Abstract
Recent studies have provided evidence for an association between valence and left/right modulated by handedness, which is predicted by the body-specificity hypothesis (Casasanto, 2009) and also reflected in response times. We investigated whether such a response facilitation can also be observed with foot responses. Right-footed participants classified positive and negative words according to their valence by pressing a key with their left or right foot. A significant interaction between valence and foot only emerged in the by-items analysis. However, when dividing participants into two groups depending on the strength of their footedness, an interaction between valence and left/right was observed for strong right-footers, who responded faster with the right foot to positive words, and with the left foot to negative words. No interaction emerged for weak right-footers. The results strongly support the assumption that fluency lies at the core of the association between valence and left/right.
Highlights
Recent research has provided evidence for an association between positive/negative and left/right
In the study described here, we investigated whether the motor fluency of the dominant foot influences – in analogy to the fluency of the dominant hand – the association between valence and left/right
We presented positive and negative words to participants, who classified them according to their valence
Summary
Recent research has provided evidence for an association between positive/negative and left/right. Results showed that handedness influenced this decision: right-handers tended to ascribe these positive characteristics to the object located on the right, whereas for left-handers, the opposite pattern emerged: they tended to choose the object on the left for these positive characteristics. This association between valence and left/right is reflected in response times: when participants classify positive and negative words according to their valence, right-handers respond faster to positive words with their right hand compared to their left hand, and faster to negative words with their left hand compared to their right hand. It appears that the interaction between valence and left/right
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