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Thesis/Dissertation
Date
2023-07
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Applied Linguistics
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http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/8900
Abstract
In this study, I conducted 17 experiments in which I begin bridging the gap between second language acquisition (SLA) theories and first language (L1) embodiment theories. The primary aim of this series of studies was to provide evidence for the grounding of semantic representation in perceptual experiences during second language (L2) processing as proposed by the grounded cognition hypothesis (Barsalou, 1999). A secondary aim was to provide evidence for the embodied grounding in a non-European language, L1 Japanese. The experiments, which all utilized reaction time methods, were split into three paradigms that tested for differing embodied semantic effects. In L1 research, a growing body of evidence lends credence to the hypothesis that perceptomotor experiences are the foundation of semantic representations. However, this hypothesis has yet to be widely adopted by SLA researchers. Embodiment researchers posit that the mind is situated within and inseparable from the experiences that arise from having a body that interacts with its environment. These researchers have demonstrated that body and perception manipulation affect the characteristics of cognition and vice versa.In Experiments 1 through 6, I attempted to replicate action compatibility effects (ACE) in which language affects motor control with methods first developed by Glenberg and Kaschak (2002). In this paradigm, participants responded to language that indicated motor activity. However, the speed at which they respond was hypothesized to be modulated by the semantic content of the primes. For instance, the prime I close the drawer was hypothesized to lead to a response delay if the participants were required to move their arm toward their body because the prime indicates a hand movement away from the body. In line with other recent ACE replications, no significant ACE was found. As such, the results of the experiments did not support the hypotheses. The lack of significant findings in these experiments was hypothesized to be due to the overwrought design of ACE experiments dependent on participants going against real world conditioning. Instead of relying on button pushes, reaction times in these experiments were dependent on participants holding and then releasing a button, which runs counter to how they interact with most electronics.
In Experiments 7 through 12, I tested for visuospatial interference effects in which language affects visual perception (e.g., Bergen et al., 2007; Estes et al., 2015; Gozli et al., 2013). In these experiments, a picture priming method was employed to demonstrate that some linguistic forms are grounded in differing spatial locations relative to the human body. For instance, the written prime bird followed by a picture of a bird at an angle below the human body was hypothesized to lead to a response delay because birds are stereotypically found above humans. Significant visuospatial effects were demonstrated in L1 experiments, but not in the L2. These nonsignificant L2 findings might have been due to the greater cognitive demands of L2 processing in which intrinsic semantic features are prioritized over less intrinsic features, such as spatial location.
In Experiments 13 through 17, I employed affective interference methods to test for the effects of facial mimicry on reading comprehension (Havas et al., 2007). Participants held a chopstick in their mouth while completing these experiments to block or facilitate facial mimicry during reading comprehension. Because the primes contained affective language, it was hypothesized that response time might be affected by the blocking or facilitation of this semantic effect. Significant affective interference effects were found in all experiments except for the single word L1 experiment. However, the coefficients in several of the experiments did not align with the hypotheses. These misaligned coefficients were hypothesized to be due to linguistic relativity with Japanese participants hypothesized to utilize affective processing differently than European populations. Overall, these experiments provide support for the hypothesis that embodied effects are constituent components of cognition. The lack of a significant finding in the L1 single word experiment might be attributable to L2 processing relying more heavily on affective processing than L1 processing or linguistic relativistic differences between English and Japanese.
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