The Interplay between Geometry and Function in the Comprehension of Over, Under, Above, and Below

Abstract

Three experiments are reported which examined the role of geometry and functional relations in the comprehension of the spatial prepositions over, under, above, and below. The tasks used consisted of rating how appropriate sentences (containing one of these prepositions) were to describe a series of pictures. For example, the pictures comprised a person holding an object with the function of protection from falling objects (e.g., an umbrella). Each picture was depicted with the object shown as fulfilling its function or not at different geometric positions. The results of Experiment 1 show a significant effect of functional relations on the ratings given. However, while over/under were very sensitive to functional relations, above/below were more influenced by geometric relations. The second experiment replicates these effects with objects depicting noncanonical functions (e.g., a suitcase sheltering someone from rain). Experiment 3 manipulated frame of reference and found evidence for conflict of frames of reference effects on the rating of above/below, but not in the same way for over/under. Conversely the ratings of over/under were found to be affected by functionality while those for above/below were not. These results indicate for the first time that spatial prepositions are differentially influenced by geometric and functional relations.

Object Orientation Affects Spatial Language Comprehension

“…Our findings have implications for studies in which the orientation of the LO is manipulated to investigate this aspect (e.g., Carlson-Radvansky & Radvansky, 1996;Coventry et al, 2001). According to our results, the orientation of the LO affects spatial language apprehension even when no functional relationship links the LO and the RO.…”

Left/right and front/back in sign, speech, and co-speech gestures: What do data from Turkish Sign Language, Croatian Sign Language, American Sign Language, Turkish, Croatian, and English reveal?

“…Additionally, the uses of angular terms are all influenced by the contextual/functional information. For instance, Coventry and his colleagues (Coventry et al 2001) manipulated the scenes, which depict the relations such as 'under', 'over', 'above', 'below', and asked his participants to make acceptability judgments with respect to a given preposition in English. The results indicated that the participants made judgments according to the function of the objects in the scenes regardless of the objects' positionings with respect to the human figure.…”

Spatial language influences memory for spatial scenes

“…Finally, we note that the meanings of spatial relational terms incorporate nonspatial factors such as support and containment relations, intended function, and so on (Bowerman & Pederson, 1992;Coventry & Garrod, 2004;Coventry, Prat-Sala, & Richards, 2001;Feist, 2000Feist, , 2004Feist & Gentner, 2003;Talmy, 1988;Vandeloise, 1991), in addition to geometry. Given that spatial meaning is in fact quite complex, a question for further research is how these factors interact with geometric factors in the encoding of spatial scenes.…”