Examining the Relationship between Body Movement and Language Use

Abstract

What is the role of body experience in shaping our thoughts? Building upon past work, this study seeks to better understand how spatial perception can be activated through body movement, and thus might influence language via non-verbal priming. In this study, two groups were manipulated, one (N = 20) adopted an “open” body movement, the other (N = 20) adopted a “closed” body movement. A control group of participants (N= 18) maintained standing upright position while recalling and retelling an autobiographical memory. Participants’ stance was manipulated by repeatedly touching adjacent objects using either outstretched (open) or crossed (closed) arms or maintained standing upright position (control). Narratives were transcribed and analyzed using K-LIWC (Korean Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count). The results showed that linguistic dimensions of ‘personal noun’ and ‘verb’ significantly effect to ‘open’ body movement. Cognitive process dimensions of ‘cognitive process’ ‘discrepancy’ and ‘tentative’ significantly effect to control group. Affective dimension did not significantly effect to among three groups. These results illustrate that such spatial metaphors have the potential to activate different social cognitions during memory recall. Simple behaviors, such as a head nod or a smile, might also cause physiological activation that changes an entire trajectory of psychological and behavioral shifts.