Ronan O’Ceallaigh, Kenny Coventry & Angelo Cangelosi:
The Role of Context in Spatial Language
Comprehension
Abstract
We present the results of the first experiment in a series of experiments
examining the effects of context and common ground on the comprehension of
spatial instructions. Participants were asked to “Place object A over/under/above/below
object B” (following the methodology used by Carlson-Radvansky, Covey &
Lattanzi, 1999). Objects A and B were either functionally related (e.g.,
toothpaste tube/toothbrush) or unrelated (e.g., tube of glue/toothbrush),
and the request was either presented with a context (e.g., “Imagine you are
about to brush your teeth”) or without a context. The results show that both
context and functional relatedness affect how participants decide between
possible alternative placements. The role of context and common ground in
spatial language comprehension is discussed.
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