Department of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences, Tilburg University.
Cogn Sci. 2022 Sep;46(9):e13193. doi: 10.1111/cogs.13193.
The in-out effect refers to the tendency that novel words whose consonants follow an inward-wandering pattern (e.g., P-T-K) are rated more positively than stimuli whose consonants follow an outward-wandering pattern (e.g., K-T-P). While this effect appears to be reliable, it is not yet clear to what extent it generalizes to existing words in a language. In two large-scale studies, we sought to extend the in-out effect from pseudowords to real words and from perception to production. In Study 1, we investigated whether previously collected affective ratings for English and Dutch words were more positive for inward-wandering words and more negative for outward-wandering words. No systematic relationship between wandering direction and affective valence was found. In Study 2, we investigated whether inward-wandering words are more likely to occur in positive online consumer restaurant reviews written in English and Dutch, compared to negative reviews, and whether this association was stronger for food ratings than for decor ratings. Again, no systematic relationship between wandering direction and review rating emerged. We suggest that the affective states triggered by different consonantal wandering directions might be used as a cue for forming judgments in the absence of other information, but that wandering direction is too low in salience to drive the shape of words in the lexicon.
内外效应指的是，当一个新单词的辅音呈现出向内曲折的模式（如 P-T-K）时，该单词会比那些呈现出向外曲折模式（如 K-T-P）的刺激物得到更高的评价。虽然这种效应似乎是可靠的，但它在多大程度上适用于语言中现有的单词还不清楚。在两项大规模研究中，我们试图将内外效应从假词扩展到真词，从感知扩展到产生。在研究 1 中，我们调查了英语和荷兰语单词的先前收集的情感评价是否对向内曲折的单词更积极，对向外曲折的单词更消极。我们没有发现曲折方向和情感效价之间存在系统的关系。在研究 2 中，我们调查了与负面评价相比，英语和荷兰语的在线消费者餐厅评价中，积极评价中是否更有可能出现向内曲折的单词，而对于食物评价的这种关联是否比对于装饰评价的关联更强。同样，我们也没有发现曲折方向和评论评分之间存在系统的关系。我们认为，不同辅音曲折方向所引发的情感状态可能被用作在缺乏其他信息的情况下形成判断的线索，但曲折方向的显著性太低，无法影响词汇中的单词形状。
