I was speaking with a new friend of mine about my usage of the word “shit”. I say shit very often. This made me curious as to whether there were any experiments investigating word usage and their potential imprint on the psyche. Personally, I think the use of negative language may have poor consequences in terms of mental health; language is powerful and has the potential to perpetuate emotional states and infiltrate our perspective.
Two days ago an article was published providing evidence that cortical oscillations categorically fluctuate in association with conceptual metaphors (Huang, Xie, & Wang, 2018). Conceptual metaphor theory is derived from the idea that abstract affective words coordinate with concrete spatial information. This theory was generated via embodied cognition, which suggests that affective concepts are grounded in the physical realm - and that cognition is grounded in bodily states. A good example of this was presented by Xie, Wang, and Chang (2014):
“People often say “feeling down” or “cheer up” in daily life. These phrases use spatial information to understand affective concepts.”
Valence-space metaphors employ spacial (“down/up”) information to distinguish affective concepts. To date, there is really nothing known about the neural oscillations underlying these phonetic/expressive associations.
Huang and colleagues (2018) used electroencephalographic (EEG) time-frequency analysis to record oscillatory activities related in conjunction with valence-space association processing. The experiment was actually quite simple.
Participants memorized a positive or a negative word. A dot was then shown to them on a screen at a high or low position (centered horizontally). The participant’s electrical activities were recorded as the dot was detected. It was found that participants detecting the lower spacial cue who had memorized a negative word had suppression of both delta and alpha waves (in comparison to when they memorized a positive word). Memorization of a positive word and attention towards the higher spacial cue suppressed theta waves (in comparison to when they memorized a negative word). This suggests that desynchronization of oscillations are event related, and occur when processing valence-space associations related to many aspects of cognition.
I really enjoy researching oscillations, particularly those occurring during sleep stages. However, the problem with studies such as these is that they are not very applicable to daily life. Well, I suppose I was just hoping to find EEG results that indicate what effects occur as a result of saying "shit". Nobody has done a study like that, and I doubt anyone will. So I'll just have to do it.
Huang, Y., Xie, J., & Wang, R. (2018). Electroencephalography delta, theta, and alpha oscillations in valence-space metaphorical associations. Neuroreport.
Xie, J., Wang, R., & Chang, S. (2014). The Mechanism of Valence-Space Metaphors: ERP Evidence for Affective Word Processing. PLOS ONE, 9(6), e99479.