Mental Simulation in the Processing of Literal and Metaphorical Motion Language: An Eye Movement Study

An eye-tracking while listening study based on the blank screen paradigm was conducted to investigate the processing of literal and metaphorical verbs of motion. The study was based on two assumptions from the litera- ture: that language comprehension by default engages mental simulation, and that looking behavior (measured through patterns of eye movements) can provide a window into ongoing cognitive processes. This study specifi- cally compared the comprehension of sentences that depicted actual physi- cal motion (the curtain is rising) and sentences that described changes in quantity or emotional states in terms of vertical motion (prices are rising). Results showed that eye movements were selectively biased upward or downward in accordance with the direction implied by the verb, regardless of the context (literal or metaphorical) in which they appeared, and in the absence of any visual stimuli or explicit task. Thus, these findings suggest that literal and metaphorical language drive spontaneous, direction-specific mental simulations captured by eye movements and that at least in the case of verbs presented in the present progressive, which emphasizes the ongoing nature of actions, visual biases along the vertical axis may start during the verb itself

Eye movements reveal mental looking through time

People often make use of a spatial "mental time line" to represent events in time. We investigated whether the eyes follow such a mental time line during online language comprehension of sentences that refer to the past, present, and future. Participants' eye movements were measured on a blank screen while they listened to these sentences. Saccade direction revealed that the future is mapped higher up in space than the past. Moreover, fewer saccades were made when two events are simultaneously taking place at the present moment compared to two events that are happening in different points in time. This is the first evidence that oculomotor correlates reflect mental looking along an abstract invisible time line during online language comprehension about time. Our results support the idea that observing eye movements is likely to "detect" invisible spatial scaffoldings which are involved in cognitively processing abstract meaning, even when the abstract meaning lacks an explicit spatial correlate. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed

Looking for language in space: spatial simulations in memory for language

Grounded-embodied theories hold that language is understood and remembered through perceptual and motor simulations (i.e., activations and re-activations of sensorimotor experiences). This thesis aims to illustrate simulations of space in memory for language. In four experiments, we explored (1) how individuals encode and re-activate word locations and (2) how word meanings activate locations in space (e.g., “bird” - upward location). Experiment 1 reveals that the propensity to refer to the environment during retrieval correlates with individual’s visuospatial memory capacity. Experiment 2 shows that words which are more difficult to remember and, particularly, words that are more difficult to visualise in mind lead to more reliance on the environment during word retrieval. Experiment 3, which is a norming study, demonstrates that there is a high degree of agreement among individuals when linking words to locations in space although there are no explicit conventions with regard to word - space associations. Experiment 4, in which recognition memory for words with spatial associations was probed, shows that both language-based simulation of space and simulation of word locations dictate memory performance even if space is irrelevant and unnecessary for successful retrieval. Results are discussed within grounded-embodied and extended approaches to memory and language

Interfaces between language and cognition: metaphor, iconicity, and multimodal numerical communication

This thesis explores metaphor, iconicity, and multimodal numerical communication, and their connection to the cognitive processes that are involved in language comprehension and production. Focusing on the English language, this thesis discusses the idea that linguistic metaphors reflect deeper conceptualisations of the world, which are expressed multimodally through metaphoric and iconic gesture, prosody, and vocalization. It also studies the representation of these metaphors in cultural artifacts, like line graphs, and how these representations can make data visualizations easier to comprehend. By focusing on number metaphors and then expanding its scope to include numerical communication more broadly, this thesis explores how communication about numbers reflects numerical cognition. It also argues that sensorimotor simulation motivates iconic and metaphoric expression in different modalities, and discusses the implications of this argument for language evolution. By synthesising insights from a wide range of research areas and methodologies from across the spectrum of linguistics, cognitive science, and psychology, this thesis demonstrates that metaphor, iconicity, and multimodal numerical communication are interfaces between language and cognition

Cultural and Individual Differences in Metaphorical Representations of Time

Abstract concepts cannot be directly perceived through senses. How do people represent abstract concepts in their minds? According to the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, people tend to rely on concrete experiences to understand abstract concepts. For instance, cognitive science has shown that time is a metaphorically constituted conception, understood relative to concepts like space. Across many languages, the “past” is associated with the “back” and the “future” is associated with the “front”. However, space-time mappings in people’s spoken metaphors are not always consistent with the implicit mental metaphors they are using to conceptualize time in their minds, suggesting a dissociation between temporal language and temporal thought. Beyond the influences of language, the Temporal Focus Hypothesis proposes that people’s spatial conceptions of time are shaped by their attentional focus on temporal events. In general, people conceptualize the past as being in front to the extent that their culture is past-oriented, and the future as being in front to the extent that their culture is future-oriented. Recent lines of research have provided preliminary evidence that people’s implicit space-time mappings are malleable and likely result from multiple factors related to temporal focus, ranging from those relating to contextual features, such as cultural attitudes toward time, to those more tightly tied to the individual, such as age-related differences. By building upon and extending these findings, the overall aim of this thesis is to ascertain the generalizability of the Temporal Focus Hypothesis and further investigate the range of factors that may influence people’s spatializations of time, focusing specifically on previously unexplored within-cultural differences (Study 1), political ideology (Study 2), religion (Studies 3-6), real life experiences (Studies 7 to 9), pregnancy (Study 10), temporal landmarks (Studies 11 to 13), circadian rhythms and chronotype (Studies 14 to 16), and personality (Studies 17 to 19). Together, these studies demonstrate that people’s implicit space-time mappings may vary according to their temporal focus, which can be explained by the Temporal Focus Hypothesis. The findings of these studies also shed new light on the Temporal Focus Hypothesis by extending the range of factors that may influence people’s conceptions of time, and reveal the malleability and flexibility of time representations