When Do Understanders Mentally Simulate Locations?

Date
2009-11-01
Authors
Liu, Nian
Contributor
Advisor
Department
Instructor
Depositor
Speaker
Researcher
Consultant
Interviewer
Annotator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Hawai'i at Mānoa Department of Linguistics
Volume
2009
Number/Issue
Starting Page
Ending Page
Alternative Title
Abstract
A leading embodied account of language processing proposes that comprehending a piece of language en-tails performing mental simulations of its content. Experimental studies have shown that understanders mentally simulate aspects of space, including axis of motion and location along the vertical axis. However, one widely cited study (Glenberg and Kaschak 2002) found that no evidence that processing sentences about motion towards or away from the body activated spatial representations of the corresponding loca-tions, whether the motion was concrete or abstract. If this is true, it poses a substantial challenge to simula-tion-based theories of language understanding. I conducted an experiment that replicated most of Glenberg and Kaschak’s method, in an attempt to determine under what conditions understanders mentally simulate the locations of described events. Results showed, first, that progressive sentences appear to induce more mental simulation, including simulation of spatial location, than perfect sentences do. And second, people mentally simulate the locations implied by concrete and abstract language differently.
Description
Keywords
linguistics
Citation
Liu, Nian. 2009. When Do Understanders Mentally Simulate Locations?. University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Working Papers in Linguistics 40(8).
Extent
Format
Geographic Location
Time Period
Related To
Table of Contents
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License
Rights Holder
Local Contexts
Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.