The role of cognitive mechanisms in the formation of non-spatial meanings

The study of cognitive processes related to perception and categorization of space, as well as the forms of its representation in language, is still in the center of close attention of scientists. The cognitive process of the formation of new conceptual structures of knowledge, the source of which are the names of English natural objects, demonstrates the connection with the perception of the world, reflecting various forms of a person's sensory-motor experience. The study of the role of spatial and perceptual features in the processes of secondary nomination of reality reveals their active role in modeling emotional, mental and other spheres, which has its own specific explanation: space is one of the basic categories of being, a form of existence of matter. The paper explores the basic cognitive mechanisms involved in the processes of secondary conceptualization and categorization of the world in language (profiling, interpretation, focusing of attention, defocusing, analogy, perspective). The author demonstrates the operation of these mechanisms on the material of English nouns with spatial semantics and describes their role in the formation of non-spatial meanings.