Abstract:
In the context of the embodied cognition debate, an effect of motion verb associated speed information has previously been detected using eye-tracking, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and reaction times (RT). The latter, for instance, was implemented by Wender and Weber (1982), who observed that participants were faster in detecting motion in sentences associated with fast motion compared to sentences associated with slow motion after having formed mental images of the sentences\' content. It remains open whether the reported effects of speed are associated with automatic lexical-semantic retrieval processes or whether they reflect higher top-down cognitive processes. To answer this question, the paradigm by Wender and Weber (1982) was adopted and further elaborated in the present study. In Experiment 1 visualization instructions were eliminated. Additionally, the stimulus material was manipulated in regards to the agent of the described movement (human vs. object motion) in order to determine the representation\'s modality (visual vs. motoric). In Experiment 2, the task to detect motion was replaced by the task to judge sensicality. The results suggest that the prompt to perform mental imagery is not a precondition for the engagement of modal representations in this speed of motion paradigm and that the involved representations\' modality is visual rather than motoric. However, the modal representations\' involvement is dependent on the task. They thus do not seem to be part of the invariant semantic representation of manner of motion verbs.
摘要:
在具体认知辩论的背景下,先前已使用眼动追踪检测到运动动词相关速度信息的影响,功能磁共振成像(fMRI),和反应时间(RT)。后者,例如,由Wender和Weber(1982)实施,研究人员观察到,在形成句子内容的心理图像后,与与慢动作相关的句子相比,参与者在检测与快动作相关的句子中运动的速度更快。报告的速度效应是否与自动词汇语义检索过程相关,或者它们是否反映了更高的自上而下的认知过程,仍然是开放的。为了回答这个问题,本研究采用并进一步阐述了Wender和Weber(1982)的范式。在实验1中,消除了可视化指令。此外,刺激材料是根据所描述的运动的代理人操纵的(人类与对象运动),以确定表示的模态(视觉与motoric)。在实验2中,检测运动的任务被判断感觉的任务所取代。结果表明,提示进行心理意象并不是在这种运动速度范式中参与模态表示的前提,并且所涉及的表示“模态”是视觉的而不是运动的。然而,模态表示的参与取决于任务。因此,它们似乎不是运动动词方式不变语义表示的一部分。