The classic mapping metaphor posits that children learn a word by mapping it onto a concept of an object or event. However, we believe that a mapping metaphor cannot account for word learning, because even though children focus attention on objects, they do not necessarily remember the connection between the word and the referent unless it is framed pragmatically, that is, within a task. Our th...

In 3 experiments using 2 different paradigms, people were less likely to cheat for personal gain when a subtle change in phrasing framed such behavior as diagnostic of an undesirable identity. Participants were given the opportunity to claim money they were not entitled to at the experimenters’ expense; instructions referred to cheating with either language that was designed to highlight the im...

People often use spatial language to talk about time, and this is known to both reflect and shape how they think about it. Despite much research on the spatial grounding of temporal language and thought, little attention has been given to how spatial metaphors influence reasoning about real events, especially those in the future. In a large online study (N=2362), we framed a discussion of clima...

The present mini-review covers the local and global geometry of framed curves and the computation of twist and writhe in knotted DNA circles. Classical inequalities relating the total amount of bending of a closed space curve and associated knot parameters are also explained.

We study the framing dependence of the Wilson loop observable of U(N) ChernSimons gauge theory at large N . Using proposed geometrical large N dual, this leads to a direct computation of certain topological string amplitudes in a closed form. This yields new formulae for intersection numbers of cohomology classes on moduli of Riemann surfaces with punctures (including all the amplitudes of pure...

In some bicategories, the 1-cells are ‘morphisms’ between the 0cells, such as functors between categories, but in others they are ‘objects’ over the 0-cells, such as bimodules, spans, distributors, or parametrized spectra. Many bicategorical notions do not work well in these cases, because the ‘morphisms between 0-cells’, such as ring homomorphisms, are missing. We can include them by using a p...

Structures placed on hillsides often present a number of challenges and a limited number of economical choices for site design. An option sometimes employed is to use the building frame as a retaining element, comprising a Rigidly Framed Earth Retaining Structure (RFERS). The relationship between temperature and earth pressure acting on RFERS, is explored in this monograph through a 4.5 year mo...