The Highs and Lows of the Interaction Between Word Meaning and Space

We examined whether the processing of words associated with distinct spatial locations automatically biases behavior toward these locations in space. In four experiments (Ns = 30, 34, 32, 32), participants were shown stimuli denoting objects typically associated with the upper and lower regions of v...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance 2013-08, Vol.39 (4), p.964-973
Main Authors: THORNTON, Therese, YATES, Mark J, LOETSCHER, Tobias, NICHOLLS, Michael E. R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Attention - physiology
Automatic activation
Behavior
Bias
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition
Cognition. Intelligence
Comprehension
Congruence
Experimental psychology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Language
Male
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reaction times
Response selection
Semantics
Space Perception - physiology
Spatial Ability
Spatial location
Spatial perception. Time perception
Visual Attention
Visual space
Visual task performance
Word Meaning
Young Adult
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We examined whether the processing of words associated with distinct spatial locations automatically biases behavior toward these locations in space. In four experiments (Ns = 30, 34, 32, 32), participants were shown stimuli denoting objects typically associated with the upper and lower regions of visual space. In Experiment 1, words were categorized as man-made or natural by pressing one of two vertically arranged keys. Reaction times were faster for trials in which response locations were congruent with the stimulus-associated locations. Experiment 2 replicated the stimulus-response congruency effect when the stimuli were presented in a pictorial format. Stimuli-space interactions therefore seem to be driven by an automatic activation of the spatial attributes associated with the stimuli, irrespective of input format. In Experiments 3 and 4, a target detection task involving only one response button was employed to examine whether the effects observed in the first two experiments were due to attentional shifts, independent of response selection processes. In both experiments, the previously observed congruence effect between words and space either diminished or vanished completely. Consequently, the results of the four experiments in the current study point to a dominant role of response-selection processes in the genesis of space-object word interactions.
ISSN:0096-1523
1939-1277
DOI:10.1037/a0030467