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In:Conceptualizations of Time
Edited by Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk
[Human Cognitive Processing 52] 2016
► pp. 103–122

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The Mental Timeline During the Processing of Linguistic Information

Published online: 14 June 2016
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.52.06eik
There is ample evidence that people use spatial concepts to think and speak about time. Consistent with this notion, recent reaction time experiments have documented that the spatial coordinates of responses influence speeded decisions regarding temporal information. Specifically, classifying temporal linguistic information produces a space-time congruency effect on reaction time when responses with the left and right hand are arranged on the left-right axis. A similar effect can be observed for responses that consist of movements along the back-front axis. These findings are consistent with the view that time runs from left to right or from back to front. In the present article we review these results and assess the linguistic relevance of these two mental timelines for the comprehension of linguistic information at the word and sentence level.
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