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ERIC Number: EJ1018813
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0211-2159
EISSN: N/A
Temporal Constraints on the Comprehension of Motor Language. An Embodied Semantics Approach
Santana, Eduardo; de Vega, Manuel
Psicologica: International Journal of Methodology and Experimental Psychology, v34 n2 p253-271 2013
This paper investigates how language comprehension is modulated by temporal information, marked by time adverbs, and bodily constraints imposed by motor actions. The experiment used a paradigm similar to that employed by de Vega, Robertson, Glenberg, Kaschak and Rinck (2004), but included significant refinements in the materials and the procedure, allowing for stronger theoretical conclusions. Participants read sentences describing two manual actions as simultaneous or consecutive by means of the adverbs "while" or "after," respectively (e.g., "While [After] cleaning the wound he unrolled the bandage"). Comprehension was more difficult (longer reading times and lower sensibility rates) when actions were described as simultaneous. This indicates that the semantics of time marked by temporal adverbs is not an independent dimension, but interacts with the motor properties of the described actions. These results cannot be easily explained by the temporal iconicity assumption, but they are consistent with embodied theories of language such as the indexical hypothesis.
University of Valencia. Dept. Metodologia, Facultad de Psicologia, Avda. Blasco Ibanez 21, 46010 Valencia, Spain. Tel: +34-96-386-4100; Web site: http://www.uv.es/revispsi/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Spain
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A