title: Qualitative differences in the representation of abstract versus concrete words: evidence from the visual-world paradigm.
abstract: In the present visual-world experiment, participants were presented with visual displays that included a target item that was a semantic associate of an abstract or a concrete word. This manipulation allowed us to test a basic prediction derived from the qualitatively different representational framework that supports the view of different organizational principles for concrete and abstract words in semantic memory. Our results confirm the assumption of a primary organizational principle based on association for abstract words, different from the semantic similarity principle proposed for concrete words, and provide the first piece of evidence in support of this view obtained from healthy participants. The results shed light on the representational structure of abstract and concrete concepts.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Tecnologías Biomédicas, Universidad de La Laguna, Spain. jaduna@ull.es
authors.forename: Jon Andoni
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Duñabeitia
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avilés
authors.forename: Olivia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Afonso
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scheepers
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carreiras
mesh_terms: D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005133:Eye Movements; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*