Embodied Meaning in Comprehending Abstract Chinese Counterfactuals

汉语抽象违实语言理解的具身意义研究

Embodied cognition theories propose that language comprehension triggers a sensorimotor system in the brain.However,most previous research has paid much attention to concrete and factual sentences,and little emphasis has been put on the research of abstract and counterfactual sentences.The primary challenges for embodied theories lie in elucidating the meanings of abstract and counterfactual sentences.The most prevalent explanation is that abstract and counterfactual sentences are grounded in the activation of a sensorimotor system,in exactly the same way as concrete and factual ones.The present research employed a dual-task experimental paradigm to investigate whether the embodied meaning is activated in comprehending action-related abstract Chinese counterfactual sentences through the presence or absence of action-sentence compatibility effect(ACE).Participants were instructed to read and listen to the action-related abstract Chinese factual or counterfactual sentences describing an abstract transfer word towards or away from them,and then move their fingers towards or away from them to press the buttons in the same direction as the motion cue of the transfer verb.The action-sentence compatibility effect was observed in both abstract factual and counterfactual sentences,in line with the embodied cognition theories,which indicated that the embodied meanings were activated in both action-related abstract factuals and counterfactuals.

具身认知理论认为,在语言的理解过程中,大脑中的感觉-运动系统会被激活。然而,以往的研究大多关注具体句和事实句,对抽象句和违实句的研究重视程度不够。具身理论面临抽象句和违实句的挑战。而最常见的解释是,抽象句和违实句与具体句和事实句一样,都是以感觉运动系统的激活为基础。本文采用双任务实验范式,旨在通过动作-句子一致性效应来探究在理解与动作相关的抽象汉语违实句的过程中具身意义是否被激活。被试通过视觉和听觉阅读与动作相关的抽象汉语事实或违实实验句,这些句子描述了一个趋向或远离他们的抽象致移动作。然后被试按下相应的按钮。研究结果表明在抽象的事实句和违实句中都出现了动作-句子一致性效应,验证了具身认知理论,即具身意义在与动作相关的抽象事实句和违实句中都被激活。