title: Testing the theory of embodied cognition with subliminal words.
abstract: In the current study, we tested the embodied cognition theory (ECT). The ECT postulates mandatory sensorimotor processing of words when accessing their meaning. We test that prediction by investigating whether invisible (i.e., subliminal) spatial words activate responses based on their long-term and short-term meaning. Masking of the words is used to prevent word visibility and intentional elaboration of the words' semantic content. In this way, masking specifically isolates mandatory sensorimotor processing of words as predicted by the ECT. Do spatial subliminal words activate responses nonetheless? In Experiment 1, we demonstrate a spatial congruence effect of the invisible words if they precede visible target words. In Experiment 2, we show that masked words activate responses based on their long-term meaning. In Experiment 3, we demonstrate that masked words are also processed according to their short-term response meaning. We conclude that the ECT is supported by our findings and discuss implications of our results for embodied theories of semantic word processing and masked priming experiments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Universität Wien, Austria; Institute of Cognitive Science, Universität Osnabrück, Germany. ulrich.ansorge@univie.ac.at
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ansorge
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kiefer
authors.forename: Shah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khalid
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grassl
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: König
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics; D013360:Subliminal Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult