本研究采用事件相关电位(ERP)技术来研究隐喻背景下汉语动作动词的处理是否存在具体性效应。将动作隐喻激活的N400的平均振幅与文字动词和抽象动词激活的平均振幅进行比较。研究结果表明,与Abs动词相比,Met动词在200-500ms的时间窗口在额叶大脑区域引起的N400反应明显更大,而Met动词在300-500ms时间窗口时与Lit动词相比,在后脑区域引起的N400幅度明显更大。这些结果可以解释为表明对Met动词的理解基于具体的动作语义。
The present research adopts ERP (Event-Related Potentials) technology to investigate whether there exists a concreteness effect in the processing of Chinese action verbs within metaphorical context. The mean amplitudes of N400 activated by action metaphors were compared with those activated by literal verbs and abstract verbs. The findings indicated that the Met verbs evoked a significantly larger N400 response at frontal brain region compared to the Abs verbs at a time window 200-500 ms, while the Met verbs elicited a notably greater N400 amplitude specifically at the posterior brain region in comparison to the Lit verbs at 300-500 ms time window. These results may be interpreted as indicating that the comprehension of the Met verbs is based on the concrete action semantics.