Thematic thinking: The apprehension and consequences of thematic relations.

A thematic relation is a temporal, spatial, causal, or functional relation between things that perform complementary roles in the same scenario or event. For example, cows and milk are related by a production theme, and sails and anchors are related via a boating theme. Thematic relations are distinct from mere associations, scripts, and ad hoc categories. They also contrast and complement taxonomic (categorical) relations such as “fruits” and “furniture.” Thematic relations and taxonomic relations arise from distinct processes, as evidenced by numerous neuropsychological and behavioral dissociations. Thematic relations may be apprehended uncontrollably and rapidly according to how frequently and recently they have been encountered. They exert profound effects on many core cognitive processes, including similarity, categorization, memory, language, inference, and analogy, and they exhibit robust processing differences across individuals and cultures. In sum, without such thematic thinking, models of cognition will remain categorically limited.