How far isnear? Inferring distance from spatial descriptions

Abstract

A word may mean different things in different contexts. The current study explored the changing denotations of spatial terms, focusing on how the distance inferred from a spatial description varied as a function of the size of the objects being spatially related. We examined both terms that explicitly convey distance (i.e., topological terms such as near), and terms not traditionally associated with distance (i.e., projective terms such as left).The critical finding was that estimates of distance associated with both classes of terms were systematically influenced by the size of the objects, generalising an effect observed by Morrow and Clark (1988) with approach. The effect was replicated using an indirect scaling method, and centre-to-centre and edge-to-edge estimates. The results support the idea that dimensions relevant to the processing of spatial terms are not limited to information explicitly conveyed by the spatial terms.