The Mental Time Line:Dual Processes Of Embodied Simulation And Concept Metaphor?

Time, from past to right, was presented three spatial axes:transverse axis, sagittal axis and vertical axis, which is called as mental time line. Although previous studies have shown that mental time line can be activated separately in different axes, they mainly focused on time representation in single axis. Can mental time lines in different axes be activated simultaneously? If so, which axis has the priority? Moreover, a very important point people often neglect is:mental time lines in different axes is grounded on different sources and mechanisms. On the one hand, transverse mental time line was grounded on sensorimotor experience, especially writing/reading system, which the mechanism behind is embodied simulation. On the other hand, sagittal mental time line and vertical mental line was grounded on language, especially metaphor, which the mechanism behind is concept metaphor. Could mental time lines from the same origin or different origins be activated simultaneously? Is there any difference of activation pattern?To answer these questions, four experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 verified that mental time line can be activated in three axes separately using classical STARC effect paradigm. Time, from past to right, can be represented from left to right, from back to front and from down to up. And there is no difference in strength of time-space association for three axes. The following three experiments were designed to explore whether mental time lines in different axes could be activated simultaneously using a modified multiple-dimension free-choice task. Experiment 2 found that transverse and sagittal mental time line were activated simultaneously, no matter in temporal judgment-relevant task or in temporal judgment-irrelevant task(naming task). Transverse representation is dominant in temporal judgment-relevant task, which was disappeared in naming task. Experiment 3 found that transverse and vertical mental time line were activated simultaneously, no matter in temporal judgment-relevant task or in temporal judgment-irrelevant task(naming task). Transverse representation is dominant in temporal judgment-relevant task, which was disappeared in naming task. Experiment 4 found that sagittal and vertical mental time line can’t be activated simultaneously, no matter in temporal judgment-relevant task or in temporal judgment-irrelevant task. Vertical mental time line was activated singly.Taken together, these findings suggested that mental time lines from different sources can be activated simultaneously and transverse representation is dominant in temporal judgment-relevant task. However, mental time lines from same source can’t be activated simultaneously and vertical mental time line was activated singly. According to these findings, simultaneous activation of mental time lines depends on whether they are ground on different sources and mechanisms. The coexistence or competition between two mental time lines maybe due to how attention resource got allocated which influenced by activation mechanism of mental time lines in each dimension. What’s more, simultaneous activation of mental time lines suggested that embodied simulation and concept metaphor took place together while abstract concept was be perceived and represented.