Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

This study investigates whether concrete visual referents modulate the processing of emotionally valenced abstract concepts. Using a picture-word interference paradigm, Spanish-speaking adults evaluated the valence of abstract adjectives while ignoring concurrent visual stimuli varying in shape (Kiki vs. Bouba), color (red vs. green), and spatial position (left vs. right). Accuracy and reaction times were analyzed using mixed-effects models. Results showed that color reliably influenced performance: congruent color-valence pairings (green-positive, red-negative) increased accuracy, and green selectively reduced reaction times for positive adjectives. Shape modulated reaction times only, with faster responses to positive adjectives paired with the Bouba shape. Spatial position did not interact with adjective valence in either measure. These findings indicate that concrete referents do not contribute equally to abstract concept processing and support embodied and multimodal accounts in which perceptual features, particularly color and shape, facilitate the online evaluation of abstract emotional meaning.