Group isomorphism and homomorphism are core concepts in abstract algebra, and student understanding of isomorphism has received extensive attention in line with the centrality of this topic. However, ...limited work has directly examined student conceptions of homomorphism or what metaphors students use to express their thought processes while problem solving. Based on interviews with four students, we contrast two students who used predominantly formal definition and mapping-centered metaphors for homomorphism with two who additionally used sameness-centered metaphors and note that the usage or non-usage of sameness-centered metaphors was not indicative of successful problem solving. Implications include the alignment between students’ metaphors and those used in instruction, indicating the importance of attending to metaphors when teaching, and the importance of discussing what is intended by some sameness-based metaphors, such as operation-preservation.
•Students used sameness metaphors for isomorphism tasks and were successful.•All students used mapping and formal definition cluster metaphors for homomorphism.•Two students additionally used sameness-based metaphors for homomorphism.•Most student metaphors had arisen in class previously.•Not all students took up all metaphors that had been used in their class.
Media framing facilitates people’s understanding of a threat and affects one’s emotional reaction. It therefore plays a vital role in both individual and societal responses to a public health crisis ...such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a combination of conceptual metaphor analysis and qualitative frame analysis, this article examines how three Austrian newspapers framed the initial national outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020. The results show that at that early stage, media coverage was primarily concerned with the national government’s political actions to contain the disease. Only a few articles framed the situation in terms of personal experiences and possible economic or social consequences. As has been the case in research reporting on other health crises, metaphors of war, journeys, and natural disasters were used to conceptualize the coronavirus pandemic. Yet, overall, the tone remained neutral, as the media framing was clearly aimed at passing on information and conveying a sense of urgency while at the same time trying to avoid scare tactics.
This study investigates the metaphorical representations of physical pain amongst Algerian Arabic speakers. To uncover these conceptualisations, an oral Discourse Completion Test (DCT) was ...administered to 30 Algerian university students. A qualitative approach was used to analyse the data and generate the conceptual metaphors used. Grounded in Kövecses model of metaphorical conceptualisations, this research unveils that Algerian Arabic speakers utilise nine distinct metaphorical conceptualisations when portraying physical pain/discomfort: evaluative metaphors, fire metaphors, sharp object metaphors, container metaphors, animal metaphors, creeping insect metaphors, burden metaphors, swing metaphors, and physical force metaphors. These metaphors are further explicated in light of linguistic and cultural backgrounds to shed light on the intricate weave of metaphors in Algerian Arabic, underscoring their pivotal role in encapsulating physical and emotional experiences. The study recommends further scholarly research into the manifold metaphorical renderings of diverse emotional states across Arab communities.
In human and non-human animals, conceptual knowledge is partially organized according to low-dimensional geometries that rely on brain structures and computations involved in spatial representations. ...Recently, two separate lines of research have investigated cognitive maps, that are associated with the hippocampal formation and are similar to world-centered representations of the environment, and image spaces, that are associated with the parietal cortex and are similar to self-centered spatial relationships. We review evidence supporting cognitive maps and image spaces, and we propose a hippocampal–parietal network that can account for the organization and retrieval of knowledge across multiple reference frames. We also suggest that cognitive maps and image spaces may be two manifestations of a more general propensity of the mind to create low-dimensional internal models.
•Conceptual knowledge is partially organized in low-dimensional geometries – ‘cognitive maps’ – that are analogs of world-centered representations of the environment, and are associated with the hippocampal formation, and image spaces, that are analogs of self-centered spatial relationships and are mostly associated with the parietal cortex.•The complementary activity of cognitive maps and image spaces during conceptual retrieval and manipulation may be akin to the dual system involved in spatial navigation, which is based both on self-centered and world-centered information.•Low-dimensional mental geometries such as cognitive maps and image spaces may play a crucial role in goal-directed cognition, analogical thinking, generalization, and the structuring of abstract conceptual domains.
The conceptual metaphor is a major persuasive tool in political discourse. Therefore, the aim of the research is to analyze the realization of van Dijk’s Ideological Square strategies with the help ...of machine conceptual metaphors used by the presidential candidates during the 2020 electioneering campaign. The data of the research comprise 99 political speeches delivered by Donald Trump and Joe Biden at rallies. Consequently, the following methods of linguistic analysis were used: a Critical Discourse Analysis, a Conceptual Metaphor Analysis in the form of the method of the reconstruction of conceptual mappings, a comparative method, a contextual analysis, and statistical methods. As a result, the analysis demonstrated that conceptual metaphors, which were identified in the corpus, play an important role in realizing the Ideological Square strategies with persuasive goals. Apart from that, it was established that the conceptual metaphor ECONOMY IS A MACHINE is predominant in Donald Trump’s and Joe Biden's discourses. In addition, the data analysis showed that the majority of metaphors were used to highlight the candidate’s own positive sides while exaggerating his opponent’s disadvantages.
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