Memory for Words Representing Modal Concepts
Resource Sharing With Same-Modality Percepts Is Spontaneously Required
Abstract
The recent grounded cognition literature suggests that modal perception and conceptual representations share common modal systems and modal resources. We sought to show that memory and memory of words predominantly related to a visual modality (e.g., Light) or to an auditory modality (e.g., Song) are hindered more by sensory interference from a related than an unrelated modality. This result cannot be explained by semantic interference, because the present study manipulated interference using meaningless stimuli. Rather, we suggest that people spontaneously access conceptual sensory attributes when detecting words and when trying to memorize words, and that this process comes with modality-specific costs. We discuss this finding in the broader context of grounded cognition and compare it to previous findings using closely related sensory-conceptual designs.
References
1984). Attention and retrieval from long-term memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 13, 518–540.
(1999). Perceptual symbol systems. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 577–660.
(2008). Grounded cognition. Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 617–645.
(2009). The unconscious eye opener: Pupil dilation reveals strategic recruitment of resources upon presentation of subliminal reward cues. Psychological Science, 20, 1313–1315.
(1996). The effects of divided attention on encoding and retrieval processes in human memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 125, 159–180.
(2005). The locus of semantic priming in RSVP target search. Memory & Cognition, 33, 241–248.
(2000). Divided attention and memory: Evidence of substantial interference effects at retrieval and encoding. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 129, 155–176.
(2002). Factors modulating the effect of divided attention during retrieval of words. Memory and Cognition, 30, 731–744.
(1980). The verification of high and low imagery sentences. Journal of Experimental Psychology – Human Learning and Memory, 6, 692–704.
(2004). Somatotopic representation of action words in human motor and premotor cortex. Neuron, 41, 301–307.
(2007). Reducing the vividness and emotional impact of distressing autobiographical memories: The importance of modality-specific interference. Memory, 15, 412–422.
(1998). Split-attention effect in multimedia learning: Evidence for dual processing systems in working memory. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 312–320.
(1995). Reducing cognitive load by mixing auditory and visual presentation modes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 87, 319–334.
(2007). Embodying emotion. Science, 316, 1002–1005.
(2009). Embodiment of emotion concepts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 1120–1136.
(2008). A boost and bounce theory of temporal attention. Psychological Review, 115, 836–863.
(2003). Verifying different-modality properties for concepts produces switching costs. Psychological Science, 14, 119–124.
(2002). The time course of competition for attention: Attention is initially labile. Journal of Experimental Psychology – Human Perception and Performance, 28, 1149–1162.
(1992). Temporary suppression of visual processing in an RSVP Task: An attentional blink. Journal of Experimental Psychology – Human Perception and Performance, 18, 849–860.
(2001). The cost of expecting events in the wrong sensory modality. Perception & Psychophysics, 63, 330–336.
(2009). The effect of fearful faces on the attentional blink is task dependent. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16, 104–109.
(2008). Perceptual processing affects conceptual processing. Cognitive Science, 32, 579–590.
(2008). Sensory load incurs conceptual processing costs. Cognition, 109, 287–294.
(2009). Emotional modulation of attention: fear increases but disgust reduces the attentional blink. PLoS One, 4, e7924.
(2009). Unintended embodiment of concepts into percepts: Sensory activation boosts attention for same-modality concepts in the attentional blink paradigm. Cognition, 112, 467–472.
(2007). Switching between sensory and affective systems incurs processing costs. Cognitive Science, 31, 183–192.
(