Sensorimotor experiences with the world shape how we process and understand language. But does sensorimotor grounding consistently enhance our ability to recognise and remember words?

The lecture by Dr Agata Dymarska from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań will take place at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University (nám. Jana Palacha 1/2, Prague 1, room no. P018) on 20 January 2026 at 10:00–11:30 am.

The talk will focus on research findings about the role of sensorimotor information in forming conceptual representations and in memory for words. Lexical decision and word recognition memory tasks show that some aspects of sensorimotor strength are unhelpful or even detrimental to our ability to recognise and remember words. Additionally, most research is focused on English or languages from the Romance and Germanic families.

Dr Dymarska will discuss unanswered questions regarding the involvement of sensorimotor strength in language processing and conceptual representations, and possible avenues for future investigation about the effects across Central European languages and in bilingual individuals.