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Perceived gaze direction affects concreteness effects in words memory: an event-related potentials study
Chenyuan Zhao1,2, Yun Chen1, Xi Jia3
1Elementary Education College, Capital Normal University.
Neuroreport
|March 3, 2021
Summary
Gaze direction influences word memory. Direct gaze enhances memory for concrete words, suggesting social context impacts cognitive processing of word concreteness.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Linguistics
Background:
- Word concreteness effects are known to be modulated by emotional context.
- The influence of social context, specifically gaze direction, on word concreteness effects remains largely unexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how perceived gaze direction affects memory for word concreteness using event-related potentials (ERPs).
- To determine if social cues like gaze direction interact with word properties to influence memory.
Main Methods:
- Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants memorized concrete and abstract words presented with direct or averted gaze.
- Behavioral memory performance and ERP components (N400, LPC) were analyzed.
Main Results:
- Behavioral data showed a direct-gaze memory advantage.
- ERP analysis revealed concrete words elicited a larger N400 and smaller late positive component (LPC) than abstract words.
- A significant interaction was found on the LPC: the concreteness effect was present only under direct gaze.
Conclusions:
- Gaze direction acts as a significant social context cue, influencing memory for word concreteness.
- This suggests that social context modulates mental imagery processes differently than emotional cues.
- The findings offer a novel perspective on contextual influences in word concreteness research.
