Cross-modal metaphorical mapping of spoken emotion words onto vertical space

Abstract

From the field of embodied cognition, previous studies have reported evidence of metaphorical mapping of emotion concepts onto a vertical spatial axis. Most of the work on this topic has used visual words as the typical experimental stimuli. However, to our knowledge, no previous study has examined the association between affect and vertical space using a cross-modal procedure. The current research is a first step toward the study of the metaphorical mapping of emotions onto vertical space by means of an auditory to visual cross-modal paradigm. In the present study, we examined whether auditory words with an emotional valence can interact with the vertical visual space according to a ‘positive-up/negative-down’ embodied metaphor. The general method consisted in the presentation of a spoken word denoting a positive/negative emotion prior to the spatial localization of a visual target in an upper or lower position. In Experiment 1, the spoken words were passively heard by the participants and no reliable interaction between emotion concepts and bodily simulated space was found. In contrast, Experiment 2 required more active listening of the auditory stimuli. A metaphorical mapping of affect and space was evident but limited to the participants engaged in an emotion-focused task. Our results suggest that the association of affective valence and vertical space is not activated automatically during speech processing since an explicit semantic and/or emotional evaluation of the emotionally valenced stimuli was necessary to obtain an embodied effect. The results are discussed within the framework of the embodiment hypothesis.

Gastrophysics: Getting creative with pairing flavours

“…Helmholtz, 1878Helmholtz, /1971von Hornbostel, 1927von Hornbostel, /1950. The distinction between perceptual similarity and crossmodal metaphor (where metaphor refers to symbolic, representative, or structural similarity; Montoro, Contreras, Elosúa, & Marmolejo-Ramos, 2015) also deserves further research GASTROPHYSICS: GETTING CREATIVE WITH PAIRING FLAVOURS 13…”

Remembering spatial words: Sensorimotor simulation affects verbal recognition memory

“…Some other studies investigating sensorimotor simulation with spatial probes noted similar discrepancies between accuracy rates and RTs. For example, spatial congruency affected reaction times more consistently compared to accuracy in Amorim and Pinheiro (2019) (see also Montoro et al, 2015; van Ede et al, 2012). Top targets elicited faster but less accurate responses than bottom targets in Estes et al (2015).…”

The strength of weak embodiment

“…In humans, another example of grounding can be found in cross-linguistic research, which shows that the understanding of some concepts (e.g. emotion) is closely related to the perception of physical space (Montoro, Contreras, Elosúa, & Marmolejo-Ramos, 2015;Salgado-Montejo et al, 2016). Therefore, it is reasonable to hypothesise that, while some elements of human cognition are more or less universal, they are still grounded in a material reality.…”