The document discusses image schemas, which are simple embodied concepts we develop from sensory experiences with objects in the world. Image schemas help us understand abstract concepts by mapping bodily experiences onto more complex domains. Some key examples of image schemas discussed are containment, in-out, and source-path-goal. The document argues that image schemas are developed early in life and provide a foundation for logical reasoning and language comprehension by linking our physical interactions with conceptual understanding.

1. Week 4: Image schemas
Cognitive discourse
analysis

2. „There is no
disembodied
logic”
– Johnson 2005:24

3. What does that mean?

4. What does that mean?
• thinking depends on
our body and its
experiences with the
world
• concepts are not
abstract symbols,
but rather products
of bodily experience

5. image schemas are simple stories
we learned about the relations
between concepts

6. eg. container / containment
• a container typically
holds an object

7. eg. container / containment
• a container typically
holds an object
this bowl is filled
with spinach

8. eg. container / containment
• something can be in
a container or out of
a container
most leaves are in
the bowl but some
have fallen out

9. eg. container / containment
• the container must
be bigger than the
object
the amount of
spinach is too big
to fit in this bowl

10. Image schemata are
drawn schematically

11. image schemas are not just about
objects, but also the logic that we
use to understand them

12. these stories about objects and
their behaviour teach us how the
world works

13. containment
• when we learn about
containers as things
into which we can
put other things…

14. containment
• when we learn about
containers as
things into which
we can put other
things…
• we also learn the
concepts of IN and
OUT

16. IN & OUT
the kitten fell
asleep in the bowl

17. IN & OUT
• the words „in” and „out”
are associated with the
image schema of
containment
• we can understand the
sentence because we
know how containment
works - the bowl has to
big enough to fit the
kitten, the kitten is inside
the bowl etc.
the kitten fell
asleep in the bowl

18. image schemas help us
understand how a situation works
by giving us a variety of options
for any given setting

19. • Out may be used in
cases where a clearly
defined trajector (TR)
leaves a spatially
bounded landmark
(LM), as in:
(1a) Norman went out of
the building.
(1b) Mary got out of the
car.
(1c) Spot jumped out of
the pen

20. Norman went
out of the
building
the trajector
„Norman”
the landmark
building

21. • Out may also be used to
indicate those cases
where the trajector is a
mass that spreads out,
expanding the area of the
containing landmark:
(2a) She poured the pepper
out of the jar.
(2b) Roll out the carpet.
(2c) Send out the troops.

22. She poured the
pepper out of
the jar.
the trajector
pepper
the landmark
jar

23. • Out is also often used
to describe motion
along a linear path
where the containing
landmark is implied
and not defined at all:
(3) The train started out
for Chicago.

24. The train
started out for
Chicago.
the trajector
train
the landmark
?

25. We learn about containment and
other image schemas as infants

26. click to watch this Polish boy learn about
containment and the concepts of IN / OUT

27. What is the definition of image
schemas?

28. • are recurrent patterns of
bodily experience;
• are ‘image’-like in that they
preserve the structure of
the experience;
• operate dynamically in
and across time;
• link sensorimotor
experience to thought and
language;
• are likely activation
patterns in the brain;
• can serve as a basis for
inference.
(Rohrer 2005)
image
schemas

29. To understand what
someone is saying
about the body and
its actions we use
the same brain
areas that are
activated when we
use our bodies to
perform these
actions.
image
schemas
rely on
experience

30. When we think about
abstract concepts
we use body-based
image-schematic
logic.
Because we know
that you can take an
object out of a
container, we are
able to understand
that a country can
„get out” of the EU.
our logic is
based on
how our
bodies work

31. What are image schemas for?

32. What are image schemas for?
„they make it possible for us to use
the structure of sensory and motor
operations to understand abstract
concepts and to draw inferences
about them”
(Johnson 2005: 24)

33. What are image schemas for?
they are „one of the embodied
anchors of the entire conceptual
system”
(Hampe 2005)

34. What is
the
evidence
for the
existence
of image
schemas?

35. • there are different
meanings of the
word „grasp”
• „grasp the
cookie” (literal)
• „grasp this idea”
(metaphorical)
image schemas
exist in the brain
(Rohrer 2001)

36. • brain areas
responsible for hand
movement were
activated when:
• people moved their
hand to grasp
something
• people heard
sentences that
contained both the
literal and
metaphoric uses of
grasp
image schemas
exist in the brain
(Rohrer 2001)

37. spatial motion
image schemas
• Containment
• Path
• Source-Path-Goal
• Blockage
• Center-Periphery
• Cycle
• Cyclic Climax

38. force
image schemas
• Compulsion
• Counterforce
• Diversion
• Removal of Restraint
• Enablement
• Attraction
• Link
• Scale

39. balance
image schemas
• Axis Balance
• Point Balance
• Twin-Pan Balance
• Equilibrium

40. • Above
• Across
• Covering
• Contact
• Vertical Orientation
• Length (extended
trajector)
spatial
image schemas

41. transformational
image schemas
• Linear path from moving object
(one-dimensional trajector)
• Path to endpoint (endpoint focus)
• Path to object mass (path covering)
• Multiplex to mass (possibly the
same as Johnson's undefined
Mass-Count)
• Reflexive (both part-whole and
temporally different reflexives)
• Rotation

42. other image schemas
• Contact
• Surface
• Full-Empty
• Merging
• Matching
• Near-Far
• Mass-Count
• Iteration
• Object
• Splitting
• Part-Whole
• Superimposition
• Process
• Collection

43. Question
what kind of IS is the child likely
learning?
1) https://youtu.be/8tTRDmdi18g
2) https://youtu.be/qBU_1E4HYSM
3) https://youtu.be/hSsvQwdQIJs

44. Question
what kind of IS is the child likely
learning?
1) https://youtu.be/8tTRDmdi18g
2) https://youtu.be/hSsvQwdQIJs
Source-Path-Goal
Containment

45. End of week 4