Editing Conceptual blending (section)

==Network model==
===Characteristics of blending===

As described by Fauconnier and Turner, mental spaces are small conceptual containers used to structure processes behind human reasoning and communication. They are constantly created as people think and talk to serve a specific purpose depending on the context.<ref name="Fauconnier_1998"/> The basic form of integration network consists of at least four separate and interconnected spaces which can be modified at any moment as a discourse progresses.<ref name="Fauconnier_1998"/><ref name="Fauconnier_2003"/> Fauconnier and Turner also suggest that mental spaces are generated in working memory and are connected to the knowledge stored in long-term memory. Elements present in mental spaces are said to resemble the activation of corresponding groups of neurons.<ref name="Fauconnier_2003"/><ref name=" Birdsell _2014"/>[[File:Conceptual blending - the network model.png|thumb|The network model]]

Different types of mental spaces proposed are:
*'''Generic space''' – captures a common structure which is present in all input spaces 
*'''Input space''' –   provides the contents of a specific situation or idea 
*'''Blended space''' – contains a general structure from a generic space as well as some elements from input spaces chosen and mapped onto this space through selective projection<ref name="Fauconnier_1998"/>  

'''Cross-space mapping''' of counterparts represents various types of connections, such as metaphoric connections, between matching structures in the input spaces.<ref name="Fauconnier_1998"/>

In some of the more complex cases of integration networks, there are multiple input and blended spaces.<ref name="Fauconnier_1998">{{cite journal |last1=Fauconnier |first1=Gilles |last2=Turner |first2=Mark |date=1998 |title=Conceptual Integration Networks |journal=[[Cognitive Science (journal)|Cognitive Science]] |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=133–187 |doi=10.1207/s15516709cog2202_1 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Fauconnier_2003">{{cite journal |last1=Fauconnier |first1=Gilles |last2=Turner |first2=Mark |date=2003 |title=Conceptual Blending, Form and Meaning. |url=https://ojs.uclouvain.be/index.php/rec/article/view/48413 |journal=Recherches en Communication |volume=19 |doi=10.14428/rec.v19i19.48413 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Blending===

The process of blending results in the creation of an '''emergent structure''' in the blended space. This new structure, which is not found directly in any of the input spaces, is necessary to achieve a particular goal. The emergent structure is generated through the three following operations: 
*'''Composition''' – provides relations between elements which are only observable by composing together elements from separate input spaces
*'''Completion''' – passes on to the blending space additional meaning which is associated with elements in input spaces
*'''Elaboration''' – represents the idea of dynamically running the blend as if it was a simulation<ref name="Fauconnier_1998"/> 

'''Selective projection''' refers to the observation that not everything from the input spaces is projected to the blend.<ref name="Fauconnier_1998"/>

===Example of a blend – Buddhist monk===

To illustrate how the blend works, Fauconnier and Turner present the riddle of the Buddhist monk, which was originally discussed by [[Arthur Koestler]] in his book ''[[The Act of Creation]]'' (1964): 

<blockquote>A Buddhist monk begins at dawn one day walking up a mountain, reaches the top at sunset, meditates at the top for several days until one dawn when he begins to walk back to the foot of the mountain, which he reaches at sunset. Making no assumptions about his starting or stopping or about his pace during the trips, prove that there is a place on the path which he occupies at the same hour of the day on the two separate journeys.</blockquote>

Solving the problem requires imagining the scenario in which the monk simultaneously goes up and down the mountain on the same day. Although this situation is fictional and improbable, it can still lead to the solution. With the problem described in this new way, it is easy now to understand that there must be a place and time when the monk meets himself during his journey. This "meeting" provides the proof that there is a place on the path asked for in the riddle. 
A scenario in which the monk goes up one day is represented in this case as a one input space, whereas the day he goes down is the second input. The connection between the monk in one input space and the monk in the other input space is considered as an example of cross-space mapping. The generic space includes, for instance, the mountain path as it is the common element present in both inputs.
The blended space is where the integration happens. Whereas some elements, such as the day and the mountain’s path, are combined and mapped onto the blended space as one, other elements, such as monks, are projected separately. Because the projection preserved the time of a day and the monk’s motion’s direction during projection, there are two separate monks in the blend. In this space, it is also possible to “run” the new structure leading to the monk’s meeting with himself.<ref name="Fauconnier_1998"/>

===Four main types of integration network===

====Simplex==== 

In a simplex network, one of the input spaces contains organising frames, and the other includes specific elements.<ref name="Fauconnier_2003"/> In this type of integration network, the roles associated with the frame from one input space are projected onto the blended space together with the values as elements from the other input space. Then they are integrated into a new structure.<ref name=" Birdsell _2014"/>

====Mirror====

A mirror network is characterised by a shared organising frame present in each of the mental spaces. The Buddhist Monk riddle is an example of this network.
 
====Single-scope====

A single-scope network consists of two input spaces which have different organising frames. In this situation, only one frame is projected into the blended space. 

====Double-scope====

In a double-scope network, there are two different organising frames in input spaces, and the blended space contains parts of each of those frames from both input spaces.<ref name="Birdsell _2014">{{cite book |last=Birdsell |first=Brian J. |title=The Bloomsbury Companion to Cognitive Linguistics |date=2014 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=9781441195098 |editor-last=Littlemore |editor-first=Jeannette |series=Bloomsbury companions |location=London |pages=72–90 |chapter=Fauconnier's theory of mental spaces and conceptual blending |doi=10.5040/9781472593689.ch-005 |editor-last2=Taylor |editor-first2=John R.}}</ref>

===Vital relations===

Vital relations describe some of the connections between the elements of the different input spaces. For example, in the Buddhist Monk riddle, time is treated as a vital relation which is compressed in the blended space, and as a result, the monk can simultaneously walk up and down the mountain. Some of the other types of vital relations include cause-effect, change, space, identity, role and part-whole.<ref name=" Birdsell _2014"/>