Grounded theories of cognition would predict that processing concepts such as emotions, which are inherently associated with a variety of bodily states, would rely on embodied simulations. Here, we manipulated attention to respiratory rate and used a feature-verification task to assess the degree to which such simulations are involved when processing emotion, concrete, and abstract (but non-emotion-related) concepts. Participants in the experimental group were guided through a mindful breathing exercise and instructed to pay attention to the sensations of breath for the duration of the feature verification task. They reported an estimate of number of breaths taken during the preceding minute at specific intervals throughout the experiment, while we continuously recorded the participants' respiration rate. A separate control group tracked the presence of an unrelated visual distractor while completing the feature verification task. Using a linear mixed effects model to analyze the data, we found evidence of an interference effect where attention to respiration slowed reaction times specifically for emotion concepts. This effect was driven by multiple dimensions of interoceptive ability, including individual differences in baseline interoceptive sensibility, and task-concurrent engagement of those interoceptive resources. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Kelly et al. (Thu,) studied this question.