Simulation of Metaphorical Actions and Discourse Comprehension

Abstract

Recent findings indicate that comprehension of sentences describing metaphorical abstract concepts arises from simulation of motor experience of the described event. Two experiments investigated whether action simulation influences “offline” comprehension at a more global discourse level. Participants read a text describing a protagonist making metaphorical forward movements while their body movement (Experiment 1) and body posture (Experiment 2) were manipulated to be either prepared or not prepared for processing of action-congruent information. “Offline” explicit and implicit processing of discourse were measured on accuracy to comprehension questions and the time it took participants to recognize words from discourse as well as judge sentences as correct or incorrect with respect to the content of text. Results revealed that action simulation affected recognition (Experiments 1 and 2) and judgment times (Experiment 1) regarding explicit comprehension measures, and accuracy and judgment times regarding implicit comprehension measures (Experiments 1 and 2). Findings support the conclusion that a simulation system might affect to a greater extent comprehensive processing of information based on deduction and interpretation than shallow processing based on information explicitly provided in the text.