Grounding abstract language in action? Beans!
Résumé
We introduce a new technique to demonstrate the grounding of abstract language in action systems. Namely, we fatigue an action system and show a corresponding increase in the time taken to understand both abstract and concrete language that is grounded in that action system. The new methodology trades on the fact that the motor system is necessarily plastic because it must continuously calibrate itself to the current situation. For example, when climbing a flight of stairs, we adjust to take into account the height of risers, the width of the steps, and muscle fatigue. If comprehension of language about stair-climbing utilizes components of the motor system literally used in stair-climbing, then comprehension should be affected by the recalibration. We recalibrated toward or away movements by having participants move 600 beans in one direction or the other. Then, the participants read sentences describing transfer of concrete (e.g., a pen) or abstract (e.g., responsibilities) objects either toward the participant or away. We found a selective change in reading speed such that sentences describing transfer in a direction that was fatigued were read slower than sentences describing action in the reverse direction.