Abstract
When people describe motion events, their path expressions are biased toward inclusion of goal paths (e.g., into the house) and omission of source paths (e.g., out of the house). In this paper, we explored whether this asymmetry has its origins in people's non-linguistic representations of events. In three experiments, 4-year-old children and adults described or remembered manner of motion events that represented animate/intentional and physical events. The results suggest that the linguistic asymmetry between goals and sources is not fully rooted in non-linguistic event representations: linguistic descriptions showed the goal bias for both kinds of events, whereas non-linguistic memory for events showed the goal bias only for events involving animate, goal-directed motion. The findings are discussed in terms of the mapping between non-linguistic representations of goals and sources in language, focusing on the role that linguistic principles play in producing a more absolute goal bias from more gradient non-linguistic representations of paths.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 517-544 |
| Number of pages | 28 |
| Journal | Cognitive Science |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Apr 2012 |
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Keywords
- Conceptual representations
- Goal
- Motion events
- Prominence hierarchies
- Semantics
- Source
- Space-language interface
- Syntax
Cite this
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Language and Memory for Motion Events : Origins of the Asymmetry Between Source and Goal Paths. / Lakusta, Laura; Landau, Barbara.
In: Cognitive Science, Vol. 36, No. 3, 01.04.2012, p. 517-544.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Language and Memory for Motion Events
T2 - Origins of the Asymmetry Between Source and Goal Paths
AU - Lakusta, Laura
AU - Landau, Barbara
PY - 2012/4/1
Y1 - 2012/4/1
N2 - When people describe motion events, their path expressions are biased toward inclusion of goal paths (e.g., into the house) and omission of source paths (e.g., out of the house). In this paper, we explored whether this asymmetry has its origins in people's non-linguistic representations of events. In three experiments, 4-year-old children and adults described or remembered manner of motion events that represented animate/intentional and physical events. The results suggest that the linguistic asymmetry between goals and sources is not fully rooted in non-linguistic event representations: linguistic descriptions showed the goal bias for both kinds of events, whereas non-linguistic memory for events showed the goal bias only for events involving animate, goal-directed motion. The findings are discussed in terms of the mapping between non-linguistic representations of goals and sources in language, focusing on the role that linguistic principles play in producing a more absolute goal bias from more gradient non-linguistic representations of paths.
AB - When people describe motion events, their path expressions are biased toward inclusion of goal paths (e.g., into the house) and omission of source paths (e.g., out of the house). In this paper, we explored whether this asymmetry has its origins in people's non-linguistic representations of events. In three experiments, 4-year-old children and adults described or remembered manner of motion events that represented animate/intentional and physical events. The results suggest that the linguistic asymmetry between goals and sources is not fully rooted in non-linguistic event representations: linguistic descriptions showed the goal bias for both kinds of events, whereas non-linguistic memory for events showed the goal bias only for events involving animate, goal-directed motion. The findings are discussed in terms of the mapping between non-linguistic representations of goals and sources in language, focusing on the role that linguistic principles play in producing a more absolute goal bias from more gradient non-linguistic representations of paths.
KW - Conceptual representations
KW - Goal
KW - Motion events
KW - Prominence hierarchies
KW - Semantics
KW - Source
KW - Space-language interface
KW - Syntax
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84859418471&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2011.01220.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2011.01220.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 22257087
AN - SCOPUS:84859418471
VL - 36
SP - 517
EP - 544
JO - Cognitive Science
JF - Cognitive Science
SN - 0364-0213
IS - 3
ER -