How to change your memory of an object with a posture and a verb

Abstract

According to grounded cognition, the format of representation of knowledge is sensorimotor. This means that long-term memory shares processing resources with the sensorimotor system. The main objective of this work is to provide new evidence in favour of two claims from the embodied cognition framework: (1) memory is grounded on the sensorimotor system, that is, memory shares processing resources with the sensorimotor system, and (2) memory serves at least in part to support action. For this purpose, the present experiment aimed to show that the action context modulates the motor simulation and, consequently, the memory of manipulable objects. Participants were presented with short phrases comprising the name of a manipulable object, and an action verb ("To take a cup") or an attentional verb ("To see a cup"). During this phase, they had to put their hands in front of them in the control condition, whereas they had to keep them behind their back in the interfering condition. A cued recall test followed after a short distractive letter-matching task, with the verbs serving as cues. Results showed that memory of the words denoting manipulable objects was impaired by the interfering posture when associated with an action verb, but not when associated with an attentional verb. This suggests that a context which does not favour action interferes with motor simulation and thus decreases the memory of manipulable objects. These results provide strong evidence for a grounded account of memory and language.

Absence of posture-dependent and posture-congruent memory effects on the recall of action sentences

“…Finally, the fact that participants had to write down the sentences during the free recall test might have produced motor interference in the simulation of a number of sentences that contained a certain degree of manual action, making contextual effects more difficult to develop. Although this interpretation would require additional research to be verified, it would be in line with recent studies that showed that interfering with manual action by keeping one's hands behind one's back decreases the memory for information related to manual action [52,53].…”

“…Similarly, Michalak, Rohde, and Troje [50] found that manipulating the walking pattern of a group of students to resemble either a depressive gait or a happy gait biased the recall of a series of emotionally loaded words, revealing a congruence effect (see also [51]). Finally, Dutriaux and collaborators [52,53] found that adopting a posture that interferes with manual action (hands behind one's back) reduced the recall of pictures and words denoting manipulable objects as opposed to nonmanipulable ones and decreased memory for words referring to manipulable objects when they were associated with action verbs at encoding. Thus, it can be argued that the recall of material is primed when the bodily and neural systems related to perception, action, and emotion are activated in a manner that is congruent and integratible with the content of such material (see [54]), for example, by adopting a specific body posture, as memory depends on simulation.…”

Towards Strong Inference in Research on Embodiment – Possibilities and Limitations of Causal Paradigms

“…Similarly, Downing-Doucet and Guérard ( 2014 ) reported that opening and closing the hand during encoding interfered with memory for graspable objects (see also Lagacé & Guérard, 2015 ). Moreover, a series of experiments consistently showed that the retrieval of manual actions or manipulable objects held in short-term memory was impaired when participants had to hold their hands behind the back during encoding, whereas memory of non-manual actions or non-manipulable objects was not affected by posture ( Dutriaux et al, 2019 ; Dutriaux & Gyselinck, 2016 ). By contrast, a number of largely similar studies did not obtain any evidence that motor interference affects working memory for action-related objects ( Canits et al, 2018 ; Pecher, 2013 ; Quak et al, 2014 ; Zeelenberg & Pecher, 2016 ).…”

Observer’s body posture affects processing of other humans’ actions

“…The task of the participants in a study was to observe manipulable and non-manipulable objects and then to recall as many objects as they could. When they were asked to keep hands and arms behind the back (i.e., a condition interfering with actions triggered by manipulable objects) they showed a decrease in recall of manipulable objects, but not of non-manipulable ones (Dutriaux & Gyselinck, 2016; see also, Dutriaux, Dahiez, & Gyselinck, 2019). Relevant to the present investigation, these results suggest that a body posture that is incompatible with a specific action interferes with its motor simulation (for similar effects but in imagery rotation tasks see, e.g., Sirigu & Duhamel, 2001).…”