Affordance Compatibility Effect for Word Learning in Virtual Reality

Rich sensorimotor interaction facilitates language learning and is presumed to ground conceptual representations. Yet empirical support for early stages of embodied word learning is currently lacking. Finding evidence that sensorimotor interaction shapes learned linguistic representations would provide crucial support for embodied language theories. We developed a gamified word learning experiment in virtual reality in which participants learned the names of six novel objects by grasping and manipulating objects with either their left or right hand. Participants then completed a word–color match task in which they were tested on the same six words and objects. Participants were faster to respond to stimuli in the match task when the response hand was compatible with the hand used to interact with the named object, an effect we refer to as affordance compatibility. In two follow up experiments, we found that merely observing virtual hands interact with the objects was sufficient to acquire a smaller affordance compatibility effect, and we found that the compatibility effect was driven primarily by responses with a compatible hand and not by responses in a compatible spatial location. Our results support theoretical views of language which ground word representations in sensorimotor experiences, and they suggest promising future routes to explore the sensorimotor foundations of higher cognition through immersive virtual experiments.     

Attitudes towards unions through a generational cohort lens

ABSTRACT

Studying a large American union, we report on findings from two studies investigating perceptions of and attitudes towards unions through a generational cohort lens. Study one explores the link between generational cohort and members’ perceptions of unions, employing qualitative analysis of 100 interviews: 30 Millennials, 35 Gen X, and 35 Baby Boomers. Analysis determined that union members focus on either ideological or instrumental explanations to support perceptions that their generation was either pro-union or anti-union. Themes identified in study one were further explored in a quantitative study which involved statistical analysis of survey data (n = 4717) to identify possible differences in pro and anti-union attitudes across three generational cohorts: baby boomer (n = 2857), Gen X (n = 1256), and millennials (n = 304). Data from both studies support the idea that pro-union perceptions and attitudes are more prevalent among those in the baby boomer cohort than Gen Xers, and millennials.     

Can (elaborated) imagined contact interventions reduce prejudice among those higher in intergroup disgust sensitivity (ITG‐DS)?

Intergroup disgust sensitivity (ITG‐DS) reflects an affect‐laden revulsion toward out‐groups. Previous attempts to weaken its prediction of prejudice have failed. Given that clinical approaches to disgust sensitivity successfully utilize mental imagery, we consider contact simulation interventions. Participants were randomly assigned to control, standard imagined contact, or an elaborated contact condition (elaborated imagined contact [EIC]; detailed imagination involving physical contact with a homeless person, with relaxation instructions). Both contact conditions (vs. control) significantly weakened the link between ITG‐DS and prejudice, yet only EIC weakened the relation between ITG‐DS and out‐group trust. Mediated moderation analysis confirmed that EIC significantly attenuated the link between ITG‐DS and prejudice through increasing trust. Clinically relevant treatments are thus valuable in severing the association between (a) ITG‐DS and (b) lower out‐group trust and greater out‐group prejudice.