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SHI R, XIE J, YANG M, WANG R. The influence of language and context on sensorimotor simulation of concrete concepts. ACTA PSYCHOLOGICA SINICA 2022. [DOI: 10.3724/sp.j.1041.2022.00583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Günther F, Press SA, Dudschig C, Kaup B. The limits of automatic sensorimotor processing during word processing: investigations with repeated linguistic experience, memory consolidation during sleep, and rich linguistic learning contexts. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2021; 86:1792-1803. [PMID: 34853868 PMCID: PMC9363289 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-021-01620-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2021] [Accepted: 11/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
While a number of studies have repeatedly demonstrated an automatic activation of sensorimotor experience during language processing in the form of action-congruency effects, as predicted by theories of grounded cognition, more recent research has not found these effects for words that were just learned from linguistic input alone, without sensorimotor experience with their referents. In the present study, we investigate whether this absence of effects can be attributed to a lack of repeated experience and consolidation of the associations between words and sensorimotor experience in memory. To address these issues, we conducted four experiments in which (1 and 2) participants engaged in two separate learning phases in which they learned novel words from language alone, with an intervening period of memory-consolidating sleep, and (3 and 4) we employed familiar words whose referents speakers have no direct experience with (such as plankton). However, we again did not observe action-congruency effects in subsequent test phases in any of the experiments. This indicates that direct sensorimotor experience with word referents is a necessary requirement for automatic sensorimotor activation during word processing.
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Moretti S, Greco A. Nodding and shaking of the head as simulated approach and avoidance responses. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2020; 203:102988. [PMID: 31935659 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2019] [Revised: 12/18/2019] [Accepted: 12/20/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Our recent study within the embodiment perspective showed that the evaluation of true and false information activates the simulation of vertical and horizontal head movements involved in nodding and shaking of the head (Moretti & Greco, 2018). This result was found in an explicit evaluation task where motion detection software was deployed to enable participants to assess a series of objectively true or false statements by moving them with the head vertically and horizontally on a computer screen, under conditions of compatibility and incompatibility between simulated and performed action. This study replicated that experiment, but with subjective statements about liked and disliked food, in both explicit and implicit evaluation tasks. Two experiments, plus one control experiment, were devised to test the presence of a motor-affective compatibility effect (vertical-liked; horizontal-disliked) and whether the motor-semantic compatibility found with objective statements (vertical-true; horizontal-false) could be a sub-effect of a more general and automatic association (vertical-accepted; horizontal-refused). As expected, response times were shorter when statements about liked foods and disliked foods were moved vertically and horizontally respectively by making head movements, even when participants were not explicitly required to evaluate them. In contrast, the truth compatibility effect only occurred in the explicit evaluation task. Overall results support the idea that head-nodding and shaking are simulated approach-avoidance responses. Different aspects of the meaning of these gestures and the practical implications of the study for cognitive and social research are discussed.
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Miozzo M, Villabol M, Navarrete E, Peressotti F. Hands show where things are: The close similarity between sign and natural space. Cognition 2019; 196:104106. [PMID: 31841814 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2019.104106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2017] [Revised: 09/20/2019] [Accepted: 10/10/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Many of the signs produced across sign languages are iconic, in the sense that they resemble the concepts they represent. We examined whether location, one of basic sign parameters along with handshape and movement, is systematically used for purposes of iconicity. Our findings revealed a mapping of vertical sign space that is exploited in its entirety for encoding typical locations in natural space. In all of the twenty sign languages we analyzed, signs were more likely to have high locations with concepts typically occurring in high vs. low regions of natural space (e.g., cloud vs. root). Furthermore, the height of signs produced to identify a visual object varied depending on object position (e.g., it was higher for basketball in the basket than basketball on the floor). It thus appears that signing space is permeable to semantic and episodic features, and iconicity plays a crucial role in making signing space so adaptable.
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Berndt E, Dudschig C, Kaup B. Green as a cbemcuru: modal as well as amodal color cues can help to solve anagrams. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2018; 84:491-501. [DOI: 10.1007/s00426-018-1055-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2018] [Accepted: 07/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Moretti S, Greco A. Truth is in the head. A nod and shake compatibility effect. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2018; 185:203-218. [PMID: 29501975 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.02.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2018] [Revised: 02/14/2018] [Accepted: 02/19/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies from the embodiment perspective on language processing have shown facilitation or interference effects depending on the compatibility between verbal contents, concrete or abstract, and the motion of various parts of the body. The aim of the present study was to test whether such compatibility effects can be found when a higher cognitive process like truth evaluation is accomplished with head movements. Since nodding is a vertical head gesture typically performed with positive and affirmative responses, and shaking is a horizontal head gesture associated with negative and dissenting contents, faster response times can be expected when true information is evaluated by making a vertical head movement and false information by making a horizontal head movement. Three experiments were designed in order to test this motor compatibility effect. In the first experiment a series of very simple sentences were asked to be evaluated as true or false by dragging them vertically and horizontally with the head. It resulted that truth-value was assessed faster when it was compatible with the direction of the head movement, compared to when it was incompatible. In the second experiment participants were asked to evaluate the same sentences as the first experiment but by moving them with the mouse. In the third experiment, a non-evaluative classification task was given, where sentences concerning animals or objects were to be dragged by vertical and horizontal head movements. In the second and third experiment no compatibility effect was observed. Overall results support the hypothesis of an embodiment effect between the abstract processing of truth evaluation and the direction of the two head movements of nodding and shaking. Cultural aspects, cognitive implications, and the limits of these findings are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefania Moretti
- Lab. of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, COGNILAB-DISFOR, University of Genova, Italy.
| | - Alberto Greco
- Lab. of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, COGNILAB-DISFOR, University of Genova, Italy.
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Amer T, Gozli DG, Pratt J. Biasing spatial attention with semantic information: an event coding approach. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2017; 82:840-858. [DOI: 10.1007/s00426-017-0867-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2016] [Accepted: 04/08/2017] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
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Ostarek M, Vigliocco G. Reading sky and seeing a cloud: On the relevance of events for perceptual simulation. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 2016; 43:579-590. [PMID: 27762581 PMCID: PMC5378009 DOI: 10.1037/xlm0000318] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Previous research has shown that processing words with an up/down association (e.g., bird, foot) can influence the subsequent identification of visual targets in congruent location (at the top/bottom of the screen). However, as facilitation and interference were found under similar conditions, the nature of the underlying mechanisms remained unclear. We propose that word comprehension relies on the perceptual simulation of a prototypical event involving the entity denoted by a word in order to provide a general account of the different findings. In 3 experiments, participants had to discriminate between 2 target pictures appearing at the top or the bottom of the screen by pressing the left versus right button. Immediately before the targets appeared, they saw an up/down word belonging to the target's event, an up/down word unrelated to the target, or a spatially neutral control word. Prime words belonging to target event facilitated identification of targets at a stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of 250 ms (Experiment 1), but only when presented in the vertical location where they are typically seen, indicating that targets were integrated in the simulations activated by the prime words. Moreover, at the same SOA, there was a robust facilitation effect for targets appearing in their typical location regardless of the prime type. However, when words were presented for 100 ms (Experiment 2) or 800 ms (Experiment 3), only a location nonspecific priming effect was found, suggesting that the visual system was not activated. Implications for theories of semantic processing are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Affiliation(s)
- Markus Ostarek
- Experimental Psychology Department, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London
| | - Gabriella Vigliocco
- Experimental Psychology Department, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London
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Gozli DG, Pratt J, Martin KZ, Chasteen AL. Implied Spatial Meaning and Visuospatial Bias: Conceptual Processing Influences Processing of Visual Targets and Distractors. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0150928. [PMID: 26953570 PMCID: PMC4783007 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0150928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2015] [Accepted: 02/22/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Concepts with implicit spatial meaning (e.g., "hat", "boots") can bias visual attention in space. This result is typically found in experiments with a single visual target per trial, which can appear at one of two locations (e.g., above vs. below). Furthermore, the interaction is typically found in the form of speeded responses to targets appearing at the compatible location (e.g., faster responses to a target above fixation, after reading "hat"). It has been argued that these concept-space interactions could also result from experimentally-induced associations between the binary set of locations and the conceptual categories with upward and downward meaning. Thus, rather than reflecting a conceptually driven spatial bias, the effect could reflect a benefit for compatible cue-target sequences that occurs only after target onset. We addressed these concerns by going beyond a binary set of locations and employing a search display consisting of four items (above, below, left, and right). Within each search trial, before performing a visual search task, participants performed a conceptual task involving concepts with implicit upward or downward meaning. The search display, in addition to including a target, could also include a salient distractor. Assuming a conceptually driven visual bias, we expected to observe, first, a benefit for target processing at the compatible location and, second, an increase in the cost of the salient distractor. The findings confirmed both predictions, suggesting that concepts do indeed generate a spatial bias. Finally, results from a control experiment, without the conceptual task, suggest the presence of an axis-specific effect, in addition to the location-specific effect, suggesting that concepts might cause both location-specific and axis-specific spatial bias. Taken together, our findings provide additional support for the involvement of spatial processing in conceptual understanding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Davood G. Gozli
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Jay Pratt
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - K. Zoë Martin
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
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Casasanto D, Brookshire G, Ivry R. Meaning is Not a Reflex: Context Dependence of Spatial Congruity Effects. Cogn Sci 2015; 39:1979-86. [PMID: 26432077 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2014] [Revised: 05/29/2015] [Accepted: 06/04/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
In two experiments, Brookshire, Ivry, and Casasanto (2010) showed that words with positive and negative emotional valence can activate spatial representations with a high degree of automaticity, but also that this activation is highly context dependent. Lebois, Wilson-Mendenhall, and Barsalou (2015) reported that they "aimed to replicate" our study but found only null results in the "Brookshire et al. replication" conditions. Here we express concerns about three aspects of this paper. First, the study was not an attempt to replicate ours; it was a different study that adapted our method. Second, Lebois et al. did not accurately represent our theoretical position. Third, Lebois et al.'s main conclusion, that spatial congruity effects depend on the task context, was not supported by their data. Despite these concerns, we agree with Lebois et al.'s overall message that spatial aspects of words' meanings are activated differently in different contexts. This was a main conclusion of our study as well.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Richard Ivry
- Psychology Department, University of California at Berkeley
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Dudschig C, de la Vega I, Kaup B. What's up? Emotion-specific activation of vertical space during language processing. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2015; 156:143-55. [PMID: 25454886 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2014.09.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2013] [Revised: 09/20/2014] [Accepted: 09/29/2014] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The relationship between language processing and vertical space has been shown for various groups of words including valence words, implicit location words, and words referring to religious concepts. However, it remains unclear whether these are single phenomena or whether there is an underlying common mechanism. Here, we show that the evaluation of word valence interacts with motor responses in the vertical dimension, with positive (negative) evaluations facilitating upward (downward) responses. When valence evaluation was not required, implicit location words (e.g., bird, shoe) influenced motor responses whereas valence words (e.g., kiss, hate) did not. Importantly, a subset of specific emotional valence words that are commonly associated with particular bodily postures (e.g., proud→upright; sad→slouched) did automatically influence motor responses. Together, this suggests that while the vertical spatial dimension is not directly activated by word valence, it is activated when processing words referring to emotional states with stereotypical bodily-postures. These results provide strong evidence that the activation of spatial associations during language processing is experience-specific in nature and cannot be explained with reference to a general mapping between all valence words and space (i.e., all positive and negative words generally relate to spatial processing). These findings support the experiential view of language comprehension, suggesting that the automatic reactivation of bodily experiences is limited to word groups referring to emotions or entities directly associated with spatial experiences (e.g., posture or location in the world).
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