Testing two theories of conceptual combination: alignment versus diagnosticity in the comprehension and production of combined concepts

People often interpret novel noun-noun combinations by transferring a property from one constituent concept of the combination to the other. Two theories make different predictions about these "property" interpretations. Dual-process theory predicts that properties transferred will be alignable differences of the concepts being combined. Constraint theory predicts that properties transferred will be diagnostic properties of the concepts in which they originate. An experimental study tested these contrasting predictions in interpretation comprehension and interpretation production tasks. The results showed that participants reliably preferred diagnostic property interpretations, whether alignable or nonalignable, in both tasks. There was no reliable preference for alignable interpretations in either task. This confirms constraint theory's predictions about property interpretations and goes against the predictions of dual-process theory.