How does language affect spatial attention? Deconstructing the prime-target relationship

It is still unclear how spatially associated concepts (e.g., directional expressions, object names, metaphors) shape our cognitive experience. Here, two experiments ( N = 156) investigated the mechanisms by which words with either explicit or implicit spatial meaning induce spatial attention shifts....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Memory & cognition 2023-07, Vol.51 (5), p.1115-1124
Main Authors: Shaki, Samuel, Fischer, Martin H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Attentional Bias - physiology
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Cognition & reasoning
Cognition - physiology
Cognitive ability
Cognitive Psychology
Cues
Female
Humans
Israel
Language
Localization
Male
Psychology
Semantics
Space Perception - physiology
Visual discrimination
Young Adult
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Summary:It is still unclear how spatially associated concepts (e.g., directional expressions, object names, metaphors) shape our cognitive experience. Here, two experiments ( N = 156) investigated the mechanisms by which words with either explicit or implicit spatial meaning induce spatial attention shifts. Participants performed a visual target-discrimination task according to response rules that required different degrees of prime and target processing depth. For explicit prime words, we found spatial congruency effects independent of processing depth, while implicit prime words generated congruency effects only when participants had to compute the congruency relationship. These results were robust across different prime-target intervals and imply that spatial connotations alone do not automatically activate spatial attention shifts. Instead, explicit semantic analysis is a prerequisite for conceptual cueing.
ISSN:0090-502X
1532-5946
DOI:10.3758/s13421-022-01390-3