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  • Perceptual effects of lingu...
    IJzerman, Hans; Regenberg, Nina F.E.; Saddlemyer, Justin; Koole, Sander L.

    Acta psychologica, 05/2015, Volume: 157
    Journal Article

    Linguistic category priming is a novel paradigm to examine automatic influences of language on cognition (Semin, 2008). An initial article reported that priming abstract linguistic categories (adjectives) led to more global perceptual processing, whereas priming concrete linguistic categories (verbs) led to more local perceptual processing (Stapel & Semin, 2007). However, this report was compromised by data fabrication by the first author, so that it remains unclear whether or not linguistic category priming influences perceptual processing. To fill this gap in the literature, the present article reports 12 studies among Dutch and US samples examining the perceptual effects of linguistic category priming. The results yielded no evidence of linguistic category priming effects. These findings are discussed in relation to other research showing cultural variations in linguistic category priming effects (IJzerman, Saddlemyer, & Koole, 2014). The authors conclude by highlighting the importance of conducting and publishing replication research for achieving scientific progress. •Stapel fabricated data that suggested verb (vs. adj.) priming leads to concrete foci.•Prior and after his exposure, we “replicated” these hypotheses.•Across 12 studies, we fail to find the effect.•We discuss the benefits of data sharing and replications.