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Related Experiment Video

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The "Motor" in Implicit Motor Sequence Learning: A Foot-stepping Serial Reaction Time Task

The "Motor" in Implicit Motor Sequence Learning: A Foot-stepping Serial Reaction Time Task

Published on: May 3, 2018

When left is "right". Motor fluency shapes abstract concepts.

Daniel Casasanto¹, Evangelia G Chrysikou

¹Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. casasanto@alum.mit.edu

Psychological Science

|March 11, 2011

Summary

Right-handers typically link "good" with the right side and "bad" with the left. This study shows that altering motor fluency, even briefly, can reverse these implicit spatial-emotional associations.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Embodied Cognition

Background:

Implicit associations often link positive concepts to the dominant side of space.
Right-handers commonly associate "good" with the right and "bad" with the left.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if motor fluency influences the spatial-emotional associations in right-handers.
To determine if changes in motor fluency can reverse the typical "good"-right, "bad"-left association.

Main Methods:

Studied right-handed stroke patients with unilateral hand impairment.
Examined healthy right-handers with temporarily handicapped hands in laboratory settings.
Assessed implicit associations between spatial side and emotional valence after motor fluency manipulation.

Main Results:

Stroke patients with left-hand impairment showed "good"-right associations, while those with right-hand impairment showed "good"-left associations.
Healthy right-handers temporarily handicapped in their dominant hand reversed their "good"-right association.
Even brief periods of enhanced left-hand fluency altered implicit spatial-emotional judgments in right-handers.

Conclusions:

Motor fluency, not just handedness, causally shapes abstract thought and spatial-emotional associations.
The brain's motor system plays a critical role in forming abstract conceptual structures.
Implicit biases linking space and emotional valence are malleable based on motor experience.