Focal vs. global ways of motion event processing and the role of language: Evidence from categorization tasks and eye tracking
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36505/ExLing-2018/09/0026/000359Keywords:
holistic vs. analytic cognition, focal vs. global strategies, spatial language, categorization, eye movementsAbstract
Past research has shown that cultural experience and language specificities affect how people process spatial information cognitively. Holistic cognition is generally associated with East Asian cultures, while analytic processing is typically tied to Western ones. Similarly, the languages of the world vary greatly: some (verb-framed) incline speakers to encode mainly general, core spatial components (Path) while omitting details related to the process of motion (Manner), whereas others (satellite-framed) focus on Manner systematically while appending information about Path. The current study investigates whether speakers who share the same cultural background (Western) but speak different languages—English (satellite-framed), French (verb-framed), and Greek (parallel)—show differences in the categorization and visual processing of motion events. The findings show that holistic processing is not exclusive to Eastern cultures; speakers of Indo-European languages are also influenced by the degree of structural focus inherent in their language.
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