Situated

Neuroscience

Perception

Sensory system

Philosophy

Cognitive psychology

Artificial intelligence

Psychology

Metaphor

Computer science

Linguistics

Social psychology

Social Psychological and Personality Science

Bodily sensations impact metaphorically related judgments. Are such effects obligatory or do they follow the logic of knowledge accessibility? If the latter, the impact of sensory information should be moderated by the accessibility of the related metaphor at the time of sensory experience. We manipulated whether “importance” was on participants’ minds when they held a physically heavy versus light book. Participants held the book while making an importance judgment versus returned it before making the judgment (Study 1) or learned prior to holding the book that the study was about “importance evaluations” versus “graphics evaluations” (Study 2). In both studies, the same book was judged more important when its heft was increased but only when importance was on participants’ minds at the time of sensory experience. We conclude that sensory experiences only impact metaphorically related judgments when the applicable metaphor is highly accessible at the time of experience.

Situated Embodiment: When Physical Weight Does and Does Not Inform Judgments of Importance