Situated Conceptualization

将对象、事件和状态概念化的能力是人类认知的核心。当人们计划和做出决定时，他们概念化了未来的事件；当人们回忆起以前的经历时，他们概念化了巴斯特事件；当人们理解了语言时，他们概念化了说话者话语的意义。知识论通常认为，当人们将某物概念化时，他们会以孤立的抽象方式将其概念化。因此，当人们将一把椅子概念化时，他们将其概念化为孤立和抽象的物体；或者当人们概念化一件购买时，他们将其概念化为一种无位置的抽象事件。相反，本研究的目的在于证明概念化首先位于形而上的环境中，其次与知觉主体的认知视角有关。因此，当人们构思一把椅子时，他们把它放在特殊的环境中(例如，厨房)，他们采用了一种认知视角来朝向它(例如，站在椅子上换灯泡)。除了包括语境和认知视角外，情境概念化以一种与语境相适应的方式代表焦点实体。当人们将acair概念化到某一特定情况时，他们并不是抽象地表示椅子，而是表示适合该情况的特定类型的椅子(例如，厨房中的厨房椅子)。有三条研究路线考察概念化是否存在。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。第二个任务使用错误记忆任务来证明学习的材料通常位于某个位置，而且在编码后推断的情况在提取时会产生重建记忆错误。第三个评估的假设是，抽象的概念，如真理和自由，严重依赖于它们对没有情境的情景的意义，这些概念是难以理解的。这项研究在教育和培训中的应用具有很高的相关性。如果它证明了概念化是存在的，它就会激发出以所学材料为基础的教学方法。与其试图向学生和受训者灌输抽象的非情境化概念，不如灌输情境化概念化可能会更有效。这项拟议的研究有很大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.