Abstract: In the current study, 4 experiments tested for matched facilitation or matched inhibition in moral spatial metaphor by using sentence priming paradigm. In Experiment 1, after reading the sentences with vertical spatial information, participants were asked to categorize the (im)moral words immediately. In the following two experiments, the starting positions (Experiment 2) or the termination positions(Experiment 3) need to focus on. In Experiment 4, there was a 4s interval between reading sentences task and categorization task. The results show a matched inhibition in Experiment 1, 2 and 3:when the position is UP, immoral word can be categorized faster; or when the position is Down, moral word is faster. But in Experiment 4, the result was reversed. It can be inferred that the spatial information in sentence does activate the moral metaphor. But, the sentence processing need more time. If participants categorize the words immediately, the two tasks will compete for the same cognitive resources. Then, a matched inhibition arises. If participants have enough time to finish the reading task to activate the moral metaphor, then a matched facilitation arises. In summary, the competition or activation of resources affects the match effect.

Key words: moral metaphor, sentence priming paradigm, matched inhibition, matched facilitation