Previous reports from the sentence-picture verification task revealed that people are faster to identify perceptual stimuli when intrinsic attributes of depicted objects match those implied by the sentence. To extend these findings, we examined whether simulation system invokes information about extrinsic cast shadows (i.e., shadows cast on one object by another). In Study 1, participants (N=104) first read a sentence that implied a particular shadow cast on a target (blinds vs. open window) and then verified the picture of the object onto which a shadow was cast. Responses were faster when the shadow of the blinds around the pictured target matched that implied by the sentence. However, no evidence was found for simulation of “open window” shadows. A possible explanation could be that perceptual simulation of cast light from an open window does not presuppose the existence of any shadows. Indeed, if one simulates a described object as being placed close to a window opening, then the occlusion of light sources may indeed seem unlikely. Study 2 (N=93) tested this idea with the same stimuli as those used in Study 1, except that pictures depicting light from an open window were this time presented without any shadows. Major result was that both types of pictures were responded to more quickly when preceded by matching sentences. Thus, sensorimotor information may get activated even when processing information about out of sight objects. This insight constitutes a way forward in our thinking about the complexity involved in mental simulation of the visual world.

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embodied cognition,language comprehension,perception

• Psychology - Social Sciences
• Languages and Literature - Humanities