Structural Differences of Physical and Mental Events and Processes

Event structure has been intensively studied through different approaches. A recent study by Rips and Estin (1998) applied a property listing approach and documented structural differences between physical and mental events. Physical events were shown to have more distinct parts than mental events, which were described as more homogeneous. The present study replicated this study with one modification. We added a factor that may have been confounded with physicality in their study. This factor further distinguishes events and processes. We examined whether the observed structural differences between physical and mental events was partly due to this factor. The results show that distinctiveness of parts was a function not only of tangibility (physical or mental event), but also of temporal characteristics (event vs. process). Furthermore, the distinction of process and event was the only significant factor when distinctive properties were weighted against