Imagery and the Interpretation of Ambiguous Noun-Noun Combinations

Novel ambiguous N-N combinations were created that had both a thematic relation and a property mapping interpretation (e.g., a cheetah truck = a fast truck vs. a truck for transporting cheetahs). Experiment 1 asked people to generate their own interpretations, which were then classified as involving thematic relations, property mapping or other. Experiment 2 asked people to choose which of the two interpretations was most plausible. Both Experiments showed that instructions to work rapidly through the task led to more thematic relational interpretations, whereas instructions to visualize and reflect more deeply on the problem led to more property mapping. Implications for models of conceptual combination are discussed.