Embodied Processing at Six Linguistic Granularity Levels: A Consensus Paper.

Language processing is influenced by sensorimotor experiences. Here, we review behavioral evidence for embodied and grounded influences in language processing across six linguistic levels of granularity. We examine (a) sub-word features, discussing grounded influences on iconicity (systematic associations between word form and meaning); (b) words, discussing boundary conditions and generalizations for the simulation of color, sensory modality, and spatial position; (c) sentences, discussing boundary conditions and applications of action direction simulation; (d) texts, discussing how the teaching of simulation can improve comprehension in beginning readers; (e) conversations, discussing how multi-modal cues improve turn taking and alignment; and (f) text corpora, discussing how distributional semantic models can reveal how grounded and embodied knowledge is encoded in texts. These approaches are converging on a convincing account of the psychology of language, but at the same time, there are important criticisms of the embodied approach and of specific experimental paradigms. The surest way forward requires the adoption of a wide array of scientific methods. By providing complimentary evidence, a combination of multiple methods on various levels of granularity can help us gain a more complete understanding of the role of embodiment and grounding in language processing.

Early ERP indices of gender-biased processing elicited by generic masculine role nouns and the feminine-masculine pair form.

In most gender-marked languages, the masculine form is used to refer to male people specifically as well as to people of any gender generically. This dual functionality was shown in behavioral studies to lead to male-biased mental representations. Here, using EEG, we targeted the neurophysiological basis of this bias by investigating whether and how the generic masculine influences the early perceptual and cognitive processing of anaphoric references to men and women. We found that ERP amplitudes in the P200 range were larger for references to women than to men after generic masculine role nouns, while amplitudes in the P300 range were larger for references to men than to women after the feminine-masculine pair form. These findings suggest that the generic masculine primes the perceptual system towards processing men and that neither this form nor the feminine-masculine pair form elicits gender-balanced computations during early processing in the human brain.

Articulation posture influences pitch during singing imagery.

Facial muscle activity contributes to singing and to articulation: in articulation, mouth shape can alter vowel identity; and in singing, facial movement correlates with pitch changes. Here, we examine whether mouth posture causally influences pitch during singing imagery. Based on perception-action theories and embodied cognition theories, we predict that mouth posture influences pitch judgments even when no overt utterances are produced. In two experiments (total N = 160), mouth posture was manipulated to resemble the articulation of either /i/ (as in English meet; retracted lips) or /o/ (as in French rose; protruded lips). Holding this mouth posture, participants were instructed to mentally "sing" given songs (which were all positive in valence) while listening with their inner ear and, afterwards, to assess the pitch of their mental chant. As predicted, compared to the o-posture, the i-posture led to higher pitch in mental singing. Thus, bodily states can shape experiential qualities, such as pitch, during imagery. This extends embodied music cognition and demonstrates a new link between language and music.

Deontology and Utilitarianism in Real Life: A Set of Moral Dilemmas Based on Historic Events.

Moral dilemmas are frequently used to examine psychological processes that drive decisions between adhering to deontological norms and optimizing the outcome. However, commonly used dilemmas are generally unrealistic and confound moral principle and (in)action so that results obtained with these dilemmas might not generalize to other situations. In the present research, we introduce new dilemmas that are based on real-life events. In two studies (a European student sample and a North American MTurk sample, total N = 789), we show that the new factual dilemmas were perceived to be more realistic and less absurd than commonly used dilemmas. In addition, factual dilemmas induced higher participant engagement. From this, we draw the preliminary conclusion that factual dilemmas are more suitable for investigating moral cognition. Moreover, factual dilemmas can be used to examine the generalizability of previous results concerning action (vs. inaction) and concerning a wider range of deontological norms.

Articulation contributes to valence sound symbolism.

Vowels are sound-symbolically associated with valence. Specifically, words containing /i/ (vs. /o/) are judged more suitable to denote positive (vs. negative) objects. Here, we examine the psychological processes driving valence sound symbolism by testing competing predictions for the vowel /y/. The articulatory hypothesis predicts /y/ to be associated with negative valence, because its articulation inhibits smiling; while the pitch-based hypothesis predicts /y/ to be associated with positive valence, because of its high intrinsic pitch. In four experiments, /i/ was associated with more positive valence than both /o/ and /y/ when reading (Experiments 1-3) and when hearing words (Experiment 4). The more negative valence of /y/ compared with /i/ supports the articulatory hypothesis; the similar (or even more negative) valence of /y/ compared with /o/ contradicts the pitch-based hypothesis. Thus, the present finding suggests that valence sound symbolism has its basis rather in articulatory than auditory phoneme properties. This advances our understanding of psychological processes in valence-vowel associations and in sound symbolism more generally. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

What is preferred in the in-out effect: articulation locations or articulation movement direction?

Words whose consonant articulation locations move inward (from the front to the back of the mouth) are preferred over words with the opposite consonant articulation location direction, a phenomenon termed the in-out effect. Recently, an alternative explanation for the in-out effect has been proposed based on position-weighted consonant preferences instead of articulation location movement preferences. However, this explanation has only been tested with word fragments. In two experiments, we tested these explanations using both, word fragment and pseudo-word stimuli. For word fragments, preferences could be explained by position-weighted consonant preferences, while, for pseudo-words, stimuli containing articulation location movement were evaluated more favourably than stimuli not containing articulation location movement. Thus, the in-out effect for word stimuli depends on movement of articulation locations. This finding demonstrates that a word's sound symbolic meaning cannot always be explained by its individual letters but can depend on letter sequences.

Specifying separation: avoidance, abstraction, openness to new experiences.

Lee and Schwarz suggest grounded procedures of separation as a mechanism for embodied cleansing. We compare this process to other mechanisms in grounded cognition and suggest a broader conceptualization that allows integration into general cognitive models of social behavior. Specifically, separation will be understood as a mindset of completed avoidance resulting in high abstraction and openness to new experiences.

Front in the mouth, front in the word: The driving mechanisms of the in-out effect.

Words for which the consonantal articulation spots wander from the front to the back of the mouth (inward) elicit more positive attitudes than words with the reversed order (outward). The present article questions the common theoretical explanation of this effect, namely an association between articulation movements and oral movements during ingestion and expectoration (inward resembles eating which is positive; outward resembles spitting which is negative). In 4 experiments (total N = 468), we consistently replicated the basic in-out effect; but no evidence was found supporting an eating-related underlying mechanism. The in-out effect was not modulated by disgust inductions (Experiments 1, 2, 4, and 10) or food deprivation (Experiment 3). In 6 further experiments (total N = 1,067), we explored a novel alternative explanation, namely that the in-out effect is simply a position-specific preference for front consonants over back consonants. In these experiments, we found in-out-like preference effects for fragments that lacked an actual front-to-back movement but featured only starting (e.g., B _ _ _ _) or ending (e.g., _ _ _ K) consonants (Experiments 6-8). Consonants that are articulated in the front of the mouth were generally preferred over those articulated in the back of the mouth, and this basic preference was stronger at the beginning of a word-like stimulus (Experiments 6-10), thus explaining the preference pattern of the in-out effect. The present evidence speaks against an eating-related (embodied) explanation and suggests a simple word-morphologic explanation of the in-out effect. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Using the CNI Model to Investigate Individual Differences in Moral Dilemma Judgments.

Typical moral dilemmas pitting the consequences of a given action against the action's consistency with moral norms confound several determinants of moral judgments. Dissociating these determinants, the CNI model allows researchers to quantify sensitivity to consequences, sensitivity to norms, and general preference for inaction over action regardless of consequences and norms. However, with the currently available set of dilemmas for research using the CNI model, the model is not suitable for studies with individual-difference designs. To overcome this limitation, the current research investigated the suitability of an extended dilemma battery to make the CNI model amenable for individual-difference research, examining relations of its parameters with psychopathy, empathic concern, need for cognition, self-reported utilitarianism, behavioral activation/inhibition, moral identity, and religiosity. The results support the suitability of the CNI model for individual-difference research with the extended dilemma battery, providing more nuanced insights into the underpinnings of individual differences in moral dilemma judgments.

Conditions for the clean slate effect after success or failure.

The act of physically cleaning one's hands may reduce the impact of past experiences, termed clean-slate effect. Cleaning was found to affect negative, neutral, and mildly positive states. We extend this influence to success, a self-serving state. We manipulated success vs. failure and measured changes in optimism (Experiment 1) or self-esteem (Experiment 2). Moreover, we examined boundary conditions for the clean-slate effect. Experiment 1 indicates that the influence of performance on optimism diminishes if participants knew (compared to did not know) they were cleaning their hands. Experiment 2 indicates that the influence of performance on self-esteem diminishes if participants cleaned themselves (compared to an object). These results suggest that the clean-slate effect requires both awareness and self-reference of the cleaning act. Thus, the clean-slate effect seems to depend on both conscious inferences and automatic processes. A meta-analysis across the experiments confirms a moderate-sized clean-slate effect.

Training articulation sequences: A first systematic modulation of the articulatory in-out effect.

People prefer words with consonant articulation locations moving inward, from the front to the back of the mouth (e.g., menika), over words with consonant articulation locations moving outward, from the back to the front of the mouth (e.g., kemina). Here, we modulated this in-out effect by increasing the fluency of one consonant direction. Participants (total N = 735) memorized either inward or outward moving words. Afterward they evaluated different inward and outward words. In Experiment 1, training 60 outward (compared to inward) words led to a marginally significant attenuation of the in-out effect. In Experiment 2 and a preregistered replication (Experiment 3), training 120 inward words increased the size of the in-out effect, while training 120 outward words reversed the in-out effect. Experiment 4 confirms that consonant direction training affects fluency and rules out alternative explanations. Together, these experiments further supports a fluency explanation of the in-out effect and shows that abstract oral motor sequences can be learned implicitly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Open-Minded Midwifes, Literate Butchers, and Greedy Hooligans-The Independent Contributions of Stereotype Valence and Consistency on Evaluative Judgments.

Do people evaluate an open-minded midwife less positively than a caring midwife? Both open-minded and caring are generally seen as positive attributes. However, consistency varies-the attribute caring is consistent with the midwife stereotype while open-minded is not. In general, both stimulus valence and consistency can influence evaluations. Six experiments investigated the respective influence of valence and consistency on evaluative judgments in the domain of stereotyping. In an impression formation paradigm, valence and consistency of stereotypic information about target persons were manipulated orthogonally and spontaneous evaluations of these target persons were measured. Valence reliably influenced evaluations. However, for strongly valenced stereotypes, no effect of consistency was observed. Parameters possibly preventing the occurrence of consistency effects were ruled out, specifically, valence of inconsistent attributes, processing priority of category information, and impression formation instructions. However, consistency had subtle effects on evaluative judgments if the information about a target person was not strongly valenced and experimental conditions were optimal. Concluding, in principle, both stereotype valence and consistency can play a role in evaluative judgments of stereotypic target persons. However, the more subtle influence of consistency does not seem to substantially influence evaluations of stereotyped target persons. Implications for fluency research and stereotype disconfirmation are discussed.

The role of fluency in preferences for inward over outward words.

The present studies examined a novel explanation for the in-out effect, the phenomenon that words with inward wanderings of consonantal articulation spots are preferred over words with outward wanderings. We hypothesized that processing fluency might account for the in-out effect instead of, or in addition to, the originally proposed mechanism of motor-associated motivational states. Inward words could be more fluently processed than outward words, which could lead to the preference effect. Corpus analyses (Studies 1a and 1b) revealed more inward than outward words in English and German, which could account for their differing fluency. Additionally, inward compared to outward words were pronounced faster (Study 2) and were rated as being easier to pronounce (Studies 3a and 3b), indicating greater fluency. Crucially, a mediation analysis (Study 4) suggests that the influence of consonantal direction on preference was partially mediated by fluency. However, accounting for the influence of fluency still left a significant residual in-out effect, not accounted for by our fluency measure. This evidence supports a partial causal contribution of articulation fluency to the in-out effect.

Routes to embodiment.

Research on embodiment is rich in impressive demonstrations but somewhat poor in comprehensive explanations. Although some moderators and driving mechanisms have been identified, a comprehensive conceptual account of how bodily states or dynamics influence behavior is still missing. Here, we attempt to integrate current knowledge by describing three basic psychological mechanisms: direct state induction, which influences how humans feel or process information, unmediated by any other cognitive mechanism; modal priming, which changes the accessibility of concepts associated with a bodily state; sensorimotor simulation, which affects the ease with which congruent and incongruent actions are performed. We argue that the joint impact of these mechanisms can account for most existing embodiment effects. Additionally, we summarize empirical tests for distinguishing these mechanisms and suggest a guideline for future research about the mechanisms underlying embodiment effects.