About

Daniel Casasanto is associated with the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research at Cornell University. The center assists faculty in developing translational research projects by providing support such as proposal preparation assistance, training, technical support, and help in brokering collaborative relationships. The center also offers workshops on translational research, an intensive summer institute, and talks on current research topics. While specific details about Dr. Casasanto's individual research focus or background are not provided in the page text, his affiliation with the center indicates his involvement in translational research efforts aimed at applying scientific findings to practical and societal issues.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Sociology
• Psychology
• Cognitive psychology
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social psychology
• Anthropology
• Ecology
• Biology
• Neuroscience

Selected publications

• The long and small of it: language shapes duration estimation in speakers of English and Greek

  Language and Cognition · 2026-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Does the way people talk about time affect how they think about it? Whereas English speakers describe the duration of events most often in terms of spatial length (e.g., a long night), Greek speakers tend to talk about duration in terms of multidimensional spatial size (e.g., mia megali nychta, tr. a big night) or amount (e.g., poli ora, tr. much time). After quantifying these linguistic patterns, we gave non-linguistic tests of duration estimation to English and Greek speakers. English speakers’ estimates were influenced more strongly by irrelevant length information and Greek speakers’ by irrelevant amount information, consistent with verbal metaphors for duration in English and Greek. Next, we tested duration estimation with concurrent verbal interference, to confirm that the observed effects did not depend on participants verbally labeling the stimuli during the task. Finally, we trained English speakers to use Greek-like metaphors for duration, which resulted in Greek-like performance on a non-linguistic duration estimation task. Results show that (a) people who talk about time differently also think about it differently, (b) these effects are not due to participants’ using verbal labels during the task, and (c) language can play a causal role in shaping even basic non-linguistic mental representations of time.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Action and abstraction: Motor interference changes meaning in language understanding

  Journal of Memory and Language · 2026-02-19

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Unconscious semantic processing: Insights from metaphorical priming

  Consciousness and Cognition · 2026-03-10

  articleOpen access

  • The extent to which word representations are accessible outside of conscious awareness is still debated. • This study investigates subliminal semantic processing using a masked priming paradigm. • Two experiments compared spatial metaphors of time and numbers, distinguishing linguistic vs. conceptual-only mappings. • Results showed that subliminal priming occurred only for linguistic metaphors, while conscious priming emerged for both. The limits of unconscious processing in the semantic domain are highly debated. While prior research presents polarized views on whether word representations are accessible when presented subliminally, this work proposes a more fine-grained investigation into which aspects of word meaning can be accessed unconsciously. Specifically, we explore the conditions under which high-level semantic information, such as metaphorical relations, can be processed subliminally. We rely on space–time and space-number metaphorical mappings, which have been observed in many experiments as well as in spontaneous behavior, such as the association of the past (or subtraction) and the future (or addition) with “left” and “right”, respectively. We exploited the fact that some of these conceptual associations (i.e., sagittal or vertical mappings) are also present in language (e.g., “you have a bright future in front of you”; “taxes are going down”), whereas others (i.e., lateral mapping) are not (e.g., “you have a bright future on your right”; “taxes are going left”). In two experiments, space–time and space-number semantic priming consistent with canonical metaphorical mappings emerged when both prime (e.g., “right”) and target (e.g., “tomorrow”) were consciously perceived, confirming their conceptual association. However, with masked priming, only language-encoded associations were activated. These results suggest that consciousness is necessary to process even ubiquitous and overlearned metaphorical associations and that putatively unconscious semantic priming, when present, may be lexical in nature.

  PublisherDOI

• Deus ex machina: The COVID-19 pandemic and young adults’ religiosity, temporal values, and time spatialization across cultures.

  Psychology of Religion and Spirituality · 2025-04-17

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Replication of Prefrontal Asymmetry in Approach-Avoidance Motivation in fMRI

  Underline Science Inc. · 2025-06-18

  otherOpen access

  A large body of research suggests that approach-related emotional states are lateralized to the left prefrontal cortex (Harmon-Jones et & Gable, 2018). However, because affective motivation and valence have often been entangled in experimental designs, it is unclear which construct drives this laterality. In one fMRI study designed to dissociate motivation and valence, Berkman and Lieberman (2010) found that approach motivation was more left-lateralized than avoidance motivation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), controlling for valence. Our study did not replicate this key finding from Berkman and Lieberman (2010). Furthermore, whereas Berkman and Lieberman (2010) found that individuals' trait approach motivation predicted the laterality of approach-related DLPFC activity, we found that trait approach motivation predicted the laterality of positive valence, controlling for motivation. Overall, our results do not provide any clear support for the 'textbook' model of affective motivation in the frontal lobes.

  PublisherDOI

• PSYCH 6655- Spring 2025

  eCommons (Cornell University) · 2025-01-01

  otherOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  MVR G335

  PublisherOA PDF

• COGST 2200- Fall 2025

  eCommons (Cornell University) · 2025-08-01

  other1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

• Frequency asymmetries in vision: The action asymmetry hypothesis.

  Journal of Experimental Psychology General · 2025-06-26

  articleSenior author

  According to a large body of research, the left and right cerebral hemispheres are specialized for different frequencies, in vision and audition, but the cause of this specialization is unknown. Here, we tested whether hemispheric asymmetries in visual perception can be explained by asymmetries in people's tendency to perform high- and low-frequency actions with their dominant and nondominant hands, respectively (the action asymmetry hypothesis). In two large, preregistered, online studies, participants judged low- and high-frequency shapes presented in the left and right visual hemifields. Overall, the typical hemispheric asymmetry for high versus low visual frequencies, which we found in right handers, was significantly reduced in left handers. Across experiments, hemispheric asymmetries for high-spatial-frequency stimuli were completely reversed between strong right and left handers. A third experiment testing dichotic listening suggests that this reversal cannot be explained by differences in language laterality. These results provide initial support for the action asymmetry hypothesis: Frequency asymmetries in perception may be explained by frequency asymmetries in action. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• Handedness and creativity: Facts and fictions

  Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · 2025-06-27 · 2 citations

  reviewSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• HD 2200- Fall 2024

  eCommons (Cornell University) · 2024-08-01

  other1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

Recent grants

• NIH Grant F32MH072502

  NIH · $139k · 2008

• How motor action shapes emotion in the brain

  NSF · $465k · 2013–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Vyvyan Evans

  University of Birmingham

  52 shared

• Laura A. Michaelis

  52 shared

• David Kemmerer

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  52 shared

• Panos Athanasopoulos

  Stellenbosch University

  51 shared

• Christopher Hart

  50 shared

• Andrea Tyler

  50 shared

• Benjamin Bergen

  University of California, San Diego

  50 shared

• Sarah E. Duffy

  Northumbria University

  49 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Brain and Cognitive Sciences

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  2006

Awards & honors

• National Research Service Award
• James S. McDonnell Foundation’s Scholar Award
• Association for Psychological Science’s Award for Transforma…
• American Psychological Association’s Fantz Memorial Award fo…
• Psychonomic Society’s Early Career Award for Exceptional Res…