Abstract
We tested an embodied account of language proposing that comprehenders create perceptual simulations of the events they hear and read about. In Experiment 1, children (ages 7-13 years) performed a picture verification task. Each picture was preceded by a prerecorded spoken sentence describing an entity whose shape or orientation matched or mismatched the depicted object. Responses were faster for matching pictures, suggesting that participants had formed perceptual-like situation models of the sentences. The advantage for matching pictures did not increase with age. Experiment 2 extended these findings to the domain of written language. Participants (ages 7-10 years) of high and low word reading ability verified pictures after reading sentences aloud. The results suggest that even when reading is effortful, children construct a perceptual simulation of the described events. We propose that perceptual simulation plays a more central role in developing language comprehension than was previously thought. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 659-675 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Journal of Experimental Child Psychology |
Volume | 110 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2011 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Language comprehension
- Embodied cognition
- Perceptual simulation
- Language development
- Word reading
- Reading comprehension
- LATENT SEMANTIC ANALYSIS
- WORKING-MEMORY
- INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES
- READING-COMPREHENSION
- SITUATION MODELS
- REPRESENTATION
- OBJECTS
- SPAN
- CONSTRAINTS
- ORIENTATION