Language comprehenders mentally represent the shapes of objects.

Full Abstract

We examined the prediction that people activate perceptual symbols during language comprehension. Subjects read sentences describing an animal or object in a certain location. The shape of the object or animal changed as a function of its location (e.g., eagle in the sky, eagle in a nest). However, this change was only implied by the sentences. After reading a sentence, subjects were presented with a line drawing of the object in question. They judged whether the object had been mentioned in the sentence (Experiment 1) or simply named the object (Experiment 2). In both cases, responses were faster when the pictured object's shape matched the shape implied by the sentence than when there was a mismatch. These results support the hypothesis that perceptual symbols are routinely activated in language comprehension.

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Author information

Author/s: Zwaan, Rolf A (RA); Stanfield, Robert A (RA); Yaxley, Richard H (RH);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee 32306-1270, USA. zwaan(-atsign-)psy.fsu.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS (Psychol Sci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Mar; vol 13 (issue 2) : pp 168-71

Dates: Created 2002/04/05; Completed 2002/10/29; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 11934002, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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