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I am an integrated researcher at CIS-Iscte — Centre for Psychological Research and Social Intervention (FCT-rated Excellent), Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Iscte-IUL), funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). My research sits at the intersection of cognitive linguistics and experimental psychology, with a focus on how grounding mechanisms, such as the body, action, modality-specific systems, and physical and social environments, shape the processing of concepts and language. A parallel strand of my work examines the computational and distributional principles underlying meaning representation, integrating methods such as latent semantic analysis and word vector spaces alongside behavioural experimentation. My research has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Memory & Language, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, Cognitive Science, Metaphor & Symbol, Cognition and Emotion, and Psychological Bulletin. My doctoral research was supported by an Erasmus Mundus PhD grant from the European Commission. I subsequently held an FCT individual postdoctoral fellowship and am currently Principal Investigator of the FCT-funded project "Language does not stand alone: Integrating perceptual experience in sentence processing" (CEEC IND4ed), examining when linguistic distributional information alone is sufficient to explain language processing and when perceptual grounding provides additional explanatory power. Beyond research, I serve as Vice-Director of CIS-Iscte and President of the CIS-Iscte Ethics Committee, contributing to strategic planning, research governance, and ethical oversight. I teach specialised courses at master's and doctoral level on cognition, emotion, and advanced research methodologies, and have supervised master's dissertations on topics related to my research program.
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Identification

Personal identification

Full name
Oleksandr Horchak

Citation names

  • Oleksandr V. Horchak

Author identifiers

Ciência ID
4317-63F9-82C9
ORCID iD
0000-0002-7019-3747

Email addresses

  • ohkrl@iscte-iul.pt (Professional)

Addresses

  • Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Iscte-IUL), CIS-Iscte. Avenida das Forças Armadas, N.376, 1600-077, Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal (Professional)

Websites

Knowledge fields

  • Humanities - Languages and Literatures
  • Social Sciences - Psychology

Languages

Language Speaking Reading Writing Listening Peer-review
Ukrainian (Mother tongue)
English Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2)
Portuguese Advanced (C1) Proficiency (C2) Advanced (C1) Proficiency (C2) Advanced (C1)
Russian Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2)
German Intermediate (B1) Upper intermediate (B2) Intermediate (B1) Upper intermediate (B2) Intermediate (B1)
Education
Degree Classification
2017 - 2022
Concluded
 Psychology (Pós-doutoramento)
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2010 - 2013
Concluded
 Psychology (Doutoramento)
Major in Sem especialidade
Universidade do Algarve Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Portugal
"NA EMBODIED APPROACH TO LANGUAGE: THE ROLE OF BODILY FEEDBACK IN DISCOURSE PROCESSING" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
2008 - 2009
Concluded
 Philology and Linguistics (Master)
Natsional'nij universitet Ostroz'ka akademija, Ukraine
 Excellent
2003 - 2007
Concluded
 Philology and Linguistics (Bachelor)
Natsional'nij universitet Ostroz'ka akademija, Ukraine
 Excellent
Affiliation

Science

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2022 - Current Auxiliary Researcher (Research) ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2017/09/01 - 2022/08/31 Postdoc (Research) ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social, Portugal
2015 - 2017 Researcher (Research) ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social, Portugal

Teaching in Higher Education

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2021 - Current Invited Assistant Professor (University Teacher) ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2019 - 2020 Invited Assistant Professor (University Teacher) ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2017 - 2018 Invited Assistant Professor (University Teacher) ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal

Positions / Appointments

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2025/02 - Current President of Ethics Committee (Cis-Iscte) ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social, Portugal
2025 - Current Vice Director of CIS-Iscte ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social, Portugal
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social, Portugal
2024/02 - 2025/02 Ethics Committee's Member ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social, Portugal
2022 - 2025 Research Group Co-Coordinator (Behavior, Emotion & Cognition) ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal

Others

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2013 - 2017 Teacher of English Wall Street English, Portugal
Projects

Grant

Designation Funders
2024 - 2026 A Sociocognitive-based strategy to combat misinformation
SR24-00451
Team member
Ongoing
2017/09/01 - 2022/08/31 The Influence of the Visual Context and Different Types of Languages on Dynamic Simulation of Speed
SFRH/BPD/115533/2016
Post-doc Fellow
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Concluded
2015 - 2017 Examining the Boundaries of Embodiment
FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG
Research Fellow
EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Concluded

Contract

Designation Funders
2022/09/01 - 2028/08/31 Language does not stand alone: Integrating perceptual experience in sentence processing
2021.01551.CEECIND/CP1694/CT0012
10.54499/2021.01551.CEECIND/CP1694/CT0012
Principal investigator
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ongoing
Outputs

Publications

Book chapter
  1. Marta Matos; Mouro, Carla; Magalhães, Eunice; Oleksandr V. Horchak. "Considerações éticas sobre condução de investigação em psicologia". In Caderno de Laboratório (Guia Para Inverstigadores/as). Portugal, 2024.
    Published
Conference paper
  1. Oleksandr V. Horchak; Margarida V. Garrido. "Are Mental Representations of Object Shape Always Quickly Updateable during Language Comprehension?". Paper presented in CogSci 2020: Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2020.
    Published
Conference poster
  1. Garrido, Margarida Vaz; Souza, Cristiane; Félix, Sara B.; Silva, Rita R.; Oleksandr V. Horchak; Saraiva, Magda. "Verdade à segunda vista: Normas de frases triviais e efeito da semelhança nos julgamentos de veracidade e confiança [Truth at second Glance: Norms of Trivial Sentences and the Effect of Similarity on Judgments of Veracity and Confidence]". Paper presented in Ciência 2025, 2025.
  2. Souza, Cristiane; Saraiva, Magda; Félix, Sara B.; Oleksandr V. Horchak; Silva, Rita R.; Garrido, Margarida V.. "“I know it’s true!”: The effect of familiarity in different input modalities of repetition-based corrections of false statements". Paper presented in 19th National APPE Meeting, 2025.
Journal article
  1. Horchak, Oleksandr V.. Corresponding author: Horchak, Oleksandr V.. "The danger of disembodied humanity". AI & SOCIETY (2025): https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-025-02732-w.
    10.1007/s00146-025-02732-w
  2. Oleksandr V. Horchak; Margarida Vaz Garrido. "Spiky anger, round peace: examining valence, arousal, and linguistic associations in emotion-eliciting concepts". Cognition and Emotion (2025): https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2025.2566304.
    10.1080/02699931.2025.2566304
  3. Oleksandr V. Horchak; Margarida V. Garrido. "Language comprehenders are sensitive to multiple states of semantically similar objects". Journal of Memory and Language (2024): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2023.104478.
    10.1016/j.jml.2023.104478
  4. Lorraine D. Reggin; Ligia E. Gómez Franco; Oleksandr V. Horchak; David Labrecque; Nadia Lana; Laura Rio; Gabriella Vigliocco. "Consensus Paper: Situated and Embodied Language Acquisition". Journal of Cognition (2023): https://doi.org/10.5334/joc.308.
    10.5334/joc.308
  5. Margarida V. Garrido; Ana R. Farias; Oleksandr V. Horchak; Gün R. Semin. "The spatial grounding of politics". Psychological Research (2023): https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-022-01654-2.
    10.1007/s00426-022-01654-2
  6. Souza, C.; Garrido, M.V.; Horchak, O.V.; Barahona-Correa, J.B.; Carmo, J.C.. "The Distinctive Pattern of Declarative Memories in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Further Evidence of Episodic Memory Constraints". Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (2022): http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85130707629&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.1007/s10803-022-05579-y
  7. Souza, C.; Garrido, M.V.; Horchak, O.V.; Carmo, J.C.. "Conceptual knowledge modulates memory recognition of common items: The selective role of item-typicality". Memory and Cognition 50 1 (2022): 77-94. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85112598965&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.3758/s13421-021-01213-x
  8. Horchak, O.V.; Garrido, M.V.. "Simulating background settings during spoken and written sentence comprehension". Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 29 4 (2022): 1426-1439. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85124363607&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.3758/s13423-022-02061-9
  9. Oleksandr V. Horchak; Margarida V. Garrido. "Explicit (Not Implicit) Attitudes Mediate the Focus of Attention During Sentence Processing". Frontiers in Psychology 11 (2020): http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.583814.
    Open access • 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.583814
  10. Oleksandr V. Horchak; Margarida V. Garrido. "Dropping bowling balls on tomatoes: Representations of object state-changes during sentence processing.". Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition (2020): https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000980.
    10.1037/xlm0000980
  11. Oleksandr V. Horchak; Margarida V. Garrido. "Is Complex Visual Information Implicated During Language Comprehension? The Case of Cast Shadows". Cognitive Science 44 7 (2020): https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12870.
    10.1111/cogs.12870
  12. Justin Landy; Miaolei (Liam) Jia; Isabel L. Ding; Domenico Viganola; Warren Tierney; Anna Dreber; Oleksandr V. Horchak; etc.. "Crowdsourcing hypothesis tests: Making transparent how design choices shape research results.". Psychological Bulletin (2020): http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bul0000220.
    10.1037/bul0000220
  13. Sandra Godinho; Margarida V. Garrido; Oleksandr V. Horchak. "Oral Approach Avoidance". Experimental Psychology 66 5 (2019): 355-360. https://doi.org/10.1027%2F1618-3169%2Fa000458.
    10.1027/1618-3169/a000458
  14. Oleksandr V. Horchak; Giger, Jean-Christophe; Margarida V. Garrido. "Action Contribution to Competence Judgments: The Use of the Journey Schema". Frontiers in Psychology 7 (2016): http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00448.
    Open access • 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00448
  15. Oleksandr V. Horchak; Giger, Jean-Christophe; Maria Cabral; Pochwatko, Grzegorz. "From Demonstration to Theory in Embodied Language Comprehension: A Review". Cognitive Systems Research (2014): http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S138904171300051X.
    10.1016/j.cogsys.2013.09.002
  16. Oleksandr V. Horchak; Giger, Jean-Christophe; Pochwatko, Grzegorz. "Simulation of Metaphorical Actions and Discourse Comprehension". Metaphor and Symbol (2014): http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10926488.2014.859045#.VCAvifldXwg.
    10.1080/10926488.2014.859045
  17. Horchak, O.V.; Giger, J.-C.; Pochwatko, G.. "Discourse comprehension and simulation of positive emotions". Psicologica 35 1 (2014): 17-37. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84892421723&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
  18. Oleksandr V. Horchak. "Syntactic and linguistic indicators of language manipulation in political discourse". (2009): http://eprints.oa.edu.ua/69/1/Vyp_11.pdf#page=182.
    Published
Thesis / Dissertation
  1. Horchak, Oleksandr. "An embodied approach to language: the role of bodily feedback in discourse processing". PhD, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/6099.

Other

Other output
  1. Language comprehenders also mentally represent the deformed shapes of objects.. 2019. Horchak, O.V.; Garrido, M. V.. https://ciencia.iscte-iul.pt/publications/language-comprehenders-also-mentally-represent-the-deformed-shapes-of-objects/63212?lang=en.
Activities

Oral presentation

Presentation title Event name
Host (Event location)
2025 Linguistic and Perceptual Influences on Shape-Emotion Links XII Simpósio Nacional de Investigação em Psicologia (SNIP)
(Portugal)
2025 Decisões em saúde: O impacto das crenças conspiratórias na adesão a tratamentos alternativos XII Simpósio Nacional de Investigação em Psicologia (SNIP)
2025 Entre o Erro e a Verdade: Normalização de frases triviais e suas correções com base na semelhança XII Simpósio Nacional de Investigação em Psicologia (SNIP)
2023 Representation of object state-changes of semantically similar objects The 45th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (CogSci)
2021 Lightness and darkness are mentally represented during language processing 43rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
2021 Toward a deeper understanding of the role of perceptual context in language comprehension Embodied and Situated Language Processing 2021: Current Directions and Future Perspectives
2020 Are mental representations of object shape always quickly updateable during language comprehension? CogSci 2020: Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
(Virtual Meeting)
2019 Language comprehenders also mentally represent the deformed shapes of objects The Twelfth Embodied & Situated Language Processing (ESLP) and Attentive Listener to the Visual World (Attlis) Joint Conference
(Berlin, Germany)
2019 Cast shadows and complexity of perceptual context simulation X Simpósio Nacional de Investigação em Psicologia
(Funchal, Portugal)
2019 Simulation of object weight during language comprehension International Convention of Psychological Science
(Paris, France)
2018 But I can still see your shadow: How language processing guides shadow perception The Eleventh Embodied & Situated Language Processing Conference
(Lancaster, United Kingdom)
2018 Language comprehension invokes information about cast shadows 13º Encontro da Associação Portuguesa de Psicologia Experimental
(Braga, Portugal)
2016 The Embodiment of competence as forward movements: The use of the goal-as-journey metaphor ESCON Transfer of Knowledge International Conference
(Lisbon, Portugal)
2016 The embodiment of competence and the advent of action. Symposium: Embodied effects in evaluative and interpersonal judgments IX Simpósio Nacional de Investigação em Psicologia
(Faro, Portugal)
2016 Action contribution to competence judgments: The use of the journey schema 11.º Encontro Nacional da APPE
(Lisbon, Portugal)
2013 Simulation of positive emotions during discourse comprehension International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends
(Madrid, Spain)
2013 Action simulation and individuals' evaluation of protagonist International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends
(Madrid, Spain)
2013 Simulation of metaphorical actions during discourse comprehension VIII Simpósio Nacional de Investigação em Psicologia
(Aveiro, Portugal)

Supervision

Thesis Title
Role 		Degree Subject (Type)
Institution / Organization
2025 - Current O Impacto das Metáforas na Perceção e Contágio Emocional: Um estudo da linguagem incorporada e não incorporada
Supervisor
2024 - 2025 Interaction between gender and emotion during language comprehension
Supervisor
2021 - 2022 Action-Sentence Compatibility: The Case of Emotion
Supervisor
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2020 - 2021 Relationship between color and weight in language comprehension
Supervisor
 Psicologia das Emoções (Master)
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2020 - 2021 The influence of color in the percepcion of weight
Supervisor
2019 - 2020 Embodied processes in the understanding of language: The influence of perceptual, motor, emotional states on understanding.
Supervisor
 Psicologia Social e das Organizações (Master)
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal

Event participation

Activity description
Type of event 		Event name
Institution / Organization
2025 - Current Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate
2018/11/06 - 2018/11/20 R Programming Course
Workshop
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2018/08/28 - 2018/08/30 Analyzing Data with the Visual World Eye Tracking Paradigm
Conference
 ESLP/AttLis 2019
2016/11/01 - 2016/12/20 Improving your statistical inferences course on Coursera
Other
 Eindhoven University of Technology on Coursera

Jury of academic degree

Topic
Role 		Candidate name (Type of degree)
Institution / Organization
2025 Individual and contextual determinants of emoji usage and its impact on communication outcomes
(Thesis) Arguer
 Bernardo Miguel Pereira Cavalheiro (PhD)
2025 Psychological sweetening: Multisensory interactions shaping sweet taste perception
(Thesis) Arguer
 David Henrique Ferreira Guedes (PhD)
2025 A Ilusão de Falsidade num Contexto Bilingue
President of the jury
 Maria Alexandra dos Santos Delgado (Master)
2025 Nem tudo que brilha atrai: O Papel do Consumo Conspícuo na Atratividade de Potenciais Parceiros Românticos
President of the jury
 Beatriz Olivença Abrantes (Master)
2025 Aceitação e Correção de Desinformação: O Papel da Credibilidade da Fonte
President of the jury
 Carolina Cabral Pereira Mendes (Master)
2025 Interação entre género e emoção durante a compreensão da linguagem
Supervisor
 Sílvia Maria Costa Bravo (Master)
2024 Memory suggestibility in a second language: Examining the role of language proficiency and metaperception Mariachiara Pacchetti (Master)
2024 O papel dos comportamentos de compra sustentáveis na escolha de parceiros a longo prazo: Um estudo sobre desejabilidade e memória adaptativa
President of the jury
 Sara Maria Rodrigues Rosa Pereira Dias (Master)
2024 Memória Adaptativa na Escolha de Parceiros Românticos: O Papel do Consumo de Luxo na Desejabilidade para Relacionamentos a Longo Prazo
President of the jury
 Ana Catarina de Carvalho e Cunha (Master)
2023 Testing strategies to correct misinformation in pseudosciences
President of the jury
 Catarina Maria Monteiro Morais Troncão dos Santos (Master)
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2023 Psychophysiological examination of emotionality as a proximal mechanism for adaptive memory related to stimuli displayed with contamination cues.
President of the jury
 Sofia Isabel Gomes Pelica (Master)
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2023 Adaptive Memory: Exam the proximate mechanisms of the mating effect
President of the jury
 Bruna Stoffel Nascimento (Master)
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2022 The role of the turn-taking method in encoding misinformation
President of the jury
 Daniela Mateus Sabino (Master)
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2021 The impact of bilingualism on the intergroup attitudes
(Thesis) Main arguer
 Alexandra Antonov (Master)
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2021 How language and group status affect cultural bias in bilinguals
(Thesis) Main arguer
 Martina Gallus (Master)
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2020 Multilingualism and Stereotype Endorsement: The Roles of Cognitive Flexibility and Deprovincialization
(Thesis) Main arguer
 Hayley Schoede (Master)
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2020 Processos corporalizados na compreensão da linguagem: A influência dos estados percetivos, motores, e emocionais na compreensão
Supervisor
 Bruno Moura (Master)
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2018 Emotional topics as reasons for language switching in bilinguals: interaction between emotion and culture, and the semantic categorisation of topics
(Thesis) Main arguer
 Stephan Schulte-Nahring (Master)
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal

Ad Hoc journal article review

Journal title (ISSN) Publisher
2025 - Current Journal of Memory and Language
2025 - Current Humanities and Social Sciences Communication
2024 - Current Cognitive Science
2024 - Current Behavior Research Methods
2024 - Current Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
2023 - Current Journal of Nonverbal Behavior
2022 - Current Journal of Cognition
2022 - Current Behavior Research Methods
2022 - Current Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
2021/01/29 - Current Computers in Human Behavior Elsevier
2021 - Current Journal of Cognitive Psychology
2020/11/18 - Current Frontiers in Psychology Frontiers Media SA

Association member

Society Organization name Role
2025 - Current Cognitive Linguistics Society
2020 - Current Cognitive Science Society Member
2020 - Current Portuguese Association of Experimental Psychology (APPE) Member
2020 - 2024 Psychonomic Society Member
2019 - 2020 APS - Association for Psychological Science Member

Course / Discipline taught

Academic session Degree Subject (Type) Institution / Organization
2021 - Current Research Seminar in Psychology - Advanced Methodologies PhD ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2019 - 2020 Cognition and Emotion Psicologia das Emoções (Mestrado) ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2017 - 2017 Perspectives and Theories of Emotion Psicologia das Emoções (Mestrado) ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal

Evaluation committee

Activity description
Role 		Institution / Organization Funding entity
2022 - Current Reviewer for Cognitive Science Society Conference
Evaluator
2019 - Current Reviewer of the doctoral project in PhD program in Psychology
Evaluator
 ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
2015 - 2016 Reviewer of the doctoral project for Ph.D inter-university program in social psychology (LISP)
Evaluator

Mentoring / Tutoring

Topic Student name
2019 - 2019 Research Assistant Supervision (ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social) Marta Leitão
Distinctions

Award

2022 Scientific Award ISCTE-IUL
2017 Scientific Award ISCTE-IUL
2008 Zavtra.UA Graduate Student Research award