emotion simulationduring language comprehension.pdfVIP

Copyright 2007 Psychonomic Society, Inc. 436 Reading a passage from a favorite novel makes it clear that language evokes emotion. In addition, empirical stud- ies have shown that emotions that are evoked by language can be powerful (Velten, 1968) and can have an impact on judgments (Johnson Tversky, 1983). Nonetheless, the interaction between emotion and language is not well understood. Oatley (1994) suggests that since Aristotle, one explanation is based on the notion of simulation. We briefly review recent theory, data, and methods investigat- ing simulation in language comprehension and in social cognition before introducing a new method to study the relation between emotion and language comprehension. In this article, we present initial evidence consistent with (1) a simulation account, and (2) the idea that the effect of emotion on language comprehension is likely to result from processes other than initial lexical access. By “simulation during language comprehension,” we mean that a neural process ordinarily having a nonlinguis- tic function (e.g., action, perception, emotion) is also used during language comprehension. In addition, the simu- lation may be functional in that it plays a causal role in language comprehension. As we will review shortly, the case for functional simulation is strongest in the domains of action and perception. The evidence that we present for simulation using emotion is only initial; that is, the func- tional role has yet to be secured. The case for simulation of action during language com- prehension is very strong because of converging evidence from behavioral, physiological, and neuroscience tech- niques. Glenberg and Kaschak (2002; see also Zwaan Taylor, 2006) demonstrated a relation between action and language comprehension by using behavioral meth- ods. Participants read sentences describing action away from the body (e.g., You handed Courtney the notebook) or toward the body (Courtney handed you the