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AUTHOR'S PROOF JrnlID 13423_ArtID 229_Proof# 1 - 11/02/2012 Psychon Bull Rev DOI 10.3758/s13423-012-0229-7 1 3 BRIEF REPORT 2 4 The QWERTY Effect: How typing shapes the meanings 5 of words. 6 Kyle Jasmin & Daniel Casasanto 7 8 # The Author(s) 2012. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com 9 10 Abstract The QWERTY keyboard mediates communication in valence, on average, than words with more left-side letters: 22 11 for millions of language users. Here, we investigated whether the QWERTY effect. This effect was strongest in new words 23 12 differences in the way words are typed correspond to differ- coined after QWERTY was invented and was also found in 24 13 ences in their meanings. Some words are spelled with more pseudowords. Although these data are correlational, the dis- 25 14 letters on the right side of the keyboard and others with more covery of a similar pattern across languages, which was stron- 26 15 letters on the left. In three experiments, we tested whether gest in neologisms, suggests that the QWERTY keyboard is 27 16 asymmetries in the way people interact with keys on the right shaping the meanings of words as people filter language 28 17 and left of the keyboard influence their evaluations of the through their fingers. Widespread typing introduces a new 29 18 emotional valence of the words. We found the predicted mechanism by which semantic changes in language can arise. 30 19 relationship between emotional valence and QWERTY key 20 position across three languages (English, Spanish, and Dutch). Keywords Motor action . Meaning . Orthography. Typing . 31 21 Words with more right-side letters were rated as more positive QWERTY. Valence 32 Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.3758/s13423-012-0229-7) contains supplementary material, For many people, language may be typed and read almost as 33 which is available to authorized users. much as it is spoken and heard. The phrase “talk to you 34 later” (abbreviated ttyl)oftenmeansthatconversational 35 K. Jasmin Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, partners will continue “talking” with their fingers. When 36 London, UK UNCORRECTEDthey do, they PROOF are likely to use the QWERTY keyboard. 37 The QWERTY layout was invented in 1868 (Logan & 38 K. Jasmin Crump, 2011) and later sold to Remington to replace their 39 Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, alphabetical layout, which caused neighboring keys to jam 40 Bethesda, MD, USA during fast typing. QWERTY was designed to separate 41 frequently used letter pairs to opposite sides of the keyboard, 42 K. Jasmin : D. Casasanto avoiding mechanical clashes. Additionally, QWERTY placed 43 Neurobiology of Language Department, MPI for Psycholinguistics, the letters in “T-y-p-e W-r-i-t-e-r” conveniently on the top row 44 Nijmegen, NL, USA of keys, to help salesmen tap out what was, at one time, a 45 brand name (David, 1985). 46 D. Casasanto The QWERTY keyboard is now everywhere in our cul- 47 Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, & Behaviour, Nijmegen, NL, USA ture. Coffee shop chatter is being replaced by the sound of 48 clicking keystrokes. Smart phones and laptops let people 49 D. Casasanto (*) type messages virtually anywhere. Routinely, language is 50 Department of Psychology, The New School for Social Research, produced without speech. When linguists and psychologists 51 80 Fifth Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10011, USA talk about the articulators used in language production, they 52 e-mail: [email protected] usually mean parts of the vocal tract. But increasingly, the 53 AUTHOR'SJrnlID 13423_ArtID 229_Proof# PROOF 1 - 11/02/2012 Psychon Bull Rev 54 articulators that produce our day-to-day language are the QWERTY’sinventionshowastrongerassociationbe- 107 55 fingers. tween key position and valence than do older words. In 108 56 The way words are articulated with the mouth is related Experiment 3, we tested whether QWERTY key position 109 57 to their meaning. Although many sound–meaning mappings affects the valence of pseudowords that have never been seen 110 58 are arbitrary (de Saussure, 1966), there are aspects of mean- or typed. 111 59 ing that appear to be nonarbitrarily linked to the configura- 60 tion of the vocal tract articulators used to produce them 61 (Ohala, 1984). Here, we propose a link between the mean- Experiment 1: Does QWERTY predict valence ratings 112Q1 62 ings of words and the action of the manual articulators used for words across languages? 113 63 for typing them. Because patterns of articulation are not 64 independent of meaning, typing may introduce a new mech- Experiment 1 tested for associations between the side of the 114 65 anism by which semantic changes in language can arise. QWERTY keyboard on which letters are located and the 115 66 Typing is a special kind of motor action. Performing motor emotional valence of words that are spelled with these 116 67 actions fluently generally leads to positive feelings and eval- letters, in three languages. 117 68 uations (Oppenheimer, 2008;Ping,Dhillon,&Beilock, 69 2009). Therefore, if letters on one side of the keyboard can 70 be typed more fluently than letters on the other side, motor Method 118 71 fluency could mediate relationships between the locations of 72 letters on the QWERTY keyboard and the valence of the Materials and procedure We analyzed valence-normed words 119 73 words they compose (i.e., the positivity or negativity of their from three corpora (see Appendix A in the Supplementary 120 74 meanings). online materials): the Affective Norms for English Words cor- 121 75 The QWERTY keyboard is asymmetrical: There are pus (ANEW; Bradley & Lang, 1999), and two translation 122 76 more letters on the left of the midline than on the right. equivalents of ANEW in Spanish (SPANEW; Redondo, 123 77 Therefore, striking one key among its neighbors should be Fraga, Padrón, & Comesaña, 2007)andDutch(DANEW). 124 78 more difficult on the left side of the keyboard than on the right ANEW consists of 1,034 words. Participants used a 125 79 side, due to greater response competition (Ridderinkhof, van pencil to rate valence on a 9-point scale composed of five 126 80 den Wildenberg, Segalowitz, & Carter, 2004). This proposal is self-assessment manikins (SAMs), which ranged from a 127 81 supported by reaction time data showing that when partici- smiling figure at the positive end of the scale to a frowning 128 82 pants are presented with letters in isolation and are asked to figure at the negative end. Participants were told to mark one 129 83 press the corresponding keys, they are faster to type letters of the manikins or a space between two adjacent manikins (see 130 84 from the right side of the keyboard than from the left (Logan, Bradley & Lang, 1999). In SPANEW, translations of the 131 85 2003). Since this left–right asymmetry is built into the key- ANEW words were rated by native Spanish speakers using a 132 86 board, it should affect skilled and unskilled typists alike. similar procedure (see Redondo et al., 2007). 133 87 If letters on the right of the keyboard are easier to type, DANEW was created for the present study, adapting 134 88 this should lead to positive feelings when people type words Bradley and Lang’s(1999) procedure for computerized data 135 89 composed of more right-side letters and negative feelings collection (see Appendix B in the Supplementary online 136 90 when they type words composedUNCORRECTED of more left-side letters. materials). The PROOF 1,034 ANEW words were translated into 137 91 Associations between typing fluency and emotion could Dutch by a native speaker. Three of the English words 138 92 cause “right-side words” to acquire more positive valences translated to the same Dutch word. Removing these dupli- 139 93 and “left-side words” more negative valences. People who cates left 1,031 words in the sample. Each of the participants 140 94 know how to type implicitly activate the positions of keys (N 0 132 native Dutch speakers; 14 left-handers, 118 right- 141 95 when they read words (Logan & Crump, 2011;Rieger, handers by self-report) saw 85 of the translated ANEW 142 96 2004). Therefore, typing experience could influence the words intermixed with 74 words from an unrelated experi- 143 97 valence of words that people read or speak even when ment, which served as fillers. Participants saw words one at 144 98 people are not typing, as has been shown previously for a time and rated them for emotional valence on 9-point 145 99 evaluations of meaningless letter strings (e.g., Beilock & SAM scales (ratings for arousal, dominance, imageability, 146 100 Holt, 2007; Van den Bergh, Vrana, & Eelen, 1990). and concreteness were also collected; see Appendix B). 147 101 Here, we explored the relationship between QWERTY Whereas ANEW and SPANEW participants used pencil 148 102 key position and word meaning in three experiments. In and paper, DANEW participants responded by clicking 149 103 Experiment 1, we tested for associations between left–right one of nine radio buttons located beside the five manikins 150 104 key position and emotional valence in words from three or between two manikins. In ANEW and SPANEW, the 151 105 QWERTY-using languages (English, Spanish, and Dutch). manikins were arranged from left to right. In DANEW, the 152 106 In Experiment 2, we tested whether words coined after manikins were arranged vertically on the screen, to avoid 153 AUTHOR'S PROOF JrnlID 13423_ArtID 229_Proof# 1 - 11/02/2012 Psychon Bull Rev 154 any unintended interactions between a left–right rating scale RSA remained a significant predictor of valence when word 197 155 and the left–right positions of the letters that composed length, letter frequency, language, and their interactions were 198 156 stimulus words.