Hand Position and Response Assignment Modulate the Activation of the Valence-Space Conceptual Metaphor.

Hand Position and Response Assignment Modulate the Activation of the Valence-Space Conceptual Metaphor.
Cogn Sci. 2018 Aug 12;:
Authors: Castaño E, Gilboy E, Feijóo S, Serrat E, Rostan C, Hilferty J, Cunillera T
Abstract
Conceptual metaphor is ubiquitous in language and thought, as we usually reason and talk about abstract concepts in terms of more concrete ones via metaphorical mappings that are hypothesized to arise from our embodied experience. One pervasive example is the conceptual projection of valence onto space, which flexibly recruits the vertical and lateral spatial frames to gain structure (e.g., good is up-bad is down and good is right-bad is left). In the current study, we used a valence judgment task to explore the role that exogenous bodily cues (namely response hand positions) play in the allocation of spatial attention and the modulation of conceptual congruency effects. Experiment 1 showed that congruency effects along the vertical axis are weakened when task conditions (i.e., the use of vertical visual cues, on the one hand, and the horizontal alignment of responses, on the other) draw attention to both the vertical and lateral axes making them simultaneously salient. Experiment 2 evidenced that the vertical alignment of participants' hands while responding to the task-regardless of the location of their dominant hand-facilitates the judgment of positive and negative-valence words, as long as participants respond...

Source: Cognitive Science - August 12, 2018 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Castaño E, Gilboy E, Feijóo S, Serrat E, Rostan C, Hilferty J, Cunillera T Tags: Cogn Sci Source Type: research