Using an action compatibility task, we investigated whether POWER is embodied in terms of upward and downward movement in two languages (first and dominant language: Chinese; second language: English). Chinese-English bilinguals were asked to quickly and accurately categorize power-related words (e.g., “boss,” “intern”) as “powerful” or “powerless.” The response to indicate that the word was “powerful” required an upward movement in the compatible condition, while the response to indicate “powerless” involved a downward movement. These responses were reversed in the incompatible condition (“powerful”-downward/“powerless”-upward). When the response actions were compatible rather than incompatible, participants were faster to categorize the words. Furthermore, the action compatibility effect was observed in both languages, but surprisingly the action compatibility effect was larger in their L2. The findings support the psychological reality of the “POWER IS UP” conceptual metaphor that is active when participants process language in both their primary and secondary languages.
