Abstract In their strongest formulation, theories of grounded cognition claim that concepts are made up of sensorimotor information. Following such equivalence, perceptual properties of objects should consistently influence processing, even in purely linguistic tasks, where perceptual information is neither solicited nor required. Previous studies have tested this prediction in semantic priming tasks, but they have not observed perceptual influences on participants’ performances. However, those findings suffer from critical shortcomings, which may have prevented potential visually grounded/perceptual effects from being detected. Here, we investigate this topic by applying an innovative method expected to increase the sensitivity in detecting such perceptual effects. Specifically, we adopt an objective, data-driven, computational approach to independently quantify vision-based and language-based similarities for prime-target pairs on a continuous scale. We test whether these measures predict behavioural performance in a semantic priming mega-study with various experimental settings. Vision-based similarity is found to facilitate performance, but a dissociation between vision-based and language-based effects was also observed. Thus, in line with theories of grounded cognition, perceptual properties can facilitate word processing even in purely linguistic tasks, but the behavioural dissociation at the same time challenges strong claims of sensorimotor and conceptual equivalence.

中文翻译：

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数据驱动的计算模型揭示了文字处理中的感知模拟

摘要 扎根认知理论在其最强的表述中声称，概念是由感觉运动信息组成的。遵循这样的等价关系，对象的感知属性应该始终如一地影响处理，即使是在既不需要也不需要感知信息的纯语言任务中。之前的研究已经在语义启动任务中测试了这种预测，但他们没有观察到感知对参与者表现的影响。然而，这些发现存在严重的缺陷，这可能阻止了潜在的视觉基础/感知效果被检测到。在这里，我们通过应用一种有望提高检测此类感知效果的灵敏度的创新方法来研究该主题。具体来说，我们采用客观的、数据驱动的、一种计算方法，用于在连续尺度上独立量化主要目标对的基于视觉和基于语言的相似性。我们测试这些措施是否可以在具有各种实验设置的语义启动大型研究中预测行为表现。发现基于视觉的相似性有助于提高性能，但也观察到基于视觉和基于语言的效果之间的分离。因此，根据扎根认知理论，即使在纯语言任务中，感知特性也可以促进文字处理，但行为分离同时挑战了感觉运动和概念等效的强烈主张。我们测试这些措施是否可以在具有各种实验设置的语义启动大型研究中预测行为表现。发现基于视觉的相似性有助于提高性能，但也观察到基于视觉和基于语言的效果之间的分离。因此，根据扎根认知理论，即使在纯语言任务中，感知特性也可以促进文字处理，但行为分离同时挑战了感觉运动和概念等效的强烈主张。我们测试这些措施是否可以在具有各种实验设置的语义启动大型研究中预测行为表现。发现基于视觉的相似性有助于提高性能，但也观察到基于视觉和基于语言的效果之间的分离。因此，根据扎根认知理论，即使在纯语言任务中，感知特性也可以促进文字处理，但行为分离同时挑战了感觉运动和概念等效的强烈主张。