purl.org/peter.turney

Subcognition - Applications

Definition of Subcognition

As we live in the world, we naturally develop a network of cultural and perceptual associations that we rarely give conscious consideration. These associations are subcognitive. For example, how do we know that Flugly is not a good name for a glamorous Hollywood actress, although it may be a fine name for a child's teddy bear?

Chatbots

Automated chat systems (chatbots) would be more convincing if they could answer subcognitive questions and if they were more aware of subcognitive associations.

Semantic Orientation

The evaluative character of a word is called its semantic orientation. Positive semantic orientation indicates praise ("honest", "intrepid") and negative semantic orientation indicates criticism ("disturbing", "superfluous"). Our knowledge of semantic orientation is largely subcognitive.

Updated: February 3, 2007.