Testing the theory of embodied cognition with subliminal words.
Ulrich Ansorge, Markus Kiefer, Shah Khalid, Sylvia Grassl, Peter König
Cognition September 2010 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2010.05.010 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental study (three masked priming experiments) Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key findings | Masked, subliminal spatial words produced a spatial congruence effect when preceding visible target words (Experiment 1), activated responses according to long-term meaning (Experiment 2), and were processed according to short-term response meaning (Experiment 3). The authors conclude that these results support embodied cognition theory's prediction of mandatory sensorimotor processing of word meaning. |
Abstract
In the current study, we tested the embodied cognition theory (ECT). The ECT postulates mandatory sensorimotor processing of words when accessing their meaning. We test that prediction by investigating whether invisible (i.e., subliminal) spatial words activate responses based on their long-term and short-term meaning. Masking of the words is used to prevent word visibility and intentional elaboration of the words' semantic content. In this way, masking specifically isolates mandatory sensorimotor processing of words as predicted by the ECT. Do spatial subliminal words activate responses nonetheless? In Experiment 1, we demonstrate a spatial congruence effect of the invisible words if they precede visible target words. In Experiment 2, we show that masked words activate responses based on their long-term meaning. In Experiment 3, we demonstrate that masked words are also processed according to their short-term response meaning. We conclude that the ECT is supported by our findings and discuss implications of our results for embodied theories of semantic word processing and masked priming experiments.