The notions of 'function', 'feature' and 'functional feature' are associated with relatively new developments and insights in several areas of cognition. This book brings together different definitions, insights and research related to defining these notions from such diverse areas as language, perception, categorization and development. Each of the contributors in this book explicitly defines the notion of 'function', 'feature' or 'functional feature' within their own theoretical framework, presents research in which such a notion plays a pivotal role, and discusses the contribution of functional features in relation to their insights in a particular area of cognition. As such, this book not only presents new developments devoted to defining 'function', 'feature' and 'functional feature' in several sub-disciplines of cognitive science, but also offers a focused account of how these notions operate within the cognitive interface linking language and spatial representation. All book chapters are accessible for the interested novice, and offer the specialized researcher new empirical and theoretical insights into defining function, both with respect to the language and space interface and across cognition. The introduction to the book presents the reader with the main issues and viewpoints that are discussed in more detail in each of the book chapters.
Readership: Scholars in all areas related to cognitive science.
Laura Carlson, University of Notre Dame, and Emile van der Zee, University of Lincoln
1: Laura Carlson and Emile van der Zee: Introducing the role of features in language and space 2: Linda B. Smith: Shape: A developmental product 3: Brian J. Rogosky and Robert L. Goldstone: Adaptation of Perceptual and Semantic Features 4: Ranxiao Frances Wang: Dissociation between verbal and pointing responding in perspective change problems 5: Paul C. Quinn: Developmental Constraints on the Representation of Spatial Relation Information: Evidence from Preverbal Infants 6: Rajesh Kasturirangan: An Ecological Approach to the Interface between Language and Vision 7: Kenny Coventry and Simon Garrod: Towards a classification of extra-geometric influences on the comprehension of spatial prepositions 8: Lawrence W. Barsalou, Steven A. Sloman, and Sergio E. Chaigneau: The HIPE Theory of Function 9: Laura A. Carlson and Edwin R. Covell: Defining function for spatial language 10: Terry Regier, Laura A. Carlson, Bryce Corrigan: Attention in spatial language: Bridging geometry and function 11: Kelly L. Madole and Lisa M. Oakes: Infants' attention to and use of functional properties in categorization 12: Claude Vandeloise: Force and function in the acquisition of the preposition in 13: Sandeep Prasada: Being near the ceramic, but not near the mug: On the role of construal in spatial language 14: Arthur M. Glenberg and Michael P. Kaschak: Language is Grounded in Action 15: Manuel de Vega and María J. Rodrigo: The bicycle pedal is in front of the table. Why some objects do not fit into some spatial relations 16: Emile van der Zee and Matthew Watson: Between space and function: How spatial and functional features determine the comprehension of between 17: Lynn V. Richards and Kenny Coventry: Is it in or is it on? The influence of geometry and location control on children's descriptions of containment and support events. 18: Carola Eschenbach: Contextual, Functional, and Geometric Components in the Semantics of Projective Terms 19: Christopher Habel: Verbs and Directions: The interaction of geometry and function in determining orientation 20: Urpo Nikanne: Path expressions in Finnish and Swedish: The role of constructions 21: Barbara Tversky: Form and Function
