Exploring the temporal boundary conditions of the articulatory in-out preference effect

Can sequencing of articulation ease explain the in-out effect? A preregistered test

Words whose consonantal articulation places move from the front of the mouth to the back (e.g. BADAKA; inward) receive more positive evaluations than words whose consonantal articulation places move from the back of the mouth to the front (e.g. KADABA; outward). This in-out effect has a variety of affective, cognitive, and even behavioural consequences, but its underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Most recently, a linguistic explanation has been proposed applying the linguistic easy-first account and the so-called labial-coronal effect from developmental speech research and phonology to the in-out effect: Labials (front) are easier to process than coronals (middle); and people prefer easy followed by harder motor components. Disentangling consonantal articulation direction and articulation place, the present three preregistered experiments (total N = 1012) found in-out effects for coronal-dorsal (back), and labial-dorsal articulation places. Critically, no in-out effect emerged for labial-coronal articulation places. Thus, the in-out effect is unlikely an instantiation of easy first.

The influence of consonant wanderings and facial expressions in warmth and competence judgments

ABSTRACTThe preference for usernames whose oral pronunciation implies inward wandering articulatory movements over those involving outward movements - the in-out effect - has been shown to shape person perception judgments. Across three studies, we further tested the boundary conditions to this effect by combining the manipulation of the articulation direction of mock online usernames with one of the most critical cues for interpersonal judgments - facial expressions. As expected, users displaying smiling faces were rated as warmer and more competent than those displaying angry expressions. Notably, even in the presence of such diagnostic cues for social judgment, the articulatory activity involved in pronouncing a person's name still affected the impressions formed, particularly in the warmth dimension. These results show that the in-out effect did not vanish even when highly diagnostic visual information was available. Overall, the current work further emphasises the role of sensorimotor experience in person perception while providing additional evidence for the in-out effect, its boundary conditions, and potential mechanisms.

Articulation dynamics and evaluative conditioning: investigating the boundary conditions, mental representation, and origin of the in-out effect

People prefer linguistic stimuli with an inward (e.g. BODIKA) over those with an outward articulation dynamic (e.g. KODIBA), a phenomenon known as the articulatory in-out effect. Despite its robustness across languages and contexts, the phenomenon is still poorly understood. To learn more about the effect's boundary conditions, mental representation, and origin, we crossed the in-out effect with evaluative conditioning research. In five experiments (N = 713, three experiments pre-registered), we systematically paired words containing inward versus outward dynamics with pictures of negative versus positive valence. Although this evaluative conditioning procedure reversed the preference for inward over outward words, this was the case only for words with the same consonant sequences as the conditioned words. For words with inward/outward dynamics but different consonant sequences than the conditioned ones, a regular in-out effect emerged. Also, no preference reversal at all emerged for the conditioned consonant sequences when the contingency between single consonants at specific positions and positive/negative valence was zero. Implications of these findings for the in-out effect and evaluative conditioning are discussed.

On the emergence of the in-out effect across trials: two items do the trick

Individuals prefer letter strings whose consonantal articulation spots move from the front of the mouth to the back (e.g., BAKA, inward) over those with a reversed consonant order (e.g., KABA, outward), the so-called in-out effect. The present research explores whether individuals hold an internal standard or scheme of consonant order that triggers this effect. If this were the case, the in-out effect should already occur in one-trial between-subjects designs. If not, the in-out effect should emerge over the course of trials in within-subjects designs. In Experiments 1a-e (1b-e preregistered; total N = 2973; German, English, and Portuguese samples) employing a one-trial between-subjects design, no in-out effect was found. In Experiment 2 (N = 253), employing within-subjects designs with either 1, 5, 10, 30, or 50 trials per consonant order category (inward vs. outward), the in-out effect was absent in the first trial, but already surfaced for the first 2 trials, reached significance within the first 10 trials and a solid plateau within the first 20 trials. Of the four theoretical explanations, the present evidence favors the fluency/frequency and letter-position accounts and is at odds with the eating-related embodiment and easy-first accounts.

What is preferred in the in-out effect: articulation locations or articulation movement direction?

Words whose consonant articulation locations move inward (from the front to the back of the mouth) are preferred over words with the opposite consonant articulation location direction, a phenomenon termed the in-out effect. Recently, an alternative explanation for the in-out effect has been proposed based on position-weighted consonant preferences instead of articulation location movement preferences. However, this explanation has only been tested with word fragments. In two experiments, we tested these explanations using both, word fragment and pseudo-word stimuli. For word fragments, preferences could be explained by position-weighted consonant preferences, while, for pseudo-words, stimuli containing articulation location movement were evaluated more favourably than stimuli not containing articulation location movement. Thus, the in-out effect for word stimuli depends on movement of articulation locations. This finding demonstrates that a word's sound symbolic meaning cannot always be explained by its individual letters but can depend on letter sequences.

The articulatory in-out effect: replicable, but inexplicable

People prefer inward over outward articulation dynamics, a phenomenon referred to as the articulatory in-out effect. It is empirically robust and generalizes across languages, settings, and stimuli. However, the theoretical explanation of the effect is still a matter of lively debate and in need of novel research directions.