Space-Time Congruency Effects Using Eye Movements During Processing of Past- and Future-Related Words.

In Western cultures where people read and write from left to right, time is represented along a spatial continuum that goes from left to right (past to future), known as the mental timeline (MTL). In language, this MTL was supported by space-time congruency effects: People are faster to make lexical decisions to words conveying past or future information when left/right manual responses are compatible with the MTL. Alternatively, in cultures where people read from right to left, space-time congruency effects go in the opposite direction. Such cross-cultural differences suggest that repeated writing and reading dynamic movements are critically involved in the spatial representation of time. In most experiments on the space-time congruency effect, participants use their hand for responding, an effector that is associated to the directionality of writing. To investigate the role of the directionality of reading in the space-time congruency effect, we asked participants to make lateralized eye movements (left or right saccades) to indicate whether stimuli were real words or not (lexical decision). Eye movement responses were slower and higher in amplitude for responses incompatible with the direction of the MTL. These results reinforce the claim that repeated directional reading and writing movements promote the embodiment of time-related words.

Embodied time: Effect of reading expertise on the spatial representation of past and future.

How do people grasp the abstract concept of time? It has been argued that abstract concepts, such as future and past, are grounded in sensorimotor experience. When responses to words that refer to the past or the future are either spatially compatible or incompatible with a left-to-right timeline, a space-time congruency effect is observed. In the present study, we investigated whether reading expertise determines the strength of the space-time congruency effect, which would suggest that learning to read and write drives the effect. Using a temporal categorization task, we compared two types of space-time congruency effects, one where spatial incongruency was generated by the location of the stimuli on the screen and one where it was generated by the location of the responses on the keyboard. While the first type of incongruency was visuo-spatial only, the second involved the motor system. Results showed stronger space-time congruency effects for the second type of incongruency (i.e., when the motor system was involved) than for the first type (visuo-spatial). Crucially, reading expertise, as measured by a standardized reading test, predicted the size of the space-time congruency effects. Altogether, these results reinforce the claim that the spatial representation of time is partially mediated by the motor system and partially grounded in spatially-directed movement, such as reading or writing.

As time goes by: Space-time compatibility effects in word recognition.

The processing of time activates a spatial left-to-right mental timeline, where past events are "located" to the left and future events to the right. If past and future words activate this mental timeline, then the processing of such words should interfere with hand movements that go in the opposite direction. To test this hypothesis, we conducted 3 visual lexical decision tasks with conjugated (past/future) verbs and pseudoverbs. In Experiment 1, participants moved a pen to the right or left of a trackpad to indicate whether a visual stimulus was a real word or not. Grammatical time and hand movements for yes responses went in the same direction in the congruent condition (e.g., past tense/leftward movement) but in opposite directions in the incongruent condition. Analyses showed that space-time incongruency significantly increased reaction times. In Experiment 2, we investigated the role of movement in this effect. Participants performed the same task by responding with a trackpad or a mouse, both of which required lateral movement through space, or a static keypress. We again obtained the space-time congruency effect, but only when the decision required movement through space. In Experiments 1 and 2, stimuli were preceded by a temporal prime. In Experiment 3, participants performed the same task without any prime. Results replicated the congruency effect, demonstrating that it does not depend upon temporal word priming. Altogether, results suggest automatic activation of a left-right mental timeline during word recognition, reinforcing the claim that the concept of Time is grounded in movement through space. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).