A kinematic approach to the conceptual representations of this and that

The Italian demonstrative pronouns questo/a (‘this_[mas/fem]’) and quello/a (‘that_[mas/fem]’) implicitly convey information about objects’ distance with respect to the speaker. Our study investigated the referents of questo/a (‘this_[mas/fem]’) and quello/a (‘that_[mas/fem]’) by analysing their influence on reach-to-grasp actions towards objects located near to (12 cm) or far from (30 cm) the participant. Upon acoustic instruction containing one or the other pronoun, participants had to reach for and grasp a target object. Results showed an effect of pronoun on movement planning. When the object was in the far position, reaction times were faster for the congruent pronoun quello/a, whereas when it was in the near position they were faster for the congruent pronoun questo/a. Interactions between implied and real target distance suggest that the conceptual spaces of questo/a and quello/a do not map onto a strict distinction between peripersonal and extrapersonal space.