Can you feel meaning? Spirituality involves stronger sensorimotor grounding of abstract concepts

Understanding abstract phenomena is a fundamental human need. Emerging evidence increasingly points to the multidimensionality of abstract knowledge representations, with theories emphasising the importance of both embodied and linguistic influences. In the present paper, we argue that the strength with which embodiment shapes the representation of abstract concepts is moderated by cultural beliefs about ontological meaning. Specifically, we predicted that self-identified spirituality—a belief system guided by experiential approach to understanding reality—contributes to greater sensorimotor grounding of abstract concepts. As hypothesised, across 4 studies (N = 729; in the US and UK), Western spiritual beliefs involved stronger sensorimotor associations for highly abstract compared to concrete concepts. Importantly, religious beliefs that conceptually overlap with spirituality did not contribute to these associations. Further, as spiritual beliefs often involve greater rejection of external forms of knowledge, we also explored whether sensorimotor grounding predicted science rejection. Yet, these results were inconclusive. Altogether, individual differences in belief systems guide the mental representation of abstract concepts, with spiritual individuals likely feeling the meaning of words through linking abstract thought with bodily experiences.