Image Schemas: State of the Art in Spatiotemporal Conceptualisation

The previous chapter introduced this volume’s research foundation and some core problems. Briefly introduced was the term ‘image schema,’ described as mental generalisations learned from the body’s sensorimotor experiences. As the formal work on image schemas represents this volume’s core contribution, this chapter provides a more thorough introduction. This includes investigating image schemas from their background in cognitive linguistics as well as presenting some empirical support that has been offered by research in developmental psychology. As image schemas are approached in the light of solving the symbol grounding problem for artificial intelligence and computational concept invention, the chapter will focus on introducing some of the requirements and problems that will be dealt with in the upcoming chapters. The chapter includes: History of image schemas Defining image schemas Image schemas in psychology and linguistics Structuring image schemas Image schemas in narratives