Grounded Cognition Theory Research Articles

Representational visuals of abstract financial concepts: A means to foster financial literacy

Financial literacy is crucial for making sound financial decisions and living a better life. However, the field of finance is full of abstract concepts, such as inflation, liquidity, asset allocation and credit. Abstract concepts may be harder to comprehend than concrete concepts due to their lack of tangible referents in the physical world. In contrast, concrete concepts (e.g., car or house) have a palpable form and can be directly experienced through the senses. Against this background, the question arises of how instructional material can be designed in a way that helps people acquire knowledge about abstract financial concepts. Multimedia learning theories suggest complementing verbal information with visuals that represent the respective topic or concept. Since abstract financial concepts lack palpable, concrete forms, these representational visuals are not simply available but have to be developed. Based on grounded cognition theory, this article discusses three approaches, ‘situations’, ‘emotions’ and ‘metaphors’, which might be used to generate representational visuals of abstract financial concepts. This study aims to provide ideas and enhance our understanding of how grounded cognition theory can be utilized as a guideline to create representational visuals of abstract financial concepts and thus multimedia learning material, which in turn may support increasing people's financial literacy.

Invariant representations in abstract concept grounding - the physical world in grounded cognition.

Grounded cognition states that mental representations of concepts consist of experiential aspects. For example, the concept "cup" consists of the sensorimotor experiences from interactions with cups. Typical modalities in which concepts are grounded are: The sensorimotor system (including interoception), emotion, action, language, and social aspects. Here, we argue that this list should be expanded to include physical invariants (unchanging features of physical motion; e.g., gravity, momentum, friction). Research on physical reasoning consistently demonstrates that physical invariants are represented as fundamentally as other grounding substrates, and therefore should qualify. We assess several theories of concept representation (simulation, conceptual metaphor, conceptual spaces, predictive processing) and their positions on physical invariants. We find that the classic grounded cognition theories, simulation and conceptual metaphor theory, have not considered physical invariants, while conceptual spaces and predictive processing have. We conclude that physical invariants should be included into grounded cognition theories, and that the core mechanisms of simulation and conceptual metaphor theory are well suited to do this. Furthermore, conceptual spaces and predictive processing are very promising and should also be integrated with grounded cognition in the future.

Influences of hand action on the processing of symbolic numbers: A special role of pointing?

Embodied and grounded cognition theories state that cognitive processing is built upon sensorimotor systems. In the context of numerical cognition, support to this framework comes from the interactions between numerical processing and the hand actions of reaching and grasping documented in skilled adults. Accordingly, mechanisms for the processing of object size and location during reach and grasp actions might scaffold the development of mental representations of numerical magnitude. The present study exploited motor adaptation to test the hypothesis of a functional overlap between neurocognitive mechanisms of hand action and numerical processing. Participants performed repetitive grasping of an object, repetitive pointing, repetitive tapping, or passive viewing. Subsequently, they performed a symbolic number comparison task. Importantly, hand action and number comparison were functionally and temporally dissociated, thereby minimizing context-based effects. Results showed that executing the action of pointing slowed down the responses in number comparison. Moreover, the typical distance effect (faster responses for numbers far from the reference as compared to close ones) was not observed for small numbers after pointing, while it was enhanced by grasping. These findings confirm the functional link between hand action and numerical processing, and suggest new hypotheses on the role of pointing as a meaningful gesture in the development and embodiment of numerical skills.

Induced and Evoked Brain Activation Related to the Processing of Onomatopoetic Verbs.

Grounded cognition theory postulates that cognitive processes related to motor or sensory content are processed by brain networks involved in motor execution and perception, respectively. Processing words with auditory features was shown to activate the auditory cortex. Our study aimed at determining whether onomatopoetic verbs (e.g., “tröpfeln”—to dripple), whose articulation reproduces the sound of respective actions, engage the auditory cortex more than non-onomatopoetic verbs. Alpha and beta brain frequencies as well as evoked-related fields (ERFs) were targeted as potential neurophysiological correlates of this linguistic auditory quality. Twenty participants were measured with magnetoencephalography (MEG) while semantically processing visually presented onomatopoetic and non-onomatopoetic German verbs. While a descriptively stronger left temporal alpha desynchronization for onomatopoetic verbs did not reach statistical significance, a larger ERF for onomatopoetic verbs emerged at about 240 ms in the centro-parietal area. Findings suggest increased cortical activation related to onomatopoeias in linguistically relevant areas.

Age-Related Differential Effects of School-Based Sitting and Movement Meditation on Creativity and Spatial Cognition: A Pilot Study.

Psychophysical well-being can be supported during development by the integration of extra-curricular activities in scholastic settings. These activities can be implemented in different forms, ranging from physical activities to sitting meditation practices. Considering that both such activities are thought to affect children’s psychophysical development, a movement-based meditation that combines the two approaches−in the form of a short daily activity−could represent a powerful tool to promote healthy physical and mental development. Consequently, the current pilot study aimed to examine the effect of short daily school-based sitting and movement meditation trainings on creativity and spatial cognition. Utilizing a crossover design, we evaluated their feasibility and efficacy at different ages among children (n = 50) in 5th to 8th grade. We observed that 5 weeks of daily training in sitting and movement meditation techniques improved children’s cognition differently. Specifically, younger children showed greater creativity and better spatial cognition following the movement-based meditation, while older children showed greater enhancement in these areas following sitting meditation training. This suggests that training can affect children’s cognition differently depending on their developmental stage. We discuss these results within the framework of embodied and grounded cognition theories. Information on feasibility and age-related effect sizes derived from the current study paves the way for future well-powered larger-scale efficacy studies on different forms of school-based interventions to cognitive development promotion.

Using consumption and reward simulations to increase the appeal of plant-based foods

The production of meat is a main contributor to current dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions. However, the shift to more plant-based diets is hampered by consumers finding meat-based foods more attractive than plant-based foods. How can plant-based foods best be described to increase their appeal to consumers? Based on the grounded cognition theory of desire, we suggest that descriptions that trigger simulations, or re-experiences, of eating and enjoying a food will increase the attractiveness of a food, compared to descriptions emphasizing ingredients. In Study 1, we first examined the descriptions of ready meals available in four large UK supermarkets (N = 240). We found that the labels of meat-based foods contained more references to eating simulations than vegetarian foods, and slightly more than plant-based foods, and that this varied between supermarkets. In Studies 2 and 3 (N = 170, N = 166, pre-registered), we manipulated the labels of plant-based and meat-based foods to either include eating simulation words or not. We assessed the degree to which participants reported that the description made them think about eating the food (i.e., induced eating simulations), and how attractive they found the food. In Study 2, where either sensory or eating context words were added, we found no differences with control labels. In Study 3, however, where simulation-based labels included sensory, context, and hedonic words, we found that simulation-based descriptions increased eating simulations and attractiveness. Moreover, frequent meat eaters found plant-based foods less attractive, but this was attenuated when plant-based foods were described with simulation-inducing words. We suggest that language that describes rewarding eating experiences can be used to facilitate the shift toward healthy and sustainable diets.

Time course of brain activity during the processing of motor- and vision-related abstract concepts: flexibility and task dependency

Grounded cognition theories assume that conceptual processing depends on modality-specific brain systems in a context-dependent fashion. Although the relation of abstract concepts to modality-specific systems is less obvious than for concrete concepts, recent behavioral and neuroimaging studies indicated a foundation of abstract concepts in vision and action. However, due to their poor temporal resolution, neuroimaging studies cannot determine whether sensorimotor activity reflects rapid access to conceptual information or later conceptual processes. The present study therefore assessed the time course of abstract concept processing using event-related potentials (ERPs) and compared ERP responses to abstract concepts with a strong relation to vision or action. We tested whether possible ERP effects to abstract word categories would emerge in early or in later time windows and whether these effects would depend on the depth of the conceptual task. In Experiment 1, a shallow lexical decision task, early feature-specific effects starting at 178 ms were revealed, but later effects beyond 300 ms were also observed. In Experiment 2, a deep conceptual decision task, feature-specific effects with an onset of 22 ms were obtained, but effects again extended beyond 300 ms. In congruency with earlier neuroimaging work, the present feature-specific ERP effects suggest a grounding of abstract concepts in modal brain systems. The presence of early and late feature-specific effects indicates that sensorimotor activity observed in neuroimaging experiments may reflect both rapid conceptual and later post-conceptual processing. Results furthermore suggest that a deep conceptual task accelerates access to conceptual sensorimotor features, thereby demonstrating conceptual flexibility.

Varieties of abstract concepts and their grounding in perception or action

AbstractFor a very long time, theorizing in the cognitive sciences was dominated by the assumption that abstract concepts, which lack a perceivable referent, can only be handled by amodal or verbal linguistic representations. In the last years, however, refined grounded cognition theories emphasizing the importance of emotional and introspective information for abstract concepts, in addition to verbal associations and sensorimotor information, have received increasing support. Here, we review theoretical accounts of the structure and neural basis of conceptual memory and evaluate them in light of recent empirical evidence with regard to the processing of concrete and abstract concepts. Based on this literature review, we argue that abstract concepts should not be treated as a homogenous conceptual category, whose meaning is established by one single specific type of representation. Instead, depending on the feature composition, there are different subgroups of abstract concepts, including those with strong relations to vision or action, which are represented in the visual and motor brain systems similar to concrete concepts. The reviewed findings with regard to concrete and abstract concepts can be accommodated best by hybrid theories of conceptual representation assuming an interaction between modality-specific, multimodal and amodal hub areas.

The Role of Sensorimotor Representation in Social Interaction

Emerging grounded cognition contended that the representation and processing of knowledge involved perceptual, somatosensory, and motoric re-experiencing information. In this view, social interaction was grounded in the physical context. For example, temperature changed people’s social feelings and social feelings were understood by temperature. Hence, the representation of social interaction was based on the sensorimotor representation. However, it is still unclear whether and how humans use grounded cognition theory to explain social interaction. In this review, we first introduced some basic viewpoints of grounded cognition and how this theory can be applied in social interaction. Then it explained the universality of grounded cognition theory by comparing some related theories of grounded cognition. Next, by speculating on the causes of the phenomena of grounded cognition in social interaction, it was proved that grounded cognition theory can be well applied to social interaction. In the last part, the advantages and disadvantages of grounded theory in interpreting social interaction are further discussed by comparing conceptual metaphor theory with grounded cognition theory.

El detalle en audiodescripción museística: una aproximación experimental

Audio description has developed into a tool for accessing heritage and, as such, into a social inclusion resource for people with visual impairment. Despite its growing presence in museums, key questions about how it provides access to knowledge are unanswered. In this paper, under the light of Grounded Cognition and Construal Level Theory, we posit that blind or partially sighted people could benefit from and enjoy descriptions with a lesser degree of concreteness referring to visual information. Bearing these hypotheses in mind, a reception study was conducted in which sixteen blind and partially sighted people took part. This first experimental approach to optimal concreteness in museum audio description unveils that access to knowledge and preference for a more or less concrete audio description could depend on whether visual impairment is congenital or acquired.

Brain Activation During Conceptual Processing of Action and Sound Verbs.

Grounded cognition approaches to conceptual representations postulate a close link between conceptual knowledge and the sensorimotor brain systems. The present fMRI study tested, whether a feature-specific representation of concepts, as previously demonstrated for nouns, can also be found for action- and sound-related verbs. Participants were presented with action- and soundrelated verbs along with pseudoverbs while performing a lexical decision task. Sound-related verbs activated auditory areas in the temporal cortex, whereas action-related verbs activated brain regions in the superior frontal gyrus and the cerebellum, albeit only at a more liberal threshold. This differential brain activation during conceptual verb processing partially overlapped with or was adjacent to brain regions activated during the functional localizers probing sound perception or action execution. Activity in brain areas involved in the processing of action information was parametrically modulated by ratings of action relevance. Comparisons of action- and sound-related verbs with pseudoverbs revealed activation for both verb categories in auditory and motor areas. In contrast to proposals of strong grounded cognition approaches, our study did not demonstrate a considerable overlap of activations for action- and sound-related verbs and for the corresponding functional localizer tasks. However, in line with weaker variants of grounded cognition theories, the differential activation pattern for action- and sound-related verbs was near corresponding sensorimotor brain regions depending on conceptual feature relevance. Possibly, action-sound coupling resulted in a mutual activation of the motor and the auditory system for both action- and sound-related verbs, thereby reducing the effect sizes for the differential contrasts.

Processing of Action and Sound Verbs in Context: An FMRI Study.

Recent theories propose a flexible recruitment of sensory and motor brain regions during conceptual processing depending on context and task. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging study investigated the influence of context and task on conceptual processing of action and sound verbs. Participants first performed an explicit semantic context decision task, in which action and sound verbs were presented together with a context noun. The same verbs were repeatedly presented in a subsequent implicit lexical decision task together with new action and sound verbs. Thereafter, motor and acoustic localizer tasks were administered to identify brain regions involved in perception and action. During the explicit task, we found differential activations to action and sound verbs near corresponding sensorimotor brain regions. During the implicit lexical decision task, differences between action and sound verbs were absent. However, feature-specific repetition effects were observed near corresponding sensorimotor brain regions. The present results suggest flexible conceptual representations depending on context and task. Feature-specific effects were observed only near, but not within corresponding sensorimotor brain regions, as defined by the localizer tasks. Our results therefore only provide limited evidence in favor of grounded cognition theories assuming a close link between the conceptual and the sensorimotor systems.

Attention to Chinese menus with metaphorical or metonymic names: An eye movement lab experiment

Food is as cultural as it is practical, and names of dishes accordingly have cultural nuances. Menus serve as communication tools between restaurants and their guests, representing the culinary philosophy of the chefs and proprietors involved. The purpose of this experimental lab study is to compare differences of attention paid to textual and pictorial elements of menus with metaphorical and/or metonymic names. Eye movement technology was applied in a 2 × 3 between-subject experiment (n = 40), comparing the strength of visual metaphors (e.g., images of menu items on the menu) and direct textual names in Chinese and English with regard to guests’ willingness to purchase the dishes in question. Post-test questionnaires were also employed to assess participants’ attitudes toward menu designs. Study results suggest that visual metaphors are more efficient when reflecting a product’s strength. Images are shown to positively influence consumers’ expectations of taste and enjoyment, garnering the most attention under all six conditions studied here, and constitute the most effective format when Chinese alone names are present. The textual claim increases perception of the strength of menu items along with purchase intention. Metaphorical dish names with bilingual (i.e., Chinese and English) names hold the greatest appeal. This result can be interpreted from the perspective of grounded cognition theory, which suggests that situated simulations and re-enactment of perceptual, motor, and affective processes can support abstract thought. The lab results and survey provide specific theoretical and managerial implications with regard to translating names of Chinese dishes to attract customers’ attention to specific menu items.

Investigating grounded conceptualization: Stimulus-response compatibility for tool handles is due to spatial attention.

Brain imaging research shows that viewing tools activates regions of the cortex implicated in performing actions with that tool. Grounded (or embodied) theories of cognition propose that this activity reflects the activation of motor representations that are constitutive of the object concept. Behaviorally, participants respond faster with the hand that is aligned with the handle of an object. This stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effect is often taken as evidence supporting the hypothesis that motor representations are activated in response to the visual presentation of tools during conceptual processing. To test this hypothesis, we trained participants to use a set of novel tools (manipulation group) or to report spatial information about the tools (spatial group) in preparation for a Martian archeological dig. We investigated compatibility effects in a conceptual judgment task and a visual discrimination task. Compatibility effects were observed for both groups regardless of experience. These effects were predicted by the salient parts of objects specified by task demands and not by motor experience with the objects. This result provides evidence that compatibility effects with tools reflect a general stimulus-response compatibly effect due to visual attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The Semantic Content of Abstract Concepts: A Property Listing Study of 296 Abstract Words

The relation of abstract concepts to the modality-specific systems is discussed controversially. According to classical approaches, the semantic content of abstract concepts can only be coded by amodal or verbal-symbolic representations distinct from the sensory and motor systems, because abstract concepts lack a clear physical referent. Grounded cognition theories, in contrast, propose that abstract concepts do not depend only on the verbal system, but also on a variety of modal systems involving perception, action, emotion and internal states. In order to contribute to this debate, we investigated the semantic content of abstract concepts using a property generation task. Participants were asked to generate properties for 296 abstract concepts, which are relevant for constituting their meaning. These properties were categorized by a coding-scheme making a classification into modality-specific and verbal contents possible. Words were additionally rated with regard to concreteness/abstractness and familiarity. To identify possible subgroups of abstract concepts with distinct profiles of generated features, hierarchical cluster analyses were conducted. Participants generated a substantial proportion of introspective, affective, social, sensory and motor-related properties, in addition to verbal associations. Cluster analyses revealed different subcategories of abstract concepts, which can be characterized by the dominance of certain conceptual features. The present results are therefore compatible with grounded cognition theories, which emphasize the importance of linguistic, social, introspective and affective experiential information for the representation of abstract concepts. Our findings also indicate that abstract concepts are highly heterogeneous requiring the investigation of well-specified subcategories of abstract concepts, for instance as revealed by the present cluster analyses. The present study could thus guide future behavioral or imaging work further elucidating the representation of abstract concepts.

The effect of a mindfulness-based decentering strategy on chocolate craving

According to the elaborated-intrusion theory of desire, strategies that load visual working memory will reduce cravings. According to the grounded cognition theory of desire, cravings will be reduced with mindfulness-based decentering strategies that encourage individuals to see their thoughts as thoughts. However, decentering strategies also tend to load visual working memory making it difficult to test the latter prediction. This study addressed this issue by matching visualization across decentering and guided imagery tasks. Male and female participants (n = 101) underwent a chocolate craving induction before listening to a 4-min audio recording that guided them to (a) decenter from their thoughts and feelings, (b) engage in visualization, or (c) let their mind wander. Participants reported on chocolate craving before and after the craving induction and following the 4-min recording. They also provided retrospective reports of craving during the recording, reported on the extent to which they had adhered to the audio instructions and briefly indicated what they had been thinking about during the recording. Results showed a significant reduction in cravings to baseline following the recording across all three conditions (p < .001), but no significant differences between conditions or in the retrospective reports of craving. There was some evidence to suggest that participants in the mind wandering condition had been thinking about alternate goals, which may have inhibited thoughts about chocolate and been just as effective at reducing craving as the imagery and decentering strategies. Exploratory analyses showed a trend toward decentering being more effective than imagery where participants reported higher task adherence throughout the 4 min (p = .067). This raises the possibility that decentering effects may be improved with better strategy adherence, which might be achieved through practice or increased motivation.

Action and object words are differentially anchored in the sensory motor system - A perspective on cognitive embodiment

Embodied and grounded cognition theories have assumed that the sensorimotor system is causally involved in processing motor-related language content. Although a causal proof on a single-cell basis is ethically not possible today, the present fMRI study provides confirmation of this longstanding speculation, as far as it is possible with recent methods, employing a new computational approach. More specifically, we were looking for common activation of nouns and objects, and actions and verbs, representing the canonical and mirror neuron system, respectively. Using multivariate pattern analysis, a resulting linear classifier indeed successfully generalized from distinguishing actions from objects in pictures to distinguishing the respective verbs from nouns in written words. Further, these action-related pattern responses were detailed by recently introduced predictive pattern decomposition into the constituent activity atoms and their relative contributions. The findings support the concept of canonical neurons and mirror neurons implementing embodied processes with separate roles in distinguishing objects from actions, and nouns from verbs, respectively. This example of neuronal recycling processing algorithms is consistent with a multimodal brain signature of human action and object concepts. Embodied language theory is thus merged with actual neurobiological implementation.

How Strong Is Your Coffee? The Influence of Visual Metaphors and Textual Claims on Consumers' Flavor Perception and Product Evaluation.

This study investigates the relative impact of textual claims and visual metaphors displayed on the product’s package on consumers’ flavor experience and product evaluation. For consumers, strength is one of the most important sensory attributes of coffee. The 2 × 3 between-subjects experiment (N = 123) compared the effects of visual metaphor of strength (an image of a lion located either on top or on the bottom of the package of coffee beans) and the direct textual claim (“extra strong”) on consumers’ responses to coffee, including product expectation, flavor evaluation, strength perception and purchase intention. The results demonstrate that both the textual claim and the visual metaphor can be efficient in communicating the product attribute of strength. The presence of the image positively influenced consumers’ product expectations before tasting. The textual claim increased the perception of strength of coffee and the purchase intention of the product. The location of the image also played an important role in flavor perception and purchase intention. The image located on the bottom of the package increased the perceived strength of coffee and purchase intention of the product compared to the image on top of the package. This result could be interpreted from the perspective of the grounded cognition theory, which suggests that a picture in the lower part of the package would automatically activate the “strong is heavy” metaphor. As heavy objects are usually associated with a position on the ground, this would explain why perceiving a visually heavy package would lead to the experience of a strong coffee. Further research is needed to better understand the relationships between a metaphorical image and its spatial position in food packaging design.

How consumers “see” a visually warm store: Differences between affective and cognitive processors

AbstractStore atmosphere can influence shoppers' perceptions and behaviors. This research contributes to the literature by showing that a visually warm store atmosphere can induce psychological warmth perception among in‐store consumers. An empirical study was conducted to investigate the effect of warmth through a visually warm or cold store atmosphere on consumers' perceptions/behaviors and the moderating role of consumers' processing styles. Results (N = 181) showed that a visually warm (vs. cold) atmosphere induces the perception of intimacy toward the store among affective processors and the perception of assortment similarity among cognitive processors. Such perceptions were found to mediate the effect of the visually warm atmosphere on consumers' approach behaviors toward the store. Based on the grounded cognition theory, this study extends the current knowledge of the warmth experience on psychological perceptions to a retail context. Findings not only contribute to the extant literature of store atmospherics and retailing but they also offer practical guidelines for retailers and designers of store environments.

Evidence of semantic processing impairments in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia and Parkinson's disease.

Category-specific impairments caused by brain damage can provide important insights into how semantic concepts are organized in the brain. Recent research has demonstrated that disease to sensory and motor cortices can impair perceptual feature knowledge important to the representation of semantic concepts. This evidence supports the grounded cognition theory of semantics, the view that lexical knowledge is partially grounded in perceptual experience and that sensory and motor regions support semantic representations. Less well understood, however, is how heteromodal semantic hubs work to integrate and process semantic information. Although the majority of semantic research to date has focused on how sensory cortical areas are important for the representation of semantic features, new research explores how semantic memory is affected by neurodegeneration in regions important for semantic processing. Here, we review studies that demonstrate impairments to abstract noun knowledge in behavioural variant frontotemporal degeneration (bvFTD) and to action verb knowledge in Parkinson's disease, and discuss how these deficits relate to disease of the semantic selection network. Findings demonstrate that semantic selection processes are supported by the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and basal ganglia, and that disease to these regions in bvFTD and Parkinson's disease can lead to categorical impairments for abstract nouns and action verbs, respectively.