title: When meaning matters, look but don't touch: the effects of posture on reading.
abstract: Much of the reading that we do occurs near our hands. Previous research has revealed that spatial processing is enhanced near the hands, potentially benefiting several processes involved in reading; however, it is unknown whether semantic processing--another critical aspect of reading--is affected near the hands. While holding their hands either near to or far from a visual display, our subjects performed two tasks that drew on semantic processing: evaluation of the sensibleness of sentences, and the Stroop color-word interference task. We found evidence for impoverished semantic processing near the hands in both tasks. These results suggest a trade-off between spatial processing and semantic processing for the visual space around the hands. Readers are encouraged to be aware of this trade-off when choosing how to read a text, since both kinds of processing can be beneficial for reading.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Washington University, Campus Box 1125, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. ccdavoli@artsci.wustl.edu
authors.forename: Christopher C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Davoli
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Montana
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Garverick
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Abrams
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D001364:Awareness; D006801:Humans; D009949:Orientation; D011187:Posture; D011340:Problem Solving; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D012660:Semantics; D057190:Stroop Test; D014110:Touch