Abstract：
Many studies have shown that mental simulation may occur during language comprehension. Supporting evidence is derived from the matching effects in the sentence-picture verification (SPV) task often used to assess mental simulations of object properties, such as size, orientation, and shape. However, mixed results have been obtained regarding object colour, with researchers reporting matching or mismatching effects. This study investigated the impact of colour information clarity within sentences on the process of mental simulation during language comprehension. Employing the SPV task and using novel objects, we examined whether there is a mental simulation of colour after excluding typical/atypical colour bias and how varying levels of colour information clarity in sentences influence the emergence of matching effects at different stages of comprehension. To address these issues, we conducted two experiments. In Experiment 1, the participants read normal sentences and subsequently engaged in picture verification with a novel object after a 500 ms delay. In Experiment 2, the participants encountered sentences containing both clear and unclear colour information and, after either a 0 ms or 1500 ms interval, completed picture verification tasks with a novel object. Null effects were found in the 500 ms condition for normal sentences and the 0 ms condition for unclear colour information sentences. A mismatching effect appeared in the 0 ms condition after clear colour information sentences, and a matching effect appeared in the 1500 ms condition for all sentences. The results indicated that after excluding colour bias, the participants still formed mental simulations of colour during language comprehension. Our results also indicated that ongoing colour simulation with time pressure impacted the participant responses. The participants ignored unclear colour information under time pressure, but without time pressure, they constructed simulations that were as detailed as possible, regardless of whether the implicit colour information in the sentence was clear.
摘要：
许多研究表明，在语言理解过程中可能会发生心理模拟。支持证据来自句子图片验证（SPV）任务中的匹配效果，该任务通常用于评估对象属性的心理模拟，比如尺寸，定位,和形状。然而,已经获得了关于物体颜色的混合结果，研究人员报告匹配或不匹配的影响。这项研究调查了句子中颜色信息清晰度对语言理解过程中心理模拟过程的影响。采用SPV任务并使用新颖的对象，我们研究了在排除典型/非典型色偏后是否存在对颜色的心理模拟，以及句子中不同程度的颜色信息清晰度如何影响不同理解阶段匹配效果的出现。为了解决这些问题,我们进行了两个实验。在实验1中，参与者阅读正常的句子，随后在500毫秒的延迟后使用新颖的对象进行图片验证。在实验2中，参与者遇到了包含清晰和不清晰颜色信息的句子，在0ms或1500ms间隔之后，用一个新颖的对象完成图片验证任务。在正常句子的500ms条件和不清楚颜色信息句子的0ms条件中发现了空效应。在清晰的颜色信息句子后，在0ms条件下出现了不匹配的效果，和匹配效果出现在1500毫秒条件下的所有句子。结果表明，在排除颜色偏差后，参与者在语言理解过程中仍然形成了对颜色的心理模拟。我们的结果还表明，正在进行的带有时间压力的颜色模拟会影响参与者的反应。参与者在时间压力下忽略了不清楚的颜色信息，但没有时间压力,他们构建了尽可能详细的模拟，无论句子中隐含的颜色信息是否清晰。
