INSTANTIATION
The selection of attributes of an object or action which are specific to the immediate context.
In principle, lexical access makes available to us all the attributes of a particular word. In practice, we foreground those features of meaning which are most germane to the context in which the item is encountered. Compare the different attributes of TOMATO which are foregrounded in each of the following.
The tomato was ripe (redness)
I trod on a tomato and squashed it (softness)
The tomato rolled across the floor (roundness)
The effects of instantiation can be demonstrated with recall cues. After encountering the sentence The fish attacked the swimmer, subjects were more able to recall the exact wording if they were given SHARK as a cue than if they were given FISH. Similarly, BASKET was found to be a better recall cue for The container held the apples; but BOTTLE for The container held the cola.
An alternative view would suggest that these results derive from the listener or reader constructing a mental model on the basis of an elaborative inference which goes beyond the linguistic evidence in the text.
See also: Inference, Mental model, Mental representation
Further reading: Garnham (1985: 162–5)
