one of the categories based on rating scales that produce dichotomy. a. Participant effects are not usually considered. Median Polish Analysis accounts for participant biases. b. Using averages on ordinal data can produce rational numbers with several decimals that are difficult to interpret. Median Polish Analysis uses medians instead of means. ACTION IS THE KEY TO OBSERVE THE CONCRETE-ABSTRACT CONTINUUM FELIPE MUNOZ-RUBKE 1,2 , KAREN KAFADAR 4 , & KARIN H. JAMES 1,2,3 1 COGNITIVE SCIENCE PROGRAM, INDIANA UNIVERSITY, 2 PROGRAM IN NEUROSCIENCE, INDIANA UNIVERSITY, 3 DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES, INDIANA UNIVERSITY, 4 DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA METHODS Participants: 80 undergraduate students (native English speakers) Stimuli: Nouns and verbs selected from 4 categories (see below) Task: Rate 68 nouns and 68 verbs according to 4 scales Procedure: - Participant responds to each word on a 7-point scale - Stimuli presented in PsychoPy (Peirce, 2007) Design: Within-subjects. 4 blocks for nouns and 4 blocks for verbs. The order of blocks was pseudo-randomized. CONCLUSIONS 1. Categorizing words based on an action scale reveals the continuous nature of word meaning for nouns and verbs. 2. Concreteness and imageability scales strongly dichotomized the nouns, but identified different degrees of concreteness for verbs. 3. Median Polish Analysis accounted for both median value of a word and participant effect. REFERENCES: ALTARRIBA, J., BAUER, L. M., & BENVENUTO,C. (1999). CONCRETENESS, CONTEXT AVAILABILITY, AND IMAGEABILITY RATINGS AND WORD ASSOCIATIONS FOR ABSTRACT, CONCRETE, AND EMOTION WORDS. BEHAVIOR RESEARCH METHODS, INSTRUMENTS, & COMPUTERS, 31(4), 578-602. PEIRCE, J. W. (2007). PSYCHOPY—PSYCHOPHYSICS SOFTWARE IN PYTHON. JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE METHODS, 162(1), 8-13. TUKEY, J. W. (1977). EXPLORATORY DATA ANALYSIS. READING, MA, 231, 32. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: FULBRIGHT/CONICYT CHILE, CAN LAB MEMBERS. CONTACT: LFMUNOZ@INDIANA.EDU RESULTS Condition Scale Overall Effect (μ) Analog R 2 NOUNS Action 4.2 .57 Concreteness 7 .59 Imageability 7 .66 Multisensory 6 .53 VERBS Action 4.7 .43 Concreteness 5 .47 Imageability 5 .53 Multisensory 4.5 .53 SCALE QUESTION TYPE EXAMPLE given to participants Action Can you manipulate it physically with your hands? Nouns TRUTH = 1 or 2 SCREWDRIVER = 6 or 7 Is it an activity that you can physically perform? Verbs To TRUST = 1 or 2 To SWIM = 6 or 7 Concreteness How abstract or concrete do you think it is? Nouns TRUTH = 1 or 2 SCREWDRIVER = 6 or 7 Verbs To TRUST = 1 or 2 To SWIM = 6 or 7 Imageability Can you form a mental image of it? Nouns TRUTH = 1 or 2 SCREWDRIVER = 6 or 7 Verbs To TRUST = 1 or 2 To SWIM = 6 or 7 Multisensory Can you relate it to a sensory experience (taste, touch, sight, sound, or smell)? Nouns TRUTH = 1 or 2 SCREWDRIVER = 6 or 7 Verbs To TRUST = 1 or 2 To SWIM = 6 or 7 2-WAY MEDIAN POLISH ANALYSIS y ij = μ + α i + α j + ε ij μ = overall effect; α i = participant effect; α j = word effect Goodness of Fit: analog R 2 TYPE CATEGORIES EXAMPLES Nouns Manipulable Ball, Pencil Non-manipulable Palace, Moon Social Roles & Seasons Doctor, Winter Abstract Regret, Origin Verbs Human Action to Hug, to Comb Non-human Action to Bark, to Moo Emotions to Love, to Panic Cognitive to Confuse, to Think RESULTS for Nouns Action scale produces continuous results. Other scales produce dichotomous or stratified results. RESULTS for Verbs Action scale produces continuous results. Other scales produce mixed results. 1. All scales show a main trend among participants. 2. Because medians are resistant to outliers, unusual/peculiar perspectives are not taken into account to calculate word effects. Words evaluated by averages Because the mean does not have resistance to outliers, it is affected by every single data point. That creates rational numbers that are difficult to interpret on ordinal data. Participant Effects Evaluated by Median Polish Analysis
Transcript of ACTION IS THE KEY TO OBSERVE THE CONCRETE ABSTRACT …canlab/assets/cns_poster_felipe.pdf · action...
INTRODUCTION
THE CONCRETE/ABSTRACT CATEGORIZATION SCHEME (ALTARRIBA ET AL., 1999) HAS BEEN PART OF LANGUAGE THEORY FOR MANY YEARS AND HAS GUIDED NUMEROUS RESEARCH PROGRAMS. HOWEVER, THERE ARE INHERENT ISSUES WITH CATEGORIZING WORDS IN THIS MANNER THAT ARE ADDRESSED IN CURRENT WORK:
1. Definition and operationalization of the categories ‘concrete’ and ‘abstract’. Using perceivability could facilitate a false dichotomy.
We created a new scale that better describes word variability based on how the word is learned through action.
2. Methodology that is used to place a word into one of the categories based on rating scales that produce dichotomy.
a. Participant effects are not usually considered.
Median Polish Analysis accounts for participant biases. b. Using averages on ordinal data can produce rational numbers with several decimals that are difficult to interpret.
Median Polish Analysis uses medians instead of means.
ACTION IS THE KEY TO OBSERVE THE CONCRETE-ABSTRACT CONTINUUM
FELIPE MUNOZ-RUBKE1,2, KAREN KAFADAR4, & KARIN H. JAMES1,2,3 1COGNITIVE SCIENCE PROGRAM, INDIANA UNIVERSITY, 2PROGRAM IN NEUROSCIENCE, INDIANA UNIVERSITY,
3DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES, INDIANA UNIVERSITY, 4DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
METHODS
Participants: 80 undergraduate students (native English speakers) Stimuli: Nouns and verbs selected from 4 categories (see below) Task: Rate 68 nouns and 68 verbs according to 4 scales Procedure: - Participant responds to each word on a 7-point scale - Stimuli presented in PsychoPy (Peirce, 2007) Design: Within-subjects. 4 blocks for nouns and 4 blocks for verbs. The order of blocks was pseudo-randomized.
CONCLUSIONS 1. Categorizing words based on an action scale reveals the
continuous nature of word meaning for nouns and verbs. 2. Concreteness and imageability scales strongly dichotomized
the nouns, but identified different degrees of concreteness for verbs.
3. Median Polish Analysis accounted for both median value of a word and participant effect.
REFERENCES: ALTARRIBA, J., BAUER, L. M., & BENVENUTO,C. (1999). CONCRETENESS, CONTEXT AVAILABILITY, AND IMAGEABILITY RATINGS AND WORD
ASSOCIATIONS FOR ABSTRACT, CONCRETE, AND EMOTION WORDS. BEHAVIOR RESEARCH METHODS, INSTRUMENTS, & COMPUTERS, 31(4), 578-602.
PEIRCE, J. W. (2007). PSYCHOPY—PSYCHOPHYSICS SOFTWARE IN PYTHON. JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE METHODS, 162(1), 8-13. TUKEY, J. W. (1977). EXPLORATORY DATA ANALYSIS. READING, MA, 231, 32. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: FULBRIGHT/CONICYT CHILE, CAN LAB MEMBERS. CONTACT: [email protected]
RESULTS Condition Scale Overall Effect (µ) Analog R2 NOUNS Action 4.2 .57
Concreteness 7 .59 Imageability 7 .66 Multisensory 6 .53
VERBS Action 4.7 .43 Concreteness 5 .47 Imageability 5 .53 Multisensory 4.5 .53
SCALE QUESTION TYPE EXAMPLE given to participants Action Can you manipulate it
physically with your hands? Nouns TRUTH = 1 or 2
SCREWDRIVER = 6 or 7 Is it an activity that you can physically perform?
Verbs To TRUST = 1 or 2 To SWIM = 6 or 7
Concreteness How abstract or concrete do you think it is?
Nouns TRUTH = 1 or 2 SCREWDRIVER = 6 or 7
Verbs To TRUST = 1 or 2 To SWIM = 6 or 7
Imageability Can you form a mental image of it?
Nouns TRUTH = 1 or 2 SCREWDRIVER = 6 or 7
Verbs To TRUST = 1 or 2 To SWIM = 6 or 7
Multisensory Can you relate it to a sensory experience (taste, touch, sight, sound, or smell)?
Nouns TRUTH = 1 or 2 SCREWDRIVER = 6 or 7
Verbs To TRUST = 1 or 2 To SWIM = 6 or 7
2-WAY MEDIAN POLISH ANALYSIS
yij = µ + αi + αj + εij
µ = overall effect; αi = participant effect; αj = word effect Goodness of Fit: analog R2
TYPE CATEGORIES EXAMPLES Nouns Manipulable Ball, Pencil
Non-manipulable Palace, Moon Social Roles & Seasons Doctor, Winter Abstract Regret, Origin
Verbs Human Action to Hug, to Comb Non-human Action to Bark, to Moo Emotions to Love, to Panic Cognitive to Confuse, to Think
RESULTS for Nouns Action scale produces continuous results. Other scales produce dichotomous or
stratified results.
RESULTS for Verbs Action scale produces continuous results. Other scales produce mixed results.
1. All scales show a main trend among participants.
2. Because medians are resistant to outliers, unusual/peculiar perspectives are not taken into account to calculate word effects.
Words evaluated by averages Because the mean does not have resistance to outliers, it is affected by every single data
point. That creates rational numbers that are difficult to interpret on ordinal data.
Participant Effects Evaluated by Median Polish Analysis
