The present study explores the role of language in establishing the lateral space-valence mappings in mind. According to the body specificity hypothesis, regardless of linguistic and cultural conventions, "goodness" in people's minds is associated with the body's dominant side. The current study explores the language's influence on conceptualizing spatial metaphors by comparing two right-handed groups with similar cultural experiences but different language patterns. We used a computer-based task to compare the conceptual mappings between the right/left sides of space and emotional valence in Persian speakers and Persian Sign language users. Our result showed that right-handed Persian speakers strongly relate positive emotions to the right side and negative emotions to the left. This result is predictable by the effects of both linguistic and bodily experiences that are consistent in this case. However, in the case of Persian Sign language users, the bodily and linguistic experiences disagreed. Our finding showed that Sign language participants disregarding their bodily experiences, followed their linguistic patterns.
Keywords: Body specificity hypothesis; Conceptual metaphor; Embodied cognition; Emotional valence; Sign language.
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