Mental simulation of the factual and the illusory in negation processing: evidence from anticipatory eye movements on a blank screen

Vanek, Norbert; Matić Škorić, Ana; Košutar, Sara; Matějka, Štěpán; Stone, Kate

Abstract

How do comprehenders process negative statements such as The fish is not jumping out of the water? Opinions vary. Some argue for two steps, namely that processing starts off with the representation of the positive/illusory [fish jumping out of the water] and then shifts to the (f)actual. To test this idea, we measured fixations on the factual (fish not jumping) versus the illusory (fish jumping) during auditory processing of negation and affirmation. We tested speakers of English (single-cued negation) and Croatian (double-cued negation) and focused on anticipatory fixations in the absence of pictures to indicate the strength of mental simulations. Our findings contribute to negation processing research in two ways. First, dominant anticipatory fixations on the factual suggest a direct rather than a two-step process. Second, time-sensitive insights from two languages call for a finer-grained account of negation processing with negation-specific support of inferences of the factual over the illusory.

Citation

Vanek, N., Matić Škorić, A., Košutar, S., Matějka, Š., & Stone, K. (2024). Mental simulation of the factual and the illusory in negation processing: evidence from anticipatory eye movements on a blank screen. Scientific reports, 14(1), Article 2844. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53353-0

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 31, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Feb 3, 2024
• Publication Date: Feb 3, 2024
• Deposit Date: Feb 24, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 24, 2025
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Print ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 2844
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53353-0
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/5044243