If Words Hurt, Can Tylenol Help? Testing for an embodied basis of pain-related meaning in words

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between physical pain sensitivity and word meaning perception, building on findings by Reuter et al. (2016) that individuals experiencing higher levels of pain associate words more strongly with pain. Grounded in the Body-Specificity Hypothesis (BSH; Casasanto, 2009), the research aims to elucidate the mechanisms by which physical pain influences cognitive interpretations of language. A pharmaceutical intervention utilizing an analgesic will be employed to investigate these effects.