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The activation of metaphorical thought as a function of stimulus saliency

Damjanovic, Libby LU (2024) SweCog 2024 In Skövde University Studies in Informatics p.113-113
Abstract
The automatic activation of spatial representations of affect has mainly been studied using stimuli at the extreme ends of the valence continuum, such as happy and angry facial expressions (e.g., Damjanovic & Santiago, 2016). It remains unclear whether the 'up = good' metaphor can also be triggered by stimuli with subtle valence. This issue was investigated in the current series of visual search tasks. In these tasks, pictures of neutral faces (Experiment 1) or car targets (Experiment 2) were presented in the top, bottom, left, and right locations on a computer screen, surrounded by competing distractors. A meta-analysis (Study 3) using each target's position along the valence continuum revealed a significant linear increase in the... (More)
The automatic activation of spatial representations of affect has mainly been studied using stimuli at the extreme ends of the valence continuum, such as happy and angry facial expressions (e.g., Damjanovic & Santiago, 2016). It remains unclear whether the 'up = good' metaphor can also be triggered by stimuli with subtle valence. This issue was investigated in the current series of visual search tasks. In these tasks, pictures of neutral faces (Experiment 1) or car targets (Experiment 2) were presented in the top, bottom, left, and right locations on a computer screen, surrounded by competing distractors. A meta-analysis (Study 3) using each target's position along the valence continuum revealed a significant linear increase in the activation of the 'up = good' metaphor, with
the strongest attentional gains found for happy facial expressions and the weakest for cars. This indicates that activation is most potent for socially relevant stimuli, such as faces. These findings demonstrate the gradual manner in which low-dimensional conceptual structures are engaged in recognizing everyday object categories. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Proceedings of the 19th Swecog conference
series title
Skövde University Studies in Informatics
editor
Olofsson, Jonas ; Jernsäther-Ohlsson, Teodor ; Thunberg, Sofia ; Holm, Linus and OlofssonJernsäther-OhlssonThunbergHolm, Erik Billing
issue
1
pages
113 - 113
publisher
Skövde University
conference name
SweCog 2024
conference location
Stockholm, Sweden
conference dates
2024-10-10 - 2024-10-11
ISSN
1653-2325
ISBN
978-91-989038-1-2
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
2a531eff-e61f-468a-9fcb-0da4c38770e2
alternative location
https://swecog.se/files/SweCog2024_Proceedings.pdf
date added to LUP
2025-02-27 16:45:21
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:05:39
@inproceedings{2a531eff-e61f-468a-9fcb-0da4c38770e2,
  abstract     = {{The automatic activation of spatial representations of affect has mainly been studied using stimuli at the extreme ends of the valence continuum, such as happy and angry facial expressions (e.g., Damjanovic &amp; Santiago, 2016). It remains unclear whether the 'up = good' metaphor can also be triggered by stimuli with subtle valence. This issue was investigated in the current series of visual search tasks. In these tasks, pictures of neutral faces (Experiment 1) or car targets (Experiment 2) were presented in the top, bottom, left, and right locations on a computer screen, surrounded by competing distractors. A meta-analysis (Study 3) using each target's position along the valence continuum revealed a significant linear increase in the activation of the 'up = good' metaphor, with<br/>the strongest attentional gains found for happy facial expressions and the weakest for cars. This indicates that activation is most potent for socially relevant stimuli, such as faces. These findings demonstrate the gradual manner in which low-dimensional conceptual structures are engaged in recognizing everyday object categories.}},
  author       = {{Damjanovic, Libby}},
  booktitle    = {{Proceedings of the 19th Swecog conference}},
  editor       = {{Olofsson, Jonas and Jernsäther-Ohlsson, Teodor and Thunberg, Sofia and Holm, Linus and OlofssonJernsäther-OhlssonThunbergHolm, Erik Billing}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-989038-1-2}},
  issn         = {{1653-2325}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{113--113}},
  publisher    = {{Skövde University}},
  series       = {{Skövde University Studies in Informatics}},
  title        = {{The activation of metaphorical thought as a function of stimulus saliency}},
  url          = {{https://swecog.se/files/SweCog2024_Proceedings.pdf}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}