Does Body-Specificity Stand on Solid Ground? Z-Curving the Association Between Emotional Valence and Lateral Space

Abstract

The body-specificity hypothesis proposes that people with different bodies should also have different conceptual systems. The test case of this hypothesis has been the association of emotional valence (good vs. bad) with lateral space (left vs. right) in people of different handedness. As expected, right-handers tend to associate the good with the right space, whereas left-handers show the opposite association. This body-specific effect has been very influential and followed up by an important number of studies. Here, we undertake a systematic examination of the quality of this literature by means of z-curve analysis. The results show that the expected replicability rate (statistical power) of this literature is reasonably high (71−76%), especially for those studies using binomial tasks and those that entail the severest tests for the hypothesis, whereas it is lower in reaction time studies. Moreover, the presence of publication bias cannot be statistically asserted. All in all, the literature on space-valence body-specificity appears solid, although there is still room for improvement.