Context effects in embodied lexical-semantic processing
Context effects in embodied lexical-semantic processing
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DOI：
10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00150
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发表时间：
2010-01-01
影响因子：
3.8
通讯作者：
Bekkering, Harold
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
van Dam, Wessel O.;Rueschemeyer, Shirley-Ann;Bekkering, Harold
语言理解的具身观认为，词语的意义是以感知和行为为基础的，而不是抽象的情态符号。对语言加工具身理论的支持来自行为研究，这些研究表明，理解一个关于一个动作的句子可以调节一致和不一致的身体反应，这表明在理解涉及身体运动的句子时，运动参与了。此外，一些神经影像学研究提供的证据表明，理解表示可操作物体的单个单词会引起神经运动系统的特定反应。一个有趣的问题是，动作语义知识是作为大脑中的运动模拟直接激活的，还是由遇到动作词的语义上下文调节的。在本文中，我们使用go/no-go词汇决策任务来研究概念表征的本质。具体来说，目标词要么在强调显性动作特征（与物体功能使用相关的特征）的语义上下文中呈现，要么在强调非显性动作特征的语义上下文中呈现。词汇决策任务的反应延迟表明，当词汇的功能用法与事先准备的动作一致时，参与者对表示物体的词汇的反应速度更快。然而，只有当语义上下文强调相应的运动特性时，这种促进作用才明显。这些发现表明，概念加工是一个情境依赖的过程，以一种灵活的方式整合运动相关知识。
The embodied view of language comprehension proposes that the meaning of words is grounded in perception and action rather than represented in abstract amodal symbols. Support for embodied theories of language processing comes from behavioral studies showing that understanding a sentence about an action can modulate congruent and incongruent physical responses, suggesting motor involvement during comprehension of sentences referring to bodily movement. Additionally, several neuroimaging studies have provided evidence that comprehending single words denoting manipulable objects elicits specific responses in the neural motor system. An interesting question that remains is whether action semantic knowledge is directly activated as motor simulations in the brain, or rather modulated by the semantic context in which action words are encountered. In the current paper we investigated the nature of conceptual representations using a go/no-go lexical decision task. Specifically, target words were either presented in a semantic context that emphasized dominant action features (features related to the functional use of an object) or non-dominant action features. The response latencies in a lexical decision task reveal that participants were faster to respond to words denoting objects for which the functional use was congruent with the prepared movement. This facilitation effect, however, was only apparent when the semantic context emphasized corresponding motor properties. These findings suggest that conceptual processing is a context-dependent process that incorporates motor-related knowledge in a flexible manner.