Up and down, front and back: Movement and meaning in the vertical and sagittal axes

Abstract

The present study shows how directional movement is related to meaning. We measured the influence of congruent versus incongruent movement - meaning pairings on reaction times in a Stroop-type categorization task. Movement-related words corresponding to the vertical up-down axis (e.g., happiness - grief; successful; to sink) and to the sagittal front-back axis (e.g., tomorrow - yesterday; decisive; to retreat) were coupled with actual movement in the vertical and sagittal axes. The color of the word appearing on a computer screen indicated the movement direction, creating congruent and incongruent movement - meaning trials. Participants reacted faster on congruent trials (e.g., happy - upward movement; decisive - forward movement) than on incongruent trials (e.g., happy - downward movement; decisive - backward movement). Results supported the hypothesized movement - meaning relation for both the vertical and the sagittal dimensions. © 2011 Hogrefe Publishing.