Walking Back to the Future

Abstract

Embodied cognition frameworks suggest a direct link between sensorimotor experience and cognitive representations of concepts ( Shapiro, 2011 ). We examined whether this holds also true for concepts that cannot be directly perceived with the sensorimotor system (i.e., temporal concepts). To test this, participants learned object-space (Exp. 1) or object-time (Exp. 2) associations. Afterwards, participants were asked to assign the objects to their location in space/time meanwhile they walked backward, forward, or stood on a treadmill. We hypothesized that walking backward should facilitate the online processing of "behind"/"past"-related stimuli, but hinder the processing of "ahead"/"future"-related stimuli, and a reversed effect for forward walking. Indeed, "ahead"- and "future"-related stimuli were processed slower during backward walking. During forward walking and standing, stimuli were processed equally fast. The results provide partial evidence for the activation of specific spatial and temporal concepts by whole-body movements and are discussed in the context of movement familiarity.

The Space–Time Congruency Effect: A Meta‐Analysis

“…Sentences containing temporal information (Eikmeier, Alex-Ruf, et al, 2015, experiment 1;Eikmeier et al, 2013, experiment 1;Scheifele et al, 2018;Sell & Kaschak, 2011;Ulrich & Maienborn, 2010;Ulrich et al, 2012); and 3. Triplets of pictures showing the progression of an event at which the middle stage represents the reference point for an earlier and a later stage Fuhrman & Boroditsky, 2007; and entities such as buildings, actors, or life events that can be categorized as earlier or later compared to some given reference point (Loeffler, Raab, & Cañal-Bruland, 2017;Miles, Tan, Noble, Lumsden, & Macrae, 2011;Walker, Bergen, & N uñez, 2014Weger & Pratt, 2008, experiment 1).…”

Retrieving Against the Flow: Incoherence Between Optic Flow and Movement Direction Has Little Effect on Memory for Order

“…Of course, there are many ways to continue to look for a link between self-locomotion and memory. For example, other memory paradigms can be used (e.g., see Loeffler et al, 2017 for a procedure which used walking-backward to facilitate the processing of past-related stimuli). Perhaps the to-be-remembered materials should be related to the visual environment; perhaps a manipulation of coherence of movement and optic flow during encoding would be more effective; perhaps effects of movement on memory are prominent during early or late development.…”

Dilation and Constriction of Subjective Time Based on Observed Walking Speed

“…Consequently, smaller differences in walking speed ( Experiment 1 ) were expected to lead to a less pronounced effect of walking speed on perceived time, as opposed to larger effects due to larger differences among levels of the same variable ( Experiments 2 and 3 ). Moreover, we expected larger effects when participants timed forward walking as opposed to backward walking motion, in addition to observing higher precision with which durations are timed in the forward walking condition due to it being a more familiar form of motion (i.e., processed more readily) in comparison to backward walking (Moscatelli et al, 2011; Loeffler et al, 2017). While previous research has conclusively demonstrated an effect of low-level motion on time perception (e.g., Kaneko and Murakami, 2009), no study so far has utilized straight-forward representations of human motion through the use of stick-figure actions to test for presumably more readily embodied effect of motion on perceived durations.…”