Situated Conceptualization

将物体、事件和状态概念化的能力是人类认知的核心。当人们计划和做决定时，他们将未来的事件概念化；当人们回忆以前的经历时，他们将过去的事件概念化；当人们理解语言时，他们会将说话者话语的意义概念化。知识理论通常假设，当人们概念化事物时，他们是以一种孤立的抽象方式概念化它。因此，当人们概念化椅子时，他们将其概念化为一个孤立和抽象的物体；或者当人们将购买概念化时，他们将其概念化为一个不存在的抽象事件。该研究旨在证明概念化首先位于物理环境中，其次位于感知者的认知视角中。因此，当人们将椅子概念化时，他们会将其置于特定的环境中（例如，厨房），并对其采取认知视角（例如，站在椅子上换灯泡）。除了包括情境和认知视角外，情境概念化还以与情境相适应的方式代表焦点实体。当人们在特定情况下概念化椅子时，他们并不是抽象地代表椅子，而是代表适合该情况的特定类型的椅子（例如：椅子）。（厨房里的一把厨房椅）。有三条研究路线检查概念化是否存在。第一个使用属性生成和属性验证任务来建立概念化的情景内容。第二个实验使用错误记忆任务来证明学习到的材料是典型的情境，并且在编码时推断的情境后来会在检索时产生重建性记忆错误。第三部分评估了一个假设，即抽象概念，如真理和自由，关键取决于它们在某些情况下的意义，没有这些情况，这些概念就很难理解。本研究在教育培训领域具有重要的应用价值。如果它证明概念化是定位的，它将激励教学方法定位所学材料。与其试图向学生和受训者灌输抽象的非情境概念，不如灌输情境概念化可能会更有效。拟议的研究有很大的潜力来支持和告知这些努力。

The ability to conceptualize objects, events, and states is central to humancognition. When people plan and make decisions, they conceptualize futureevents; when people recall a previous experience, they conceptualize pastevents; when people understand language, they conceptualize the meaning of aspeaker's utterance. Theories of knowledge often assume that when peopleconceptualize something, they conceptualization it an isolated abstractmanner. Thus, when people conceptualize a chair, they conceptualize it asan isolated and abstract object; or when people conceptualize a purchase, theyconceptualize it as an unsituated abstract event. The proposed research aimsinstead to demonstrate that conceptualizations are situated, first, in aphysical environment, and second, with respect to the perceiver's cognitiveperspective. Thus, when people conceptualize a chair, they situate it in aparticular setting (e.g., a kitchen), and they adopt a cognitive perspectivetoward it (e.g., standing on it to change a light bulb). Besides includingsettings and cognitive perspectives, situated conceptualizations representfocal entities in a context-appropriate manner. When people conceptualize achair in a specific situation, they don't represent the chair abstractly,instead they represent a specific type of chair appropriate for that situation(e.g., a kitchen chair in a kitchen). Three lines of research examine whetherconceptualizations are situated. The first uses the property generation andproperty verification tasks to establish situational content inconceptualizations. The second uses the false memory task to demonstrate thatlearned material is typically situated, and that the situations inferred atencoding later produce reconstructive memory errors at retrieval. The thirdassesses the hypothesis that abstract concepts, such as truth and freedom,depend critically on their meanings for situationswithout situations theseconcepts are difficult to understand. This research is highly relevant toapplications in education and training. Should it demonstrate thatconceptualizations are situated, it would motivate instructional methods thatsituate learned material. Rather than trying to instill abstract non-situatedconcepts in students and trainees, instilling situated conceptualizations mayprove much more effective. The proposed research has much potential forsupporting and informing these efforts.