Motion verbs and memory for motion events

Abstract

ABSTRACT Language is assumed to affect memory by offering an additional medium of encoding visual stimuli. Given that natural languages differ, cross-linguistic differences might impact memory processes. We investigate the role of motion verbs on memory for motion events in speakers of English, which preferentially encodes manner in motion verbs (e.g., driving), and Greek, which tends to encode path of motion in verbs (e.g., entering). Participants viewed a series of motion events and we later assessed their memory of the path and manner of the original events. There were no effects of language-specific biases on memory when participants watched events in silence; both English and Greek speakers remembered paths better than manners of motion. Moreover, even when motion verbs were available (either produced by or heard by the participants), they affected memory similarly regardless of the participants’ language: path verbs attenuated memory for manners of motion, but the reverse did not occur. We conclude that overt language affects motion memory, but these effects interact with underlying, shared biases in how viewers represent motion events.