Scalar change and event endpoints in language and cognition

Our daily lives revolve around events. We wake up, we have breakfast, we go to work, we talk with friends, we eat dinner, and we go to bed. All these experiences are meaningful units by means of which we think and talk about the world.

In language, verbs are central to the description of events. However, verbs do not capture the richness of information than our minds can apprehend simultaneously. Think about someone preparing a glass of juice. We can perceive all together the different movements, changes, and interactions leading to a glass full of juice. On the other hand, to describe such an event we need to select what characteristic we wish to focus on. Is it that, for example, “the man poured juice in a glass”, “the man filled a glass with juice”, or “the man emptied the bottle”?   

Research about events has accelerated in the last decades. Unfortunately, much of it has been done with little contact between the disciplines of cognitive psychology and linguistics. Our project aimed to build a bridge between these fields. We studied the relationship between the meaning of verbs and the perception of change in events in which the physical characteristics of objects change. For example, when an apple is cut by half, a window is opened, or a glass is filled with juice.  

Our project involved four studies focused on understanding events from three different angles: a cognitive and linguistic perspective, and one that examined the interplay between language and cognition. 

We found that event descriptions improve event memory. In particular, verbs can boost event memory depending on their meaning and form. Also, well studied linguistic notions related to the progression of state change and the outcome of such change were found to be relevant as well for the perception and memory of events.

Dissertation: https://hdl.handle.net/11370/07c2b491-4b85-469c-a753-22deaa80ec28