Metaphors We Learn By: Directed motor action improves word learning

Abstract

Can performing simple motor actions help people learn the meanings of words? Here we show that placing vocabulary flashcards in particular locations after studying them helps students learn the definitions of novel words with positive or negative emotional valence. After studying each card, participants placed it on one of two shelves (top or bottom), according to its valence. Participants who were instructed to place positive cards on the top shelf and negative cards on the bottom shelf, consistent with metaphors that link “good” with “up,” remembered the words’ definitions better than participants who followed the opposite spatial mapping, and better than control participants who placed all of the cards on the desktop. Saying “up” and “down” after studying the cards was ineffective, suggesting a privileged role for motor action in activating space-valence associations that partly constitute the meanings of emotionally charged words. These results provide a first demonstration that mental metaphors can be activated strategically to improve (or impair) word learning: We call this the strategic use of mental metaphor (SUMM) effect. Even when multiple factors known to enhance encoding of verbal materials into long-term memory were matched across conditions (e.g., study time, repetition, distinctiveness, depth of processing), metaphor-congruent motor actions led to better elaborated, more durable memories.