Influencing Categorical Choices Through Physical Object Interaction

Recent research has shown that action knowledge influences categorical decisions (Borghi, Flumini, Natraj & Wheaton, 2012; Chao & Martin, 2000; Iachini, Borghi & Senese, 2008; Kalénine, Shapiro, Flumini, Borghi & Buxbaum, 2013). Shipp, Vallée-Tourangeau, and Anthony, (2014) showed that action influences categorisation in a forced-choice triad task when combined with taxonomic information and presented within a functional context. The present experiment examined whether participants would be more likely to match items in a triad task based on shared actions following priming with the functional actions of the objects. Participants engaged in the triad task used in Shipp et al. after a priming phase where they either interacted with a series of objects for their functional capacity (Action Priming), grouped them into categories (Taxonomic Priming) or moved them from one table to another (Movement Priming). Items within the triads were presented as an image either on a white background (context-lean condition) or as a functional scene with the object being used by an agent (context-rich condition). Consistent with Shipp et al. the results showed that action was primarily used to base choices on the triad task when the action choice also shared a taxonomic relation, and was presented in context. Additionally, participants were more likely to select the action related item when they had been primed with the functional action of the objects. The results are discussed in terms of the transfer effect from the object interaction task that facilitates how the objects are simulated (Barsalou, 1999, 2003; Yeh & Barsalou, 2006).