汉、英母语者时间认知方式研究——来自行为和眼动的证据

The conceptualization of time in Chinese and English native speakers——Evidence from behavioral and eye-tracking experiments

本文通过两个实验探讨汉、英母语者时间认知方式的异同。实验1采用go/nogo非言语内隐联想测验,结果发现,汉语母语者在竖直和水平方向上均出现了“隐喻一致性效应”:“较早”时间关系呈现在屏幕上方或左方加工得更快,“较晚”时间关系呈现在屏幕下方或右方加工得更快,而英语母语者仅在水平方向上具有相应的心理时间线。实验2的眼动研究结果进一步证实了实验1的发现,并且表明时间概念主要通过空间关系完成表征,从而导致受试的视觉空间注意产生变化,证明了抽象概念的理解可以激活预存的空间运动经验。整个研究表明,汉、英母语者的时间认知方式具有共性,但同时也受到本族语言的影响,显示出一定的差异性。

The present research conducted two experiments to investigate the conceptualization of time in Chinese and English native speakers.Experiment 1 used non-linguistic implicit association test.The results showed that Chinese speakers responded faster when“earlier time”was presented on the upper or the left side of the screen and“later time”presented on the lower or the right side of the screen,indicating the metaphor congruency effect on the up-down and the left-right axis.However,English native speakers only had the same mental timeline on the left-right axis.By using blank screen paradigm of eye-tracking techniques,Experiment 2 confirmed the results of Experiment 1 and provided supportive evidence for the spatial representation of time concept.The processing of time concepts can alter participants’visual spatial attention,indicating that the abstract concept can activate pre-stored motor experience.Taken together,the research proves that Chinese and English native speakers share a lot in the pattern of conceptualizing time,but have obvious differences influenced by their native languages.