Perceiving power: A study of spatial relations as perceptual symbols

The Perky Effect (from Perky, 1910) broadly concerns the interaction of imagined and perceived stimuli. Typically this interaction has been interference, although some recent research has suggested language evoked spatial representations could actually facilitate perceptual task performance at corresponding spatial locations. The current study explored whether comprehending language interfered with or facilitated the perceptual task at the implied spatial locations as a matter of language length. In Study 1, participants read power words followed by a figure recognition task that appeared at either the upper or lower part of the screen. It was found comprehending power words interfered with perception of the visual stimulus at the implied spatial locations. Study 2 used the same paradigm but with power sentences. We failed to observe the interaction between the power sentences and the visual figure spatial location. The combined results of Study 1 and Study 2 suggest that the spatial mental representations of language are consistent with past perceptual research on the Perky Effect, but only as a short-lived phenomenon.