Handouts - Ten Lectures on Cognitive Construction of Meaning

As we think and talk, rich arrays of mental spaces and connections between them are constructed unconsciously. Conceptual integration of mental spaces leads to new meaning, global insight, and compressions useful for memory and creativity. A powerful aspect of conceptual integration networks is the dynamic emergence of novel structure in all areas of human life (science, religion, art, ...). The emergence of complex metaphors creates our conceptualization of time. The same operations play a role in material culture generally. Technology evolves to produce cultural human artefacts such as watches, gauges, compasses, airplane cockpit displays, with structure specifically designed to match conceptual inputs and integrate with them into stable blended frames of perception and action that can be memorized, learned by new generations, and thus culturally transmitted.

当我们思考与交谈时，会在无意识中构建出丰富的心理空间（mental spaces）集合及其相互间的联结。心理空间的概念整合（conceptual integration）能够催生新的意义、全局性的认知洞见，以及有助于记忆与创造性活动的认知压缩机制。概念整合网络（conceptual integration networks）的一项关键特征，是能在人类生活的所有领域（科学、宗教、艺术等）动态涌现出新颖的结构。复杂隐喻的涌现塑造了我们对时间的概念化认知。此类运作机制同样普遍存在于物质文化领域。随着技术的演进，人类创造出手表、计量仪表、罗盘、飞机座舱显示屏等兼具文化属性的人工制品（artefacts）；这些制品的结构被专门设计为适配概念输入，并与之整合为稳定的感知与行动融合框架（blended frames），此类框架可被记忆、被新一代人习得，进而实现文化传承。