How do embodied states influence the inferences people make about the meaning that is intended by communicators? We propose that embodied states encourage mental representation of certain meanings while inhibiting others, thereby facilitating or hindering comprehension in social interactions and potentially causing miscommunication. Four experiments demonstrate that bodily postures incompatible with the intended meaning of a sentence attenuated inferences of those meanings, especially when the intended meaning was not articulated directly and required more extensive inference-making effort. Participants were faster at responding to sentences containing verbs inferring a sitting position when they were sitting than when they were standing, and vice versa. Participants were also more likely to interpret the intended meaning of sentences as relevant to sitting when participants were themselves sitting, and relevant to standing when participants were standing. These outcomes were especially evident when the sentences required higher-interpretive effort (e.g., used indirect language) than lower-interpretive effort (e.g., used literal language). These results suggest that embodied states shape inference-making and can thereby influence comprehension and affect communication success, especially when inferences are more effortful to make.

体现状态如何影响人们对传播者意图含义的推论？我们提出，具体化国家鼓励某些含义的心理表现，同时抑制其他含义，从而促进或阻碍对社会互动的理解，并可能引起沟通错误。四个实验表明，与句子的预期含义不符的身体姿势会削弱这些含义的推论，尤其是在未直接表达预期含义并且需要更广泛的推论工作的情况下。与坐着时相比，参与者对包含推断出坐姿的动词的句子的响应要快，反之亦然。参与者也更有可能将句子的预期含义解释为与参与者自己坐着时相关的坐着相关，以及与参与者站立时相关的站立相关。当句子需要较高的解释力（例如，使用间接语言）而不是较低的解释力（例如，使用原义语言）时，这些结果尤其明显。这些结果表明，具体化的状态会影响推理过程，从而影响理解力并影响交流成功，特别是在推理过程更费力的情况下。，使用文字语言）。这些结果表明，具体化的状态会影响推理过程，从而影响理解力并影响交流成功，特别是在推理过程更费力的情况下。，使用文字语言）。这些结果表明，具体化的状态会影响推理过程，从而影响理解力并影响交流成功，特别是在推理过程更费力的情况下。