Motor processing modulates word comprehension. (29th April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Togato, Giulia; Andras, Filip; Miralles, Elvira; Macizo, Pedro
• Is Part Of: British journal of psychology. Volume 112:Part 4(2021)
• Page Start: 1028
• Page End: 1052
• Publication Date: 2021-04-29
• Subjects: embodied cognition -- word comprehension -- motor processing; Psychology -- Periodicals; 150.5
• DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12507
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0007-1269

Abstract

Abstract : We evaluated whether movement modulates the semantic processing of words. To this end, we used homograph words with two meanings, one associated with hand movements (e.g., 'abanico', 'fan' in Spanish) or foot movements ('bota', 'boot' in Spanish), and the other not associated with movement ('abanico', 'range' in Spanish; 'bota', 'wineskin' in Spanish). After the homograph, three words were presented, and participants were asked to choose the word related to one of the two homograph meanings. The words could be either related to the motor meaning of the homograph ('fan‐heat'), to the non‐motor meaning of the homograph ('range‐possibility') or unrelated ('fan‐phone'). The task was performed without movement (simple condition) or by performing hand (Experiment 1) and foot (Experiment 2) movements. Compared with the simple condition, the performance of movement oriented the preference towards the motor meaning of the homograph. This pattern of results confirms that movement modulates word comprehension.