When we feel happy we say that it has given us a “high”, while when we feel down we argue that we have “low morale.” These expressions are not simple metaphors. Researchers at Radboud University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, recently discovered thatcertain motor actions such as moving objects from one box to another located at a higher height encourage the memory of happier experienceswhile the downward movement reminds us of fewer joyous occasions. The results of the study were published in the journalCognition.
In the experiment to check the possiblerelationships between perception of space and emotions, the team asked the volunteers to recount autobiographical memories as they moved the objects, saying, for example, “describe to me a time when you were proud of yourself” or “tell me about a situation in which you felt ashamed.” Participants counted their positive memories more quickly when moving objects up and slower when lowering them.
The researchers carried out a second series of tests to see if motor actions could also influence the theme of memories. Several requests were made to the volunteers to remember their days as students, so that the subjects could choose between a happy story or a sad one. Again it was shown that the sense of movement of objects influenced memories. The upward movement brought back memories such as winning prizes, while the downward movement was associated with negative aspects such as a failure in an exam.
Not in vainwe associate happiness or sadness with spatial metaphors, such as “being on top” or “in seventh heaven.”, common expressions that denote a positive mental state; while to indicate a negative one it is said “to be sunk” or “in the doldrums”. These linguistic metaphors indicate that we establish connections between emotional states and words referring to space. “The data suggest that emotional spatial metaphors are not a mere linguistic issue,” said the research team leader, Daniel Casasanto, of Radboud University of Nijmegen. «These linguistic metaphors refer to other mental ones and the activation ofthe mental metaphor “good is up” can evoke more positive thoughts.»
