Previous research has shown that motor information influences visual and semantic tasks. However, not much is known about the specific influence of structural, action-relevant information on language processing. In the current study, participants were instructed to observe a prime graspable object (e.g., a frying pan) that could be presented with the action-relevant component (that is its handle) oriented either toward the left or toward the right. Subsequently, they performed a property verification task on a following target word, which could describe an action-relevant (e.g., handle) or action-irrelevant (e.g., ceramic) characteristic of the just-encountered object. They were required to make a keypress response with either a key on the same side as the depicted action-relevant component of the prime object (that is compatible key) or on the opposite side (that is incompatible key). Results show that property verification judgements for action-relevant words were faster in the spatially compatible condition than in the spatially incompatible condition, whereas judgements for action-irrelevant target words were not affected by spatial compatibility. These findings suggest that spatialized object properties are not mandatorily linked to manual response biases. Rather, this link seems to be modulated by trial-by-trial changes in conceptual focus.

Language is known to interact flexibly with non-verbal representations, but the processing mechanisms governing these interactions remain unclear. This article reviews general cognitive processes that operate across various tasks and stimulus types and argues that these processes may drive the interactions between language and cognition, regardless of whether these interactions occur cross-linguistically or within a language. These general processes include goal-directed behaviour, reliance on context-relevant semantic knowledge and attuning to task demands. An overview of existing findings suggests that resorting to language in non-verbal or multi-modal tasks may depend on how linguistic representations align with current task goals and demands. Progress in understanding these mechanisms requires theories that make specific processing predictions about how tasks and experimental contexts encourage or discourage access to linguistic knowledge. Systematic testing of alternative mechanisms is necessary to explain how and why linguistic information influences some cognitive tasks but not others.

The integration of multiple linguistic modules – syntax, semantics and pragmatics – poses a persistent challenge for adult second language (L2) learners, as posited by the interface hypothesis (IH). This study examines how crosslinguistic influence impacts L2 learners’ acquisition and processing of Korean quotative constructions at the syntax–semantics–pragmatics interface. Using offline acceptability judgment and online self-paced reading tasks, we compared Japanese- and Chinese-speaking learners of Korean. The results revealed that Japanese-speaking learners outperformed Chinese-speaking learners in offline tasks, demonstrating native-like sensitivity to case-marking constraints, likely due to the structural similarities between Japanese and Korean. However, neither learner group exhibited sensitivity to case-marking violations during real-time processing, unlike native Korean speakers. These findings suggest a dissociation between explicit knowledge and online processing abilities, supporting the IH and emphasizing the persistent challenges of integrating multiple linguistic domains in L2 processing. This study underscores the role of crosslinguistic influence in facilitating explicit knowledge acquisition while revealing its limitations in fostering native-like automaticity in online processing.

Whether or not pre-planning extends beyond the initial noun in a noun phrase depends, in part, on the phrase’s dependency structure. Dependency structure disambiguates, in many contexts, the noun phrase’s reference. In the present experiment (N = 64), we demonstrate that advance planning is affected by the extent to which a dependency supports semantic disambiguation. Participants produced noun phrases in response to picture arrays. Syntax and lexemes were held constant, but semantic scope was manipulated by varying the contrastive functions of the first and the second noun. Evidence from eye-movement data revealed a stronger tendency for early planning in the extended scope condition. This is evidence that pre-planning requirements of structurally complex noun phrases are, in at least some contexts, determined by semantic functions.

This study investigated the effects of audience design and goal bias in Chinese speakers’ message generation of source-goal motion events (e.g., A bird flies from the tree to the house), using picture description and memory tasks. The status of the source (e.g., the tree) or the goal (e.g., the house) was manipulated as known or unknown to the confederate addressees. The findings revealed that the participants were more likely to omit the sources when they were mutually known to the addressee than when they were not. However, participants showed similar accuracy in detecting source changes, regardless of whether the sources were known to the addressee. Moreover, they consistently mentioned goals and showed similar accuracy in detecting goal changes, regardless of whether the goals were known or unknown to the addressee. The results suggest that audience design influenced the speakers’ mention of sources, but not their memory of them. It did not affect either the mention or the memory of goals. Goal bias was not consistently observed across the two experiments, both linguistically and in memory. This suggests a fragile goal bias in Chinese. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that audience design and goal bias influence the message generation of motion events in Chinese speakers.