Initiatives & Projects

project 23 -- Spatial depiction and mental schemas

LCF 3: Spatial depiction and mental schemas in the sciences and the humanities (Dudis, Goldin-Meadow, Pinar):

This study is analyzing the use of spatial depiction (in English and ASL) in expressing abstract concepts in academic lectures in the humanities and the sciences. The articulation of abstract concepts is often mediated by spatial gestures, e.g. the hands going up along with the spoken sentence “My grades went up.” In the case of English, research has shown that spatial working memory is at the core of the production of representational gestures. ASL also exhibits the structuring of abstract concepts with hands and space, but in different ways. The study is using spatial depiction as a window into the types of mental schemas underlying different types of reasoning. In comparing ASL and English/gesture, we will be able to show if a particular language modality (signed versus spoken) influences the mental schemas that are conjured to express abstract concepts.

Related Initiatives:

Linguistic and Communicative Forms in a Visual Modality

The is material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant number SBE-0541953. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.