The cross-linguistic stability of relative embodiment: a multi-experiment study on the processing of Italian verbs

After decades of debate, a large part of the psycholinguistic literature agrees with the assumption that embodied features are involved in linguistic processes. In particular, this thesis focuses on the role of relative embodiment (RE), an index of the involvement of sensory-motor and bodily information, in lexical and semantic access of Italian verbs. Since previous studies on English verbs highlighted the influential role of RE in facilitating linguistic processing, the main goal of this work is to clarify if RE level can also facilitate the processing of Italian verbs. To do this, three tasks were used: one lexical decision task (LDT) and two grammatical decision tasks (GDT) with different verb forms. In the LDT experiment, results showed a facilitatory effect of RE, with verbs with higher RE levels being associated with faster responses compared with low-level RE verbs. In GDT experiments, RE facilitatory effect was not present, questioning its role in grammar-related tasks. In line with the idea of semantic richness, this evidence suggests an influential role of embodied features on lexical access but questions its contribution in grammatical-related tasks (GDT). This dissociation, not found in English studies, is assumed to be due to specific morphological characteristics of the Italian language and highlights a cross-linguistical difference between Italian and English. In this respect, embodied features are important for linguistic processes, but according to the task and level of required semantic processing.