Investigating object orientation effects across 18 languages

Abstract Mental simulation theories of language comprehension propose that people automatically create mental representations of objects mentioned in sentences. Mental representation is often measured with the sentence-picture verification task, wherein participants first read a sentence that implies the object property (i.e., shape and orientation). Participants then respond to an image of an object by indicating whether it was an object from the sentence or not. Previous studies have shown matching advantages for shape, but findings concerning object orientation have not been robust across languages. This registered report investigated the match advantage of object orientation across 18 languages in nearly 4,000 participants. The preregistered analysis revealed no compelling evidence for a match advantage for orientation across languages. Additionally, the match advantage was not predicted by mental rotation scores. In light of these findings, we discuss the implications for current theory and methodology surrounding mental simulation.

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Publication Details

Journal
Current Psychology
Published
2025-10-22
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-025-08304-x
Primary Topic
Categorization, perception, and language
Type
article
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article

Investigating object orientation effects across 18 languages

Ali H. Al‐Hoorie, Margaret Messiah Singh, Jan Philipp Röer, Ian D. Stephen et al.
Current Psychology
Categorization, perception, and language
article

Investigating object orientation effects across 18 languages

Ali H. Al‐Hoorie, Margaret Messiah Singh, Jan Philipp Röer, Ian D. Stephen, Carlota Batres, Izuchukwu L. G. Ndukaihe, Chrystalle B. Y. Tan, Erin Michelle Buchanan, Caio Santos Alves da Silva, Sarah E. Martiny, Μαριέττα Παπαδάτου-Παστού, Kelly Wang, Erica D. Musser, Patrí­cia Arriaga, Niv Reggev, Mai Helmy, Elisabeth Oberzaucher, Kaitlyn M. Werner, Yago Luksevicius Moraes, Anna Szabelska, Kathleen Schmidt, Jaroslava Varella Valentová, Stefan Stieger, Martin R. Vasilev, Janis Zickfeld, Zoltán Kekecs, Panita Suavansri, Martin Voracek, Fei Gao, Aviv Mokady, Marco Antônio Corrêa Varella, Roxane Schnepper, Harry Manley, Andrew Roberts, Sraddha Pradhan, Kristoffer Klevjer, William J. Chopik, Steve M. J. Janssen, Savannah C Lewis, Attila Szuts, Jeremy K. Miller, Nwadiogo Chisom Arinze, Janina Enachescu, Max Korbmacher, Krystian Barzykowski, İlker Dalḡar, Frederike S. Woelfert, Pratibha Kujur, Brynna Leach, Christian K. Tamnes, Jonas R. Kunst, Chun‐Chia Kung, Patrick S. Forscher, Matúš Adamkovič, Daniel Storage, Balázs Aczél, Danilo Zambrano, Manyu Li, Anthonieta Looman Mafra, Asil Ali Özdoğru, Niklas K. Steffens, Alicia Foo, Sami Çoksan, Monika Hricová, Sylwia Adamus, Carmel Levitan, Gerit Pfuhl, Sinem Söylemez, Thomas Rhys Evans, Babita Pande, Zahir Vally, Luana Oliveira da Silva, Brianna Jurosic, Dermot Lynott, Vanja Ković, Peter Babinčák, Pablo Bernabeu, Pavol Kačmár, Robert M. Ross, Sara Álvarez Solas, Selina Volsa, Peter Robert Mallik, David Moreau, Sau-Chin Chen, Priyanka Chandel, Miroslav Sirota, Çağlar Solak, Jerome Olsen, Noorshama Parveen, Katarzyna Filip, Barnaby Dixson, Jozef Bavoľár, Dawn Liu Holford, Glenn Patrick Williams, Vasilije Gvozdenović, Arti Parganiha, Mahmoud Medhat Elsherif, T. J. McGee, Ivan Ropovik, Ekaterina Pronizius, Marina Milyavskaya, Jingxiang Li, Kim Peters, Claus Lamm, Omid Ghasemi, Rafael Ming Chi Santos Hsu, Vinka Mlakic, Tilli Ripp, Leigh Ann Vaughn, Christopher R. Chartier, Gabriel Baník, Bethany M. Lane, Belemir Çoktok, Danny Riis Sahlholdt
article en

Abstract

Abstract Mental simulation theories of language comprehension propose that people automatically create mental representations of objects mentioned in sentences. Mental representation is often measured with the sentence-picture verification task, wherein participants first read a sentence that implies the object property (i.e., shape and orientation). Participants then respond to an image of an object by indicating whether it was an object from the sentence or not. Previous studies have shown matching advantages for shape, but findings concerning object orientation have not been robust across languages. This registered report investigated the match advantage of object orientation across 18 languages in nearly 4,000 participants. The preregistered analysis revealed no compelling evidence for a match advantage for orientation across languages. Additionally, the match advantage was not predicted by mental rotation scores. In light of these findings, we discuss the implications for current theory and methodology surrounding mental simulation.

Current PsychologyVol. 44(24)
Eötvös Loránd University (HU), University of Essex (GB), Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (PT), Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (IL), Western University (CA), Queen's University Belfast (GB), Jagiellonian University (PL), Üsküdar University (TR), University of Vienna (AT), University of Denver (US), Statistics Austria (AT), Willamette University (US), Harrisburg University of Science and Technology (US), University of Leicester (GB), University of Auckland (NZ), University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (MY), Witten/Herdecke University (DE), National University of Ireland, Maynooth (IE), Chulalongkorn University (TH), The University of Queensland (AU), Manisa Celal Bayar University (TR), University of Alabama (US), Franklin & Marshall College (US), University of Prešov (SK), Universidade de São Paulo (BR), Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (NO), BI Norwegian Business School (NO), University of Oregon (US), University of Oslo (NO), Lund University (SE), Tzu Chi University (TW), Ashland University (US), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (GR), United Arab Emirates University (AE), Czech Academy of Sciences (CZ), Aarhus University (DK), University of Macau (MO), University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik (SK), Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), Charles University (CZ), Erzurum Technical University (TR), Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (SA), Istanbul Medipol University (TR), Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University (IN), University of Oxford (GB), University of Belgrade (RS), Universidad Internacional De La Rioja (ES), Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), Institute of Psychology (PL), Decision Research (US), Busara Center for Behavioral Economics (KE), Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz (CO), Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Psychology (CZ), Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences (AT), Federal Medical Centre (NG), Ankara Medipol Üniversitesi, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, University College London (GB), Sultan Qaboos University (OM), University of Greenwich (GB), University of Sunderland (GB), Menoufia University (EG), Carleton University (CA), Lancaster University (GB), Occidental College (US), UiT The Arctic University of Norway (NO), University of Louisiana at Lafayette (US), Michigan State University (US), Ithaca College (US), Abertay University (GB), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR), National Cheng Kung University (TW), University of Jyväskylä (FI), Barnard College (US), Macquarie University (AU)
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Categorization, perception, and language
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