Sweet-cheeks vs. pea-brain: embodiment, valence, and task all influence the emotional salience of language

ABSTRACT

Previous research has found that more embodied insults (e.g. numbskull) are identified faster and more accurately than less embodied insults (e.g. idiot). The linguistic processing of embodied compliments has not been well explored. In the present study, participants completed two tasks where they identified insults and compliments, respectively. Half of the stimuli were more embodied than the other half. We examined the late positive potential (LPP) component of event-related potentials in early (400–500 ms), middle (500–600 ms), and late (600–700 ms) time windows. Increased embodiment resulted in improved response accuracy to compliments in both tasks, whereas it only improved accuracy for insults in the compliment detection task. More embodied stimuli elicited a larger LPP than less embodied stimuli in the early time window. Insults generated a larger LPP in the late time window in the insult task; compliments generated a larger LPP in the early window in the compliment task. These results indicate that electrophysiological correlates of emotional language perception are sensitive to both top-down and bottom-up processes.

KEYWORDS:

• Event-related potentials
• late positive potential
• embodied cognition
• insults
• compliments

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge Joshua Jenkins, Alex Fennel, and Andrew Jamison for assistance in preparation of the study and in data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Erik M. Benau http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8215-6628

Aminda J. O’Hare http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9802-059X