Negative Stimuli Elicit Selective Responding 2 AbstractHumans preferentially attend to negative stimuli. A consequence of this automatic vigilance for negative valence is that negative words elicit slower responses than neutral or positive words on a host of cognitive tasks. Some researchers have speculated that negative stimuli elicit a general suppression of motor activity, akin to the freezing response exhibited by animals under threat. Alternatively, we suggest that negative stimuli only elicit slowed responding on tasks for which stimulus valence is irrelevant for responding. To discriminate between these motor suppression and response-relevance hypotheses, we elicited both lexical decisions and valence judgments of negative words and positive words. Relative to positive words (e.g., kitten), negative words (e.g., spider) elicited slower lexical decisions but faster valence judgments. Results therefore indicate that negative stimuli do not cause a generalized motor suppression. Rather, negative stimuli elicit selective responding, with faster responses on tasks for which stimulus valence is response-relevant.

Many objects typically occur in particular locations, and object words encode these spatial associations. We tested whether such object words (e.g, "head", "foot") orient attention toward the location where the denoted object typically occurs (i.e., up, down). Because object words elicit a perceptual simulation of the denoted object (i.e., the representations acquired during actual perception are reactivated), they were predicted to interfere with identification of an unrelated visual target subsequently presented in the object's typical location. Consistent with this prediction, three experiments demonstrated that words denoting objects that typically occur high in the visual field hindered identification of targets appearing at the top of the display, whereas words denoting low objects hindered target identification at the bottom of the display.Thus, object words oriented attention to and activated a perceptual simulation in the object's typical location. These results shed new light on how language affects perception.

[NEEDS REVISING]Many common words have spatial associations (e.g., "bird," "jump") that, counterintuitively, hinder identification of visual targets at their associated location. For example, "bird" hinders identification at the top of a display. This spatial interference has been attributed to perceptual simulation: "bird" shifts attention upward and evokes the perceptual representation of a bird, which impairs target identification by preoccupying the visual system. We propose an alternative explanation based on perceptual matching: target objects and locations are coded independently for their congruence with the cue word, and codes that are inconsistent with one another hinder identification. "Bird" hinders identification of a square target in the upper visual field because the target object mismatches the cue but its location matches the cue, thereby creating inconsistent codes that slow responding. We tested these competing accounts by comparing spatial interference from strongly visual (e.g., "bird") and nonvisual (e.g., "arise") cue words. Across two experiments with a large sample of nouns (Experiment 1) and verbs (Experiment 2), words of strong and weak visual strength and imageability elicited equivalent spatial interference. Thus, spatial interference is attributable to perceptual matching rather than perceptual simulation. Moreover, results supported a graded model of perceptual matching, whereby target identification times are proportional to the physical distance between the expected (i.e., associated) and observed (i.e., actual) target locations.

Spatial aspects of words are associated with their canonical locations in the real world. Yet little research has tested whether spatial associations denoted in language comprehension generalize to their corresponding images. We directly tested the spatial aspects of mental imagery in picture and word processing (Experiment 1). We also tested whether spatial representations of motion words produce similar perceptual-interference effects as demonstrated by object words (Experiment 2). Findings revealed that words denoting an upward spatial location produced slower responses to targets appearing at the top of the display, whereas words denoting a downward spatial location produced slower responses to targets appearing at the bottom of the display. Perceptual-interference effects did not obtain for pictures or for words lacking a spatial relation. These findings provide greater empirical support for the perceptual-symbols system theory (Barsalou, 1999(Barsalou, , 2008. Keywords: Dual-code theory; Mental imagery; Perceptual simulation; Spatial associationsThe moon was a sharply defined crescent and the sky was perfectly clear. The stars shone with such fierce, contained brilliance that it seemed absurd to call the night dark. The sea lay quietly, bathed in a shy, light-footed light, a dancing play of black and silver that extended without limits all about me.-Yann Martel, Life of PiIn prose, we embark on voyages and delight in adventures without forsaking the comfort of our homes. To illustrate, in Life of Pi, Martel (2001) transports the reader to imagine viewing the moon, sky, and sea while surviving alone on the Pacific Ocean. Indeed, writersCorrespondence should be sent to Michelle Verges,

The purpose of this study was to examine whether seasonal and meteorological changes in nature correspond to environmental attitudes and concerns. An implicit connection to nature task, environmental concern scale, and conservation behavior survey were administered to 220 participants across spring, autumn, and winter seasons in a temperate region of the United States. These behavioral data were correlated with temperature and precipitation data from the U.S. National Weather Service. Results indicated seasonal and meteorological factors were associated with performance on the implicit task, but not explicit, environmental attitudes and self-reported behaviors. These findings suggested contextual influences in the natural environment correspond to implicit connectedness with nature.