The Impact of Verb Speed on the Processing of Goal-Oriented Visual Scenes
By: Piia Taremaa, Nele Ots, Ann Veismann and Laura J. Speed
References
- Altmann, G. T., & Kamide, Y. (1999). Incremental interpretation at verbs: Restricting the domain of subsequent reference. Cognition, 73(3), 247–264. 10.1016/S0010-0277(99)00059-1
- Barr, D. J. (2008). Analyzing ‘visual world’ eyetracking data using multilevel logistic regression. Journal of Memory and Language, 59(4), 457–474. 10.1016/j.jml.2007.09.002
- Barsalou, L. W., Santos, A., Simmons, W. K., & Wilson, C. D. (2008).
Language and simulation in conceptual processing . In M. De Vega, A. Glenberg, & A. Graesser (Eds.), Symbols, embodiment, and meaning: Debates on meaning and cognition (pp. 245–283). Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199217274.003.0013 - Bates, D., Maechler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48. 10.18637/jss.v067.i01
- Bechtold, L., Cosper, S. H., Malyshevskaya, A., Montefinese, M., Morucci, P., Niccolai, V., Repetto, C., Zappa, A., & Shtyrov, Y. (2023). Brain signatures of embodied semantics and language: A consensus paper. Journal of Cognition, 6(1), 61. 10.5334/joc.237
- Ben-Haim, M. S., Chajut, E., Hassin, R. R., & Algom, D. (2015). Speeded naming or naming speed? The automatic effect of object speed on performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144(2), 326–338. 10.1037/a0038569
- Bergen, B., & Wheeler, K. (2010). Grammatical aspect and mental simulation. Brain and Language, 112(3), 150–158. 10.1016/j.bandl.2009.07.002
- Blasi, D. E., Henrich, J., Adamou, E., Kemmerer, D., & Majid, A. (2022). Over-reliance on English hinders cognitive science. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 26(12), 1153–1170. 10.1016/j.tics.2022.09.015
- Blything, L. P., Järvikivi, J., Toth, A. G., & Arnhold, A. (2021). The Influence of Focus Marking on Pronoun Resolution in Dialogue Context. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 684639. 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.684639
- Castaño, E., & Carrol, G. (2020). Mental Simulation in the Processing of Literal and Metaphorical Motion Language: An Eye Movement Study. Metaphor and Symbol, 35(3), 153–170. 10.1080/10926488.2020.1794318
- Cole, S. N., Smith, D. M., Ragan, K., Suurmond, R., & Armitage, C. J. (2021). Synthesizing the effects of mental simulation on behavior change: Systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 28(5), 1514–1537. 10.3758/s13423-021-01880-6
- Collins, A. M., & Loftus, E. F. (1975). A spreading-activation theory of semantic processing. Psychological review, 82(6), 407. 10.1037/0033-295X.82.6.407
- Connell, L. (2007). Representing object colour in language comprehension. Cognition, 102(3), 476–485. 10.1016/j.cognition.2006.02.009
- Connell, L. (2019). What have labels ever done for us? The linguistic shortcut in conceptual processing. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 34(10), 1308–1318. 10.1080/23273798.2018.1471512
- de Koning, B. B., Wassenburg, S. I., Bos, L. T., & van der Schoot, M. (2017). Mental simulation of four visual object properties: Similarities and differences as assessed by the sentence–picture verification task. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 29(4), 420–432. 10.1080/20445911.2017.1281283
- Dienes, Z. (2019). How Do I Know What My Theory Predicts? Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 2(4), 364–377. 10.1177/2515245919876960
- Erelt, M. (Ed.) (2003). Estonian language. Estonian Academy Publishers.
- Fehd, H. M., & Seiffert, A. E. (2010). Looking at the center of the targets helps multiple object tracking. Journal of Vision, 10(4), 1–13. 10.1167/10.4.19
- Fischer, M. H., & Zwaan, R. A. (2008). Embodied language: A review of the role of the motor system in language comprehension. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61(6), 825–850. 10.1080/17470210701623605
- Friedrich, J., Raab, M., & Voigt, L. (2025). Grounded cognition and the representation of momentum: Abstract concepts modulate mislocalization. Psychological Research, 89(1), 51. 10.1007/s00426-025-02076-6
- Garofalo, S., Giovagnoli, S., Orsoni, M., Starita, F., & Benassi, M. (2022). Interaction effect: Are you doing the right thing? PLOS ONE, 17(7),
e0271668 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0271668 - Glenberg, A. M., & Kaschak, M. P. (2002). Grounding language in action. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9(3), 558–565. 10.3758/BF03196313
- Hauk, O., Johnsrude, I., & Pulvermüller, F. (2004). Somatotopic representation of action words in human motor and premotor cortex. Neuron, 41(2), 301–307. 10.1016/S0896-6273(03)00838-9
- Hoeben Mannaert, L. N., Dijkstra, K., & Zwaan, R. A. (2017). Is color an integral part of a rich mental simulation? Memory & Cognition, 45(6), 974–982. 10.3758/s13421-017-0708-1
- Hoeben Mannaert, L. N., Dijkstra, K., & Zwaan, R. A. (2019). How are mental simulations updated across sentences? Memory & Cognition, 47(6), 1201–1214. 10.3758/s13421-019-00928-2
- Ibáñez, A., Kühne, K., Miklashevsky, A., Monaco, E., Muraki, E., Ranzini, M., Speed, L. J., & Tuena, C. (2023). Ecological Meanings: A Consensus Paper on Individual Differences and Contextual Influences in Embodied Language. Journal of Cognition, 6(1), 59. 10.5334/joc.228
- Irie, K., Zhao, S., Okamoto, K., & Liang, N. (2021). Examining the Effect of Adverbs and Onomatopoeia on Physical Movement. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 723602. 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.723602
- Ito, A., & Knoeferle, P. (2022). Analysing data from the psycholinguistic visual-world paradigm: Comparison of different analysis methods. Behavior Research Methods, 55(7), 3461–3493. 10.3758/s13428-022-01969-3
- Körner, A., Castillo, M., Drijvers, L., Fischer, M. H., Günther, F., Marelli, M., Platonova, O., Rinaldi, L., Shaki, S., Trujillo, J. P., Tsaregorodtseva, O., & Glenberg, A. M. (2023). Embodied Processing at Six Linguistic Granularity Levels: A Consensus Paper. Journal of Cognition, 6(1), 60. 10.5334/joc.231
- Lahlou, H. (2023). The Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying the Concept of سرعة (Speed) in Arabic. Arab World English Journal For Translation and Literary Studies, 7(1), 21–32. 10.24093/awejtls/vol7no1.2
- Lakoff, G., Espenson, J., & Schwartz, A. (1991). Master metaphor list (second draft copy). California: Cognitive Linguistics Group, University of California Berkeley. Retrieved from
https://araw.mede.uic.edu/~alansz/metaphor/METAPHORLIST.pdf . - Lenth, R. V. (2025). Emmeans: Estimated Marginal Means, aka Least-Squares Means. R package version 1.11.1,
https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=emmeans (Accessed 16 June 2025). - Lindsay, S., Scheepers, C., & Kamide, Y. (2013). To dash or to dawdle: Verb-associated speed of motion influences eye movements during spoken sentence comprehension. PLoS ONE, 8(6). 10.1371/journal.pone.0067187
- Lindström, L. (2017).
Lause infostruktuur ja sõnajärg [Information structure and word order] . In M. Erelt & H. Metslang (Eds.), Eesti keele süntaks [Estonian syntax] (pp. 537–564). Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus. - Liu, D., Wang, L., & Han, Y. (2024). Mental simulation of colour properties during language comprehension: Influence of context and comprehension stages. Cognitive Processing, 25(4), 587–600. 10.1007/s10339-024-01201-4
- Mahon, B. Z., & Caramazza, A. (2008). A critical look at the embodied cognition hypothesis and a new proposal for grounding conceptual content. Journal of physiology-Paris, 102(1–3), 59–70. 10.1016/j.jphysparis.2008.03.004
- Meteyard, L., Cuadrado, S. R., Bahrami, B., & Vigliocco, G. (2012). Coming of age: A review of embodiment and the neuroscience of semantics. Cortex, 48(7), 788–804. 10.1016/j.cortex.2010.11.002
- Morey, R. D., Kaschak, M. P., Díez-Álamo, A. M., Glenberg, A. M., Zwaan, R. A., Lakens, D., Ibáñez, A., García, A., Gianelli, C., Jones, J. L., Madden, J., Alifano, F., Bergen, B., Bloxsom, N. G., Bub, D. N., Cai, Z. G., Chartier, C. R., Chatterjee, A., Conwell, E., … Ziv-Crispel, N. (2022). A pre-registered, multi-lab non-replication of the action-sentence compatibility effect (ACE). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 29(2), 613–626. 10.3758/s13423-021-01927-8
- Morey, R. D., & Rouder, J. N. (2026). BayesFactor: Computation of Bayes Factors for Common Designs. R package version 0.9.12-4.8. <
https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=BayesFactor > (Accessed 26 March 2026). - Pan, X., Liang, B., & Li, X. (2024). Flexible and fine-grained simulation of speed in language processing. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1333598. 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1333598
- Porretta, V. (2019). Basic VWP Preprocessing.
https://vincentporretta.r-universe.dev/articles/VWPre/VWPre_Basic_Preprocessing.html - Porretta, V., Kyröläinen, A.-J., van Rij, J., & Järvikivi, J. (2016). VWPre: Tools for Preprocessing Visual World Data. Version 1.2.4, updated 2020-11-28. <
https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=VWPre > (Accessed 16 June 2025). - Porretta, V., Kyröläinen, A.-J., Van Rij, J., & Järvikivi, J. (2018).
Visual World Paradigm Data: From Preprocessing to Nonlinear Time-Course Analysis . In I. Czarnowski, R. J. Howlett, & L. C. Jain (Eds.), Intelligent Decision Technologies 2017 (Vol. 73, pp. 268–277). Springer International Publishing. 10.1007/978-3-319-59424-8_25 - Pulvermüller, F., & Fadiga, L. (2010). Active perception: Sensorimotor circuits as a cortical basis for language. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(5), 351–360. 10.1038/nrn2811
- Richardson, D., & Matlock, T. (2007). The integration of figurative language and static depictions: An eye movement study of fictive motion. Cognition, 102(1), 129–138. 10.1016/j.cognition.2005.12.004
- Rosenthal, R. (1979). The file drawer problem and tolerance for null results. Psychological Bulletin, 86(3), 638–641. 10.1037/0033-2909.86.3.638
- Singmann, H., Bolker, B., Westfall, J., Aust, F., & Ben-Shachar, M. S. (2024). Afex: Analysis of Factorial Experiments. R package version 1.4-1. <
https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=afex > (Accessed 16 June 2025). - Slobin, D. I. (2006).
What makes manner of motion salient? Explorations in linguistic typology, discourse, and cognition . In M. Hickmann & S. Robert (Eds.), Space in Languages: Linguistic Systems and Cognitive Categories (Typological Studies in Language (Vol. 66, pp. 59–81). John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.66.05slo - Speed, L. J., & Majid, A. (2018). An Exception to Mental Simulation: No Evidence for Embodied Odor Language. Cognitive Science, 42(4), 1146–1178. 10.1111/cogs.12593
- Speed, L. J., van Dam, W. O., Hirath, P., Vigliocco, G., & Desai, R. H. (2017). Impaired comprehension of speed verbs in Parkinson’s disease. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 23(5), 412–420. 10.1017/S1355617717000248
- Speed, L. J., & Vigliocco, G. (2014). Eye movements reveal the dynamic simulation of speed in language. Cognitive Science, 38(2), 367–382. 10.1111/cogs.12096
- Spivey, M. J., & Geng, J. J. (2001). Oculomotor mechanisms activated by imagery and memory: Eye movements to absent objects. Psychological Research, 65(4), 235–241. 10.1007/s004260100059
- Stites, M. C., Luke, S. G., & Christianson, K. (2013). The psychologist said quickly, “Dialogue descriptions modulate reading speed!” Memory & Cognition, 41(1), 137–151. 10.3758/s13421-012-0248-7
- Stocker, K., Hartmann, M., Martarelli, C. S., & Mast, F. W. (2016). Eye Movements Reveal Mental Looking Through Time. Cognitive Science, 40(7), 1648–1670. 10.1111/cogs.12301
- Stockner, M., Mazzoni, G., Perrin, D., & Ianì, F. (2025). The same label, different processes: What lies behind the term “mental simulation” in the embodied cognition literature? Brain and Cognition, 188, 106335. 10.1016/j.bandc.2025.106335
- Taremaa, P., Kiik, J., Toots, L. K., & Veismann, A. (2024). Speed as a dimension of manner in Estonian frog stories. Nordic Journal of Linguistics, 47(2), 224–253. 10.1017/S0332586522000245
- Tettamanti, M., Buccino, G., Saccuman, M. C., Gallese, V., Danna, M., Scifo, P., Fazio, F., Rizzolatti, G., Cappa, S. F., & Perani, D. (2005). Listening to action-related sentences activates fronto-parietal motor circuits. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17(2), 273–281. 10.1162/0898929053124965
- Underwood, G., & Foulsham, T. (2006). Visual saliency and semantic incongruency influence eye movements when inspecting pictures. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59(11), 1931–1949. 10.1080/17470210500416342
- van Rij, J., Wieling, M., Baayen, H., & van Rijn, H. (2022). Itsadug: Interpreting Time Series and Autocorrelated Data Using GAMMs. R package version 2.4.1. <
https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/itsadug/index.html > (Accessed 16 June 2025). - Von Sobbe, L., Ulrich, R., Gangloff, L., Scheifele, E., & Maienborn, C. (2021). Is rushing always faster than strolling? A reaction time study on the processing of sentences containing manner of motion verbs. Acta Psychologica, 221, 103428. 10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103428
- Vukovic, N., Feurra, M., Shpektor, A., Myachykov, A., & Shtyrov, Y. (2017). Primary motor cortex functionally contributes to language comprehension: An online rTMS study. Neuropsychologia, 96, 222–229. 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.01.025
- Winter, A., Dudschig, C., Miller, J., Ulrich, R., & Kaup, B. (2022). The action-sentence compatibility effect (ACE): Meta-analysis of a benchmark finding for embodiment. Acta Psychologica, 230, 103712. 10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103712
- Wood, S. N. (2011). Fast Stable Restricted Maximum Likelihood and Marginal Likelihood Estimation of Semiparametric Generalized Linear Models. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B: Statistical Methodology, 73(1), 3–36. 10.1111/j.1467-9868.2010.00749.x
- Wood, S. N. (2017). Generalized Additive Models: An Introduction with R (2nd ed.). Chapman and Hall/CRC. 10.1201/9781315370279
- Wood, S. N. (2025). Mgcv: Mixed GAM Computation Vehicle with Automatic Smoothness Estimation. Version 1.9-3. <
https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/mgcv/index.html > (Accessed 16 June 2025). - Zwaan, R. A. (2003). The immersed experiencer: Toward an embodied theory of language comprehension. Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 44, 35–62. 10.1016/S0079-7421(03)44002-4
- Zwaan, R. A., & Pecher, D. (2012). Revisiting Mental Simulation in Language Comprehension: Six Replication Attempts. PLoS ONE, 7(12),
e51382 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0051382
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/joc.510 | Journal eISSN: 2514-4820
Language: English
Page range: 39 - 39
Submitted on: Nov 5, 2025
Accepted on: Jul 14, 2026
Published on: Aug 3, 2026
Published by: Ubiquity Press
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Keywords:
© 2026 Piia Taremaa, Nele Ots, Ann Veismann, Laura J. Speed, published by Ubiquity Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.