Gestural knowledge evoked by objects as part of conceptual representations

Abstract

Background: Theories of embodied knowledge argue that the representation and recruitment of motor processes may be important for deriving the meaning of many linguistic and perceptual elements. Aims: We examined the conditions under which gestural knowledge associated with manipulable objects is evoked. Methods & Procedures: A priming paradigm was used in which an object was presented in advance of a photograph of a hand gesture that participants were to mimic. On related trials, the target gesture was the same as the gesture typically used to interact with the object prime. On unrelated trials, the target gesture was not related to the object. In another set of experiments, a Stroop-like paradigm was used in which participants learned to produce manual responses to colour cues. After training, coloured photographs of manipulable objects were presented. The colour-cued gesture was either one typically used with the object or was unrelated to it. Outcomes & Results: In the priming experiments, response latencies were shorter in the related condition, but only when participants also made an identification response to the object prime. In the Stroop experiments, interference effects indicated that gestures to colour were affected by gestural knowledge associated with the object. Conclusions: These results indicate that conceptual representations of manipulable objects include specific forms of gestural knowledge that are automatically evoked when observers attend to an object.