Up and Down, Front and Back

The present study shows how directional movement is related to meaning. We measured the influence of congruent versus incongruent movement – meaning pairings on reaction times in a Stroop-type categorization task. Movement-related words corresponding to the vertical up-down axis (e.g., happiness – grief; successful; to sink) and to the sagittal front-back axis (e.g., tomorrow – yesterday; decisive; to retreat) were coupled with actual movement in the vertical and sagittal axes. The color of the word appearing on a computer screen indicated the movement direction, creating congruent and incongruent movement – meaning trials. Participants reacted faster on congruent trials (e.g., happy – upward movement; decisive – forward movement) than on incongruent trials (e.g., happy – downward movement; decisive – backward movement). Results supported the hypothesized movement – meaning relation for both the vertical and the sagittal dimensions.