Table 1

Concept frequencies in experiments

ALFONS 2, ALFONS 3, ESCHER 1, ESCHER 2
Experiment High-level, everyday concepts Low-level, subconcepts of everyday concepts Low-level, geometrical concepts
ALFONS 2 'bringare' 5

'handtag' 5

'pip' 5

'integraltecken' 2

'bricka' 1

'mynning' 1

'kvinna som sitter naken' 1

'botten' 1

'halsband' 1

== total: 22 occurrences ==

'kant' 3

'bas' 1

'spets' 1






== total: 5 occurrences ==

'streck' 14

'punkt' 6

'ellips' 6

'kurvatur' 3

'vinkel' 2

'yta' 1

'kontur' 1


== total: 33 occurrences ==

ALFONS 3 'glas' 25

brickan' 11

'bringaren' 7

'kakfatet' 7

'sugrör' 6

'presentask' 2

'trädstam' 2

'enheterna' 1

'föremålet' 1

== total: 62 occurrences ==

'kant' 7

'öppning' 2

'hörn' 1






== total: 10 occurrences ==

'cylinder' 4

'fält' 2

'linje' 1






== total: 7 occurrences ==

ESCHER 1 'mus' 22

'rygg' 10

'öga' 10

'öra' 5

'huvud' 3

'pupill' 3

'muterade bilden på möss' 2

'skateboardramp' 2

'muskropp' 2

'kropp' 2

'musform' 2

'svans' 1

'backe' 1

'Picasso' 1

'råttor' 1

'katt' 1



== total: 68 occurrences ==

'toppen' 2

'botten' 2

'basen' 1

'bakdelen' 1















== total: 6 occurrences ==

'triangel' 19

'hörn' 13

'streck' 12

'cirkel' 7

'sida' 6

'linje' 6

'bågform' 3

'bassida' 3

'trekant' 2

'figur' 3

'kant' 2

'område' 2

'triangelspets' 1

'fläck' 1

'stänger' 1

'del' 1

'ringar' 1

'yta' 1

'båge' 1

== total: 69 occurrences ==

ESCHER 2 'mus' 22

'rygg' 18

'öra' 6

'kropp' 3

'öga' 1

'panna' 1

'fena' 1

== total: 52 occurrences ==

'hörn' 6

'botten' 1

'kant' 1




== total: 8 occurrences ==

'linje' 14

'streck' 9

'cirkel' 8

'figur' 4

'triangel' 3

'sträng' 2

'område' 1

== total: 41 occurrences ==

Occurrences of high-level concepts, all experiments: 204 (53 %)
Occurrences of low-level subconcepts, all experiments: 29 (8 %)
Occurrences of low-level concepts, all experiments: 150 (39 %)

Total occurrences of concepts, all experiments:

383

Table 2

Foci present in the ALFONS 3 experiment

Describer = A

Drawer = B

Number = intonation unit number
Number Foci Subfoci Subsubfoci Words/expressions used to transfer foci Comment
1-3,184 Tray 2A: "The tray that was drawn before" A is referring to ALFONS 1 where B drew the tray.
4-15 Tray objects

Location

Occupied

space

  • Objects: pitcher, plate, glasses
  • Location: left, middle, right referring to "the picture"
  • Occupation: units, equal part, equal area
A first mentions the objects along with their location.

A then introduces the concept of the tray consisting of three equalsized parts, each containing a particular object/group of objects.

16-29 Relations

Glasses objects

  • Objects: pitcher, plate, glass, edge
  • Relations: higher than, half the height, difference between, nearest, next to each other, behind
16-24: The size of the objects are described in terms of the objects themselves.

25-29: The relations between the four glasses are described.

30-40 Task 31B: "Shall I draw the plate once more or …"

33B: "or I mean the tray once more"

B focuses on the task at hand and wonders if he is to draw the tray once more. A responds by telling B to draw the tray (36,38). Between 39 and 40 the tray is drawn.
41-45 Pitcher 42B: "Then it was the .."

43A: "pitcher"

45B: "The pitcher to the far left"

B has finished drawing the tray and requests another object (42). A responds (43). And B confirms that he know of the object (45).
46-53 Task

Location

Relation

52A: "in the left field you draw the pitcher"
  • Objects: tray, field, pitcher
  • Location: equalsized, left, right
  • Relation: highest
46-49: A repeats the concept of three equalsized fields from 4-15.

52: A tells B to draw the pitcher in the left field.

53: A tells B that the pitcher is the highest object.

54-77 Appearance 54-56B: "And it is as it was before"

63B: "Shall the proportions be the same as"

67A: "If we say that this pitcher is about six centimeters high"

Because B has drawn the pitcher before this section regards only the size of the pitcher.

Three different attempts from three different views are made to describe the size (54-56,63,67).

At the end of this section the pitcher is drawn.

78-80 Plate Task 78-79A: "And in the middle you draw the plate" Middle here is referring to the middle field of the tray according to the three unit division.
81-83 Size 81B: "And it was a bit lower" The height is regarded. The plate is implicitly compared to the pitcher, it being the highest object.
84-98 Check 85A: "Is it okey?"

Objects: glass, pitcher

Relations: centimeters, height

Bs imagined size of the plate is compared to what A has said about sizes of other objects.

The absolute scale is found to be slightly wrong comparing to the already drawn objects, so B chooses to adjust the size of the other objects to maintain relative scale.

The plate is drawn.

99-100 Glasses 99B: "and then the glasses"
101 Location 101A: "the glasses are then the right third and there stands" The right third refers to the right field in the three unit concept from 4-15.
102 Glasses objects 102A: "there are totally four glasses" The number of glasses in the right third is mentioned.
103 Three first 103A: "the three first stands"
104-105 Location 105A: "near the lower edge" The lower edge of the tray is meant.
106 Relation 106A: "they stand next to each other"
108-113 Task

Appearance

109A: "well you can draw"

111A: "stylistic glasses"

112A: "look like cylinders"

The task and appearance are mingled together into one module.

114-117 Location 114A: "that stands exactly" Repetition of the location from 104-105.

Glass 1 is drawn.

118-123 Check Objects: tray, plate, glasses, edge

Relations: middle, closer to, foremost

A check is made how far in on the tray the glasses should be compared to the other objects.

Glass 1 is removed and redrawn. Glass 2 and 3 is drawn.

124-126 Task 126B: "now I have drawn three glasses" B tells A that he has finished drawing the glasses.
127-132 Fourth glass Location

Appearance

128A: "behind the right of the three glasses"

129A: "you have a"

130A: "a fourth glass that is not clearly visible"

131A: "you can see"

132A: "the upper opening"

A starts by telling B the location (128) of the new object. In 130 he mentions the name of the object. 130-132 deals with the appearance of the object.
133-144 Location

Appearance

134B: "behind the"

135B: "right glass"

138A: "stands exactly behind"

141A: "the opening of the glass"

This is a repetition of the containment of 127-132.

B starts the module by repeating the location of the fourth glass. A answers by repeating the location and appearance from 127-132.

Glass 4 is drawn.

145 Straws Straw objects 145A: "yes from these four glasses there sticks up four straws" First a general location of the new objects is pointed out and next the new objects are mentioned.

The objects are not given separate names but are associated one to each glass.

146-147 Size 146A: "the straws are about"

147A: "twice as long as the glasses"

The length of the straws is expressed in terms of the glasses.
148 Left glass 148A: "and in the left glass"
149-152 Slope 149A: "they point askew up right"
153 Appearance 153A: "the lower part of the straw in the glass is a pointed line" Straw for glass 1 is drawn.

154-157 Slope 154A: "The slope is about"

156A: "45 degrees"

Slope is more precisely defined than in 149-152.
158-166 Middle glass Slope 158A: "in the middle glass slope is a bit less"

161A: "20 degrees or something like that"

The straw in the middle glass is indirectly referred to through the glass (158).

Slope is defined in two ways, one referring to the previous drawn straw (158), the other in degrees (161).

168, 171-172 Right glass 168A: "the third glass the right glass the foremost right glass" At the end of 172 the straw for glass 3 is drawn.
169 Slope 169A: "there the straw stands straight up"
170 Location 170A: "that means that it is leaning against the back edge" T is referring to the back edge of glass 3.
173-174 Check 173A: "and the three straws seem to be of about the same height or" The size relation between the three straws is checked.
175-176, 182-183 Back glass 175A: "and the back straw or not the straw the back glass the back right"
178 Location 178A: "and draw against the left edge and"
179 Slope 179A: "stands in principle straight up"
Size 180A: "stops at the same height as the"

181A: "fore straw"

The size is measured in terms of the location another object.

Straw for glass 4 is drawn.

185 Outside tray 185A: "outside tray"
186-187 Location 186A: "askew up right"
188 Box 188A: "is there some kind of present box" (Box is really a subfoci to location, but that would have grown this table to large, so it is placed below location.)
189-203 Shape 189A: "that has the shape of a"

Examples: low cylinder, cut from tree-trunk, cylinder with greater diameter than height.

Following 189 there are three examples of the shape.
204-206 Size 204A: "and the diameter of the box is about half the diameter of the tray" Size of the box is expressed in terms of the size of the tray.

207-208 Task 207A: "so there you can plain simply draw"

208A: "a cylinder that looks that way"

"looks that way" in 208 refers to the description of shape in 189-203.
209-211 Size 209A: "where the height"
212-217 Location 212A: "and it lies just outside the tray" The location from 186-187 is repeated.