Influences of negation on behavior, memory, and attitudeÂ
Project Overview
In psycholinguistics, research on negation typically focuses on how negation affects the processing of linguistic stimuli. Research on such broader effects of negation is still limited. This project addresses this gap by investigating how negation affects (1) behavior, (2) memory, and (3) attitude formation.
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Research Questions & Theoretical Framework
From a cognitive psychology perspective, however, language is also important because it is closely linked to general cognitive capacities. Linguistic negation has been argued to rely on processes usually considered non-linguistic, such as inhibition and suppression. Given these links, it is especially relevant to examine how negation influences processes beyond language comprehension. The project directly addresses the main research question of Domain C: What are the general properties of the processing and acquisition of negation, and which non-verbal and cognitive procedures interact with or resemble negation? We focus in particular on QC.1: Are there universal processes involved in the processing of negation?
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Methodologies & Data
This research will clarify how linguistic and non-linguistic cognition interact and will improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying negation processing. In further periods, this project plans to integrate findings from the CRC’s linguistic projects on different types of negation and test how well our results generalize to these structures. The research also aims to work to other non-linguistic domains, including perception, motivation, and emotion.
Publications
Schütt, E., Weicker, M., & Dudschig, C. (2024). Multimodal aspects of sentence comprehension: Do facial and color cues interact with processing negated and affirmative sentences? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 50(6), 957–966. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001302
Lago, S., Schulz, P., Rinke, E., Oltrogge, E., Dudschig, C., & Kaup, B. (2025). Insensitivity to truth-value in negated sentences: Does linear distance matter? In Proceedings of the 3rd Experiments in Linguistic Meaning Conference (ELM 3) (p. 214–223). Linguistic Society of America. https://doi.org/10.3765/elm.3.5797
Capuano, F., & Kaup, B. (2024). Pragmatic reasoning in GPT models: Replication of a subtle negation effect. In Proceedings of the 46th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (p. 3953–3959).
Kati, L., Sabinasz, D., Schöner, G., & Kaup, B. (2024). Interaction of polarity and truth value: A neural dynamic architecture of negation processing. In Proceedings of the 46th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (p. 1442–1448).
Smith, P., and Kaup, B. and Dudschig, C. (submitted 2026). Ironic Negation in Basic Cognitive Tasks: The Role of Cognitive Load and Instruction Recoding. Psychological Research
Kaup, B., Nibbenhagen, J., & Dudschig, C. (submitted 2025). Negation induced forgetting: Investigating potential boundary conditions.
van den Hoek Ostende, M., Simi, N., Svaldi, J., & Dudschig C.. (submitted 2026) Format Matters: Negation Processing in ADHD and Neurotypical Children Across Linguistic and Visual Domains.
Supervised student research projects
Maier, J. (2025). Does the frequency of using negation affect attitude formation? Bachelor’s thesis, Tübingen University.
Geier, N. (2025). Wort oder Bild – was negiert besser? Kognitive Effekte multimodaler Negationsformen. Bachelor’s thesis, Tübingen University
Gorks, J. (2025). Kommunikative Konsequenzen negierter Formulierungen bei der Beschreibung des Verhaltens anderer Personen: Eine Replikation in der deutschen Sprache mit Erweiterungen. Master’s thesis, Tübingen University.
Nimis, L. (2026). Verarbeitung von Negationssätzen: Effekte auf kognitive Flexibilität und weibliche Geschlechterstereotype in Abhängigkeit vom Satzinhalt. Master’s thesis, Tübingen University.
Sokyrskyy, V (ongoing). Expletive Negation. Master’s thesis, Tübingen University.
Kinzel, L. (ongoing). Negation and Cognitive Flexibility. Master’s thesis, Tübingen University.
Project Leaders
Dr. Carolin Dudschig
Dep. of Psychology, University of Tübingen
Prof. Barbara Kaup
Dep. of Psychology, University of Tübingen
