Where the 'bad' and the 'good' go: A multi-lab direct replication report of Casasanto (2009, Experiment 1).

Casasanto (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 138, 351-367, 2009) conceptualised the body-specificity hypothesis by empirically finding that right-handed people tend to associate a positive valence with the right side and a negative valence with the left side, whilst left-handed people tend to associate a positive valence with the left side and negative valence with the right side. Thus, this was the first paper that showed a body-specific space-valence mapping. These highly influential findings led to a substantial body of research and follow-up studies, which could confirm the original findings on a conceptual level.

Masked distress: The mediated effects of face masks on physical and emotional suffocation.

This study explores the effects of bodily states on emotions based on embodied cognition theories of conceptual metaphor and feelings-as-information theory. Specifically, it investigates how physical suffocation induced by mask-wearing affects perceptions of emotional suffocation related to one's romantic relationship and financial situation. In this quantitative online experiment, we employed a convenience sampling method through a crowdsourcing platform.

Can you imagine this? Imagined contact as a strategy to promote positive intergroup relations.

In comparison to the extensive body of research on intergroup contact, which encompasses predictors, outcomes, and implications, there has been relatively little attention given to the role of imagined contact with diverse ethno-religious out-groups. This gap particularly exists in understanding the factors that contribute to the effectiveness of imagined contact interventions. This article aims to address this gap by presenting current research on the predictors and consequences of imagined contact.

Is an outgroup welcome with open arms? Approach and avoidance motor activations and outgroup prejudice.

We examined the dynamics through which temporary motor cues of approach or avoidance directed to an outgroup member affect attitudes of majority members toward the minority outgroup. In Study 1 participants activated and maintained either arm flexion or arm extension, while facing a picture of an outgroup person wearing religious trappings. Thereafter, they filled a questionnaire which measured outgroup prejudice.

When the physical coldness in the viewer's environment leads to identification with a suffering protagonist.

Based on theories of narrative engagement and embodied cognition, we hypothesised that a fit between the psychological state of a protagonist and the physical sensation of the viewer would enhance the subsequent identification with the protagonist, but not para-social relationship with him (seeing the protagonist as a friend). We also hypothesised that identification and a para-social relationship would lead to distinct effects on attitudes related to the narrative. Participants (N = 60) were randomly assigned to either a warmed or cooled room where they watched a movie clip alone in which a suffering protagonist wanted to undergo euthanasia while his close others wanted him to stay alive.

Religious Primes and Threat-Perceptions as Predictors of Attitudes toward Muslims in Israel.

Three studies examined the influence of exposure to religious concepts on attitudes of Jews toward Muslims in Israel. Religious concepts were exposed by using either supraliminal (Study 1) or subliminal (Study 2) priming, hence tapping different levels of awareness. Comparable supraliminal and subliminal priming techniques were further employed to investigate the effects of participants' own religious content ("Jewish") and content representing the "other" religion ("Islamic") on attitudes of Jewish participants toward members of the Muslim group (Study 3).

Perceptual visual grouping under inattention: electrophysiological functional imaging.

Two types of perceptual visual grouping, differing in complexity of shape formation, were examined under inattention. Fourteen participants performed a similarity judgment task concerning two successive briefly presented central targets surrounded by task-irrelevant simple and complex grouping patterns. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 22 scalp electrodes and source current density estimations were conducted for the net response to the task-irrelevant background patterns, using low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA).

The time course of perceptual grouping: the role of segregation and shape formation.

The time course of perceptual grouping was examined in two experiments, using a primed matching task. In different conditions, elements were grouped into columns/rows by common lightness, into a shape (triangle/ arrow or square/cross) by common lightness, and into a shape without segregation of elements. The results showed an early and rapid grouping into columns/rows by common lightness and into a shape when no segregation from other elements was involved.

Flexible mental processes in numerical size judgments: the case of Hebrew letters that are used to convey numbers.

In addition to its primary linguistic function, the Hebrew alphabet is sometimes used as a means of number notation (i.e., the system of gematria).

Perceptual grouping and attention: not all groupings are equal.

We examined grouping under inattention using Driver, Davis, Russell, Turatto, & Freeman's (2001) method. On each trial, two successive displays were briefly presented, each comprising a central target square surrounded by elements. The task was to judge whether the two targets were the same or different.