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Zhang Y, Chen S, Peng Y, Yang X. The concrete processing of Chinese action metaphors: an ERP study. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1362978. [PMID: 38638519 PMCID: PMC11025353 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1362978] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2023] [Accepted: 02/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024] Open
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Shifa Chen
- College of Foreign Languages, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
| | - Yule Peng
- College of Foreign Languages, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
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2
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León JA, Martínez-Huertas JÁ, Moreno JD, Martín LA. Strong versus weak embodiment: Spatial iconicity in physical, abstract, and social semantic categories. Scand J Psychol 2023; 64:574-581. [PMID: 36843286 DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12909] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2022] [Revised: 01/11/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2023] [Indexed: 02/28/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Perceptual and action systems seem to be related to complex cognitive processes, but the scope of grounded or embodied cognition has been questioned. Zwaan and Yaxley (2003) proposed that cognitive processes of making semantic relatedness judgments can be facilitated when word pairs are presented in ways that their referents maintain their iconic configuration rather than their reverse-iconic configuration (the spatial iconicity effect). This effect has been observed in different semantic categories using specific experiments, but it is known that embodiment is highly dependent on task demands. METHOD The present study analyzed the spatial iconicity effect in three semantic categories (physical, abstract, and social) using the same experimental criteria to determine the scope of embodied cognition. In this reaction-time experiment, 75 participants judged the semantic relatedness of 384 word pairs whose experimental items were presented in their iconic or reverse-iconic configurations. RESULTS Two mixed-effects models with crossed random effects revealed that the interaction between word meaning and spatial position was present only for physical concepts but neither for abstract nor social concepts. CONCLUSIONS Within the framework of strong and weak embodiment theories, the data support weak embodiment theory as the most explicative one.
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Affiliation(s)
- José A León
- Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Calle Iván Pavlo, Madrid, Spain
| | | | | | - Lorena A Martín
- Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Calle Iván Pavlo, Madrid, Spain
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3
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Boulenger V, Finos L, Koun E, Salemme R, Desoche C, Roy AC. Up right, not right up: Primacy of verticality in both language and movement. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:981330. [PMID: 36248682 PMCID: PMC9558293 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.981330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2022] [Accepted: 09/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
When describing motion along both the horizontal and vertical axes, languages from different families express the elements encoding verticality before those coding for horizontality (e.g., going up right instead of right up). In light of the motor grounding of language, the present study investigated whether the prevalence of verticality in Path expression also governs the trajectory of arm biological movements. Using a 3D virtual-reality setting, we tracked the kinematics of hand pointing movements in five spatial directions, two of which implied the vertical and horizontal vectors equally (i.e., up right +45° and bottom right −45°). Movement onset could be prompted by visual or auditory verbal cues, the latter being canonical in French (“en haut à droite”/up right) or not (“à droite en haut”/right up). In two experiments, analyses of the index finger kinematics revealed a significant effect of gravity, with earlier acceleration, velocity, and deceleration peaks for upward (+45°) than downward (−45°) movements, irrespective of the instructions. Remarkably, confirming the linguistic observations, we found that vertical kinematic parameters occurred earlier than horizontal ones for upward movements, both for visual and congruent verbal cues. Non-canonical verbal instructions significantly affected this temporal dynamic: for upward movements, the horizontal and vertical components temporally aligned, while they reversed for downward movements where the kinematics of the vertical axis was delayed with respect to that of the horizontal one. This temporal dynamic is so deeply anchored that non-canonical verbal instructions allowed for horizontality to precede verticality only for movements that do not fight against gravity. Altogether, our findings provide new insights into the embodiment of language by revealing that linguistic path may reflect the organization of biological movements, giving priority to the vertical axis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Véronique Boulenger
- Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage, UMR 5596, CNRS/University Lyon 2, Lyon, France
- *Correspondence: Véronique Boulenger,
| | - Livio Finos
- Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Eric Koun
- Integrative Multisensory Perception Action & Cognition Team (IMPACT), Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM U1028, CNRS U5292, University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Roméo Salemme
- Integrative Multisensory Perception Action & Cognition Team (IMPACT), Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM U1028, CNRS U5292, University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
- Neuro-Immersion, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Lyon, France
| | - Clément Desoche
- Integrative Multisensory Perception Action & Cognition Team (IMPACT), Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM U1028, CNRS U5292, University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
- Neuro-Immersion, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Lyon, France
| | - Alice C. Roy
- Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage, UMR 5596, CNRS/University Lyon 2, Lyon, France
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Li Y, Lu X, Wang Y, Wang H, Wang Y. Is the Processing of Chinese Verbal Metaphors Simulated or Abstracted? Evidence From an ERP Study. Front Psychol 2022; 13:877997. [PMID: 35911040 PMCID: PMC9328078 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.877997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The theory of embodied semantics holds that verbal metaphors are strongly grounded in sensorimotor experience. Many studies have proven that besides sensorimotor simulation, the comprehension of verbal metaphors also requires semantic abstraction. But the interaction between simulation and abstraction, as well as the time course of metaphorical meaning integration, is not well understood. In the present study, we aimed to investigate whether embodiment or abstraction, or both, is employed in the processing of Chinese verbal metaphor. Participants were asked to read subject-verb metaphorical, verb-object metaphorical, literal-concrete and literal-abstract sentences, and the target words were measured at the verb and the object of each sentence. The results revealed that a similar N400 effect was elicited by the target verbs in the verb-object metaphorical and the literal-concrete sentences, and a similar P600/LPC effect was induced by the target verbs in the subject-verb metaphorical and the literal-abstract sentences, reflecting that the verb-object metaphors trigger a simulation process, while the subject-verb metaphors trigger an abstraction process in the verb processing stage. Moreover, the subject-verb metaphors elicited a stronger P600/LPC effect by the target verbs than the verb-object metaphors, but there was no difference of the P600/LPC caused by the target objects between the two kinds of metaphors, revealing that the metaphorical meaning of a subject-verb metaphor is integrated in the verb processing stage, while that of a verb-object metaphor is reanalyzed in the object processing stage. These results suggest that a verbal metaphor is processed both by simulation and abstraction, and the metaphorical meaning is integrated immediately with the unfolding of the sentence meaning. The position where the semantic conflict lies in a sentence (verb vs. object) modulates the time course of metaphor sentence comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Li
- School of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Xiaoxiao Lu
- School of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
- School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
| | - Yizhen Wang
- School of International Studies, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Hanlin Wang
- Department of Psychology, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, China
| | - Yue Wang
- School of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
- *Correspondence: Yue Wang,
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5
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Borelli E, Butera C, Katirai A, Adams TCE, Aziz-Zadeh L. Impact of motor stroke on novel and conventional action metaphor comprehension. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2022; 226:105081. [PMID: 35051790 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2021] [Revised: 12/17/2021] [Accepted: 01/07/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Previous studies indicate that damage to motor brain regions impacts comprehension of literal action-related language. However, whether such damage also impacts comprehension of action-metaphors remains unknown. Such a finding would support the notion that metaphors are grounded in sensorimotor representations. Here we tested this hypothesis by comparing comprehension of novel, conventional, and frozen action and non-action metaphors in 14 right-handed adults with right-sided mild to moderate paresis following left hemisphere motor stroke and 23 neurotypical participants. Consistent with our hypothesis, results indicated that only in the stroke group, accuracy for action metaphors was significantly lower than for non-action metaphors. Further, in the stroke group, accuracy was significantly worse in the following pattern: novel < conventional < frozen action metaphors. These results strongly support the notion that motor-related brain regions are important not only for literal action-related language comprehension, but also for action-related metaphor comprehension, especially for less familiar metaphors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleonora Borelli
- Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy; Center for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy; Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Christiana Butera
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Andrew Katirai
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Thomas C E Adams
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Lisa Aziz-Zadeh
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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6
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Feng Y, Zhou R. Does Embodiment of Verbs Influence Predicate Metaphor Processing in a Second Language? Evidence From Picture Priming. Front Psychol 2021; 12:759175. [PMID: 34803840 PMCID: PMC8595923 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.759175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Distinct from nominal metaphors, predicate metaphors entail metaphorical abstraction from concrete verbs, which generally involve more action and stronger motor simulation than nouns. It remains unclear whether and how the concrete, embodied aspects of verbs are connected with abstract, disembodied thinking in the brains of L2 learners. Since English predicate metaphors are unfamiliar to Chinese L2 learners, the study of embodiment effect on English predicate metaphor processing may provide new evidence for embodied cognition and categorization models that remain controversial, and offer practical insights into L2 metaphor processing and pedagogy. Hence, we aim to investigate whether the embodiment of verbs, via the activation of sensorimotor information, influences two groups of L2 learners during their comprehension of conventional and novel predicate metaphors. The results show a significant effect of embodiment: a stronger facilitation for novel predicate metaphors in both higher-level and lower-level groups, and a weaker facilitation for conventional predicate metaphors in the lower-level group. The findings demonstrate preliminary evidence for a graded effect of embodiment on predicate metaphors processing, modulated by L2 proficiency and metaphor novelty. The study supports a hybrid view of embodied cognition and reveals that sensorimotor aspects of verbs may be the intermediate entity involved in the indirect categorization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yin Feng
- School of Foreign Studies, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- Center for Language Cognition and Assessment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Rong Zhou
- School of Foreign Studies, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- Center for Language Cognition and Assessment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
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Muraki EJ, Cortese F, Protzner AB, Pexman PM. Heterogeneity in abstract verbs: An ERP study. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2020; 211:104863. [PMID: 33039774 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2020.104863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2019] [Revised: 08/13/2020] [Accepted: 09/14/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
It has been well documented that different types of nouns and action verbs are associated with behavioral and neural differences. In contrast, abstract verbs (e.g., think, dissolve) are often treated as a homogeneous category. We compared event-related potentials recorded during a syntactic classification task of four verb types; 1) abstract mental, 2) abstract emotional, 3) abstract nonbodily, and 4) concrete. Abstract nonbodily state verbs showed a sustained negativity at frontocentral electrodes and sustained positivity at parietal and occipital electrodes beginning 400 ms post-stimulus onset relative to abstract mental state and concrete verbs. Discrete source localization revealed a right inferior parietal source for all verbs and a distributed source estimation localized sources that distinguished between abstract mental state and abstract nonbodily state verbs to bilateral parietal cortex, left temporal cortex and right ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These findings suggest that different types of abstract verbs are associated with representational differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emiko J Muraki
- Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Canada.
| | - Filomeno Cortese
- Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Canada; Neuroimaging Research Unit, Seaman Family MR Research Centre, University of Calgary, Canada
| | - Andrea B Protzner
- Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Canada
| | - Penny M Pexman
- Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Canada
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8
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An Electrophysiological Abstractness Effect for Metaphorical Meaning Making. eNeuro 2020; 7:ENEURO.0052-20.2020. [PMID: 32817197 PMCID: PMC7559308 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0052-20.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2020] [Revised: 06/13/2020] [Accepted: 07/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuroimaging studies show that metaphors activate sensorimotor areas. These findings were interpreted as metaphors contributing to conceptual thought by mapping concrete, somatosensory information onto abstract ideas. But is sensorimotor information a necessary constituent of figurative meaning? The present study employed event-related potentials (ERPs) in a divided visual field paradigm with healthy adults to explore the role of sensorimotor feature processing in the comprehension of novel metaphors via the electrophysiological concreteness effect. Participants read French, novel adjective-noun expressions that were either metaphorical (“fat sentence”) or literal (“fat hip”). While literal expressions evoked a typical concreteness effect, an enhanced frontal negativity during right hemisphere (RH) as opposed to left hemisphere (LH) presentation, metaphors showed no such sign of sensorimotor feature processing. Relative to literals, they evoked a sustained frontal negativity during LH presentation and similar amplitudes during RH presentation, but both of these effects were the greater the more abstract the metaphors were. It is the first time such an electrophysiological abstractness effect is reported, just the opposite of a concreteness effect. It is particularly noteworthy that ERPs evoked by metaphors were not contingent on figurativeness, novelty, meaningfulness, imageability, emotional valence, or arousal, only on abstractness. When compared with similarly novel literal expressions, metaphors did not evoke a typical N400 and did not activate the RH either. The findings shed new light on the neurocognitive machinery of figurative meaning construction, pervasive in everyday communication. Contrary to embodied cognition, the conceptual system might be organized around abstract representations and not sensorimotor information, even for lush, metaphorical language.
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Harpaintner M, Trumpp NM, Kiefer M. Time course of brain activity during the processing of motor- and vision-related abstract concepts: flexibility and task dependency. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2020; 86:2560-2582. [PMID: 32661582 PMCID: PMC9674762 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-020-01374-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Grounded cognition theories assume that conceptual processing depends on modality-specific brain systems in a context-dependent fashion. Although the relation of abstract concepts to modality-specific systems is less obvious than for concrete concepts, recent behavioral and neuroimaging studies indicated a foundation of abstract concepts in vision and action. However, due to their poor temporal resolution, neuroimaging studies cannot determine whether sensorimotor activity reflects rapid access to conceptual information or later conceptual processes. The present study therefore assessed the time course of abstract concept processing using event-related potentials (ERPs) and compared ERP responses to abstract concepts with a strong relation to vision or action. We tested whether possible ERP effects to abstract word categories would emerge in early or in later time windows and whether these effects would depend on the depth of the conceptual task. In Experiment 1, a shallow lexical decision task, early feature-specific effects starting at 178 ms were revealed, but later effects beyond 300 ms were also observed. In Experiment 2, a deep conceptual decision task, feature-specific effects with an onset of 22 ms were obtained, but effects again extended beyond 300 ms. In congruency with earlier neuroimaging work, the present feature-specific ERP effects suggest a grounding of abstract concepts in modal brain systems. The presence of early and late feature-specific effects indicates that sensorimotor activity observed in neuroimaging experiments may reflect both rapid conceptual and later post-conceptual processing. Results furthermore suggest that a deep conceptual task accelerates access to conceptual sensorimotor features, thereby demonstrating conceptual flexibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcel Harpaintner
- Section for Cognitive Electrophysiology, Department of Psychiatry, Ulm University, Leimgrubenweg 12, 89075, Ulm, Germany.
| | - Natalie M Trumpp
- Section for Cognitive Electrophysiology, Department of Psychiatry, Ulm University, Leimgrubenweg 12, 89075, Ulm, Germany
| | - Markus Kiefer
- Section for Cognitive Electrophysiology, Department of Psychiatry, Ulm University, Leimgrubenweg 12, 89075, Ulm, Germany
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Tian L, Chen H, Zhao W, Wu J, Zhang Q, De A, Leppänen P, Cong F, Parviainen T. The role of motor system in action-related language comprehension in L1 and L2: An fMRI study. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2020; 201:104714. [PMID: 31790907 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2019.104714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2018] [Revised: 08/02/2019] [Accepted: 11/02/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The framework of embodied cognition has challenged the modular view of a language-cognition divide by suggesting that meaning-retrieval critically involves the sensory-motor system. Despite extensive research into the neural mechanisms underlying language-motor coupling, it remains unclear how the motor system might be differentially engaged by different levels of linguistic abstraction and language proficiency. To address this issue, we used fMRI to quantify neural activations in brain regions underlying motor and language processing in Chinese-English speakers' processing of literal, metaphorical, and abstract language in their L1 and L2. Results overall revealed a response in motor ROIs gradually attenuating in intensity from literal to abstract via metaphorical language in both L1 and L2. Furthermore, contrast analyses between L1 and L2 showed overall greater activations of motor ROIs in the L2. We conclude that motor involvement in language processing is graded rather than all-or-none and that the motor system has a dual-functional role.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lili Tian
- School of Foreign Languages, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China; Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä 40014, Finland; Language and Brain Research Center, Sichuan International Studies University, Chongqing 400031, China
| | - Hongjun Chen
- School of Foreign Languages, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
| | - Wei Zhao
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
| | - Jianlin Wu
- Department of Radiology, Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital of Dalian University, Dalian 116001, China
| | - Qing Zhang
- Department of Radiology, Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital of Dalian University, Dalian 116001, China
| | - Ailing De
- Department of Radiology, Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital of Dalian University, Dalian 116001, China
| | - Paavo Leppänen
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä 40014, Finland
| | - Fengyu Cong
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China; Faculty of Information Technology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä 40014, Finland
| | - Tiina Parviainen
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä 40014, Finland; Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä 40014, Finland.
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11
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Lai VT, Howerton O, Desai RH. Concrete processing of action metaphors: Evidence from ERP. Brain Res 2019; 1714:202-209. [PMID: 30853628 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2019.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2018] [Revised: 02/08/2019] [Accepted: 03/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The timing of sensory-motor activation during the comprehension of action verbs used in a metaphorical sense is not well understood. In the present Event Related Potential (ERP) study, participants read verbs in metaphoric (The church bent the rules), literal-concrete (The bodyguard bent the rod), and literal-abstract (The church altered the rules) conditions. The literal concreteness effect, obtained by subtracting the abstract from the concrete, was revealed as an N400, frontally distributed. A metaphoric effect, obtained in the metaphor-abstract contrast, was a widespread N400, and included the frontal response seen in the literal concreteness effect. Another metaphoric effect, obtained in the metaphor-concrete contrast, was a posterior N400. Further time window analyses showed that the literal concreteness effect primarily came from 200 to 300 ms, the metaphoric-concrete effect primarily came from 200 to 400 ms, and the metaphoric-abstract effect was significant throughout 200-500 ms. These results suggest that a concrete but underspecified meaning consistent with metaphoric and literal readings, was activated early and was sustained throughout the 200-500 ms window. We concluded that the metaphoric sense is based in concrete action semantics, even if these senses are underspecified.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vicky T Lai
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science Program, University of Arizona, 1503 E University Blvd, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
| | - Olivia Howerton
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, 1512 Pendelton Street, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
| | - Rutvik H Desai
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, 1512 Pendelton Street, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
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Winkielman P, Coulson S, Niedenthal P. Dynamic grounding of emotion concepts. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 373:rstb.2017.0127. [PMID: 29914995 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/10/2018] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Emotion concepts are important. They help us to understand, experience and predict human behaviour. Emotion concepts also link the realm of the abstract with the realm of bodily experience and actions. Accordingly, the key question is how such concepts are created, represented and used. Embodied cognition theories hold that concepts are grounded in neural systems that produce experiential and motor states. Concepts are also contextually situated and thus engage sensorimotor resources in a dynamic, flexible way. Finally, on that framework, conceptual understanding unfolds in time, reflecting embodied as well as linguistic and cultural influences. In this article, we review empirical work on emotion concepts and show how it highlights their grounded, yet dynamic and context-sensitive nature. The conclusions are consistent with recent developments in embodied cognition that allow concepts to be linked to sensorimotor systems, yet be flexibly sensitive to current representational and action needs.This article is part of the theme issue 'Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Piotr Winkielman
- Department of Psychology, University of California, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0109, USA .,Faculty of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland.,Behavioural Science Group, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
| | - Seana Coulson
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Paula Niedenthal
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA
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Dove G. Language as a disruptive technology: abstract concepts, embodiment and the flexible mind. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 373:rstb.2017.0135. [PMID: 29915003 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/12/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
A growing body of evidence suggests that cognition is embodied and grounded. Abstract concepts, though, remain a significant theoretical challenge. A number of researchers have proposed that language makes an important contribution to our capacity to acquire and employ concepts, particularly abstract ones. In this essay, I critically examine this suggestion and ultimately defend a version of it. I argue that a successful account of how language augments cognition should emphasize its symbolic properties and incorporate a view of embodiment that recognizes the flexible, multimodal and task-related nature of action, emotion and perception systems. On this view, language is an ontogenetically disruptive cognitive technology that expands our conceptual reach.This article is part of the theme issue 'Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guy Dove
- Department of Philosophy, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA
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14
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Coulson S. Metaphor and synesthesia. PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MOTIVATION 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.plm.2018.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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