Naslov
The influence of spatial position on semanitc judgments

Autori
Šetić, Mia ; Domijan, Dražen

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
Association for Psychological Science 19th Annual Convention - Program Book / - Washington (MD) : Association for Psychological Science, 2007

Skup
19th Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science

Mjesto i datum
Washington D.C., Sjedinjene Američke Države, 24.05.2007. - 27.05.2007

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Poster

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
Space; Perception; Language

Sažetak
According to the spatial registration hypothesis, the representation of stimulus location is automatically encoded during perception and it can interact with a more abstract linguistic representation. We tested this hypothesis in two experiments, using the semantic judgments of words. In the first experiment, words for animals that either fly (e.g. butterfly, eagle, crow, and sea-gull) or do not fly (e.g. mouse, mole, hamster, and rabbit) were presented either in the upper or lower part of a display relative to the fixation point. The task was to decide whether the presented word denote flying or non-flying animal. The participants were forty-seven (41 female and 6 male, age range: 19-26) undergraduate students from the Department of Psychology in Rijeka, Croatia. Stimuli were presented using a personal computer with 17-in. colour monitor. The responses were collected using the computer keyboard. The reaction times were log-transformed and subjected to a two-way ANOVA with the Spatial Position (top vs. bottom) and the Word Type (flying vs. non-flying animal) as within-subject factors. Reaction times showed significant interaction between the Spatial Position and the Word Type. The words for flying animals were judged faster when they were presented in the upper part while the words for non-flying animals were processed faster in the lower part of the display. The same result was obtained in the item analysis. We also verified that present result is not due to the valence of the words since the effect holds after we statistically controlled for valence in ANCOVA. A potential concern with Experiment 1 is that the categorization labels used in the experimental task are associated with the spatial position. Namely, the category label of “ flying” is physically linked to an upper vertical position. In Experiment 2 we verified that the spatial influences observed in Experiment 1 are not due to the properties of the categorization task. We employed words for living and non-living entities that are either associated with the top or the bottom spatial position. The task was to decide whether a presented word denotes a living or a non-living entity. The participants were forty-five (42 female and 3 male, age range: 19-25) undergraduate students from the Department of Psychology in Rijeka, Croatia. The procedure and apparatus were the same as in Experiment 1. The interaction between the Word Type and the Spatial Position was still present (across participants and items). The words with implicit association with the upper spatial location (e.g., sun, moon, aircraft, and roof) were processed faster when presented in the top position, compared to the bottom position. The words associated with the lower spatial position (e.g., stream, road, basement, and shoe) were processed faster when presented in the bottom position, compared to the top position. Again, we checked that the results are not the consequence of the valence of words since the effects remained after we statistically controlled for the valence in ANCOVA. The results of these experiments provide support for the claim that spatial representation has an active role in semantic processing.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Psihologija

POVEZANOST RADA