The Processing Mechanism Of Chinese Negative Sentences And Double Negative Sentences

In order to test the two-step simulation hypothesis, propositional theory and explore the processing modes of Chinese negative sentence and double negative sentence, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were measured when 22 Chinese subjects were reading Chinese affirmative sentences, negative sentences and double negative sentences in sentence-picture verification task.The behavioral results revealed that, the reaction of double negative and affirmative sentences are equally fast, but the reaction time of negative sentences are much longer. the correct rate of affirmative sentence was the highest, the correct rate of negative sentences was the lowest and the correct rate of double negative sentences was in the mid. The ERPs results showed that in the stage of sentence processing, both in the mid where the verb phrases were presented and at the end of the sentence where the meaning of the whole sentence was integrated, negative sentences roused more positive LPC than the affirmative sentences; and double negative sentence only roused larger LPC in the left-anterior brain area at the end of the sentences. In the present stage of the verb phrase, negative and double negative sentences roused more positive components than the affirmative one. In the verification stage, whether it is in the short interval condition or in the long interval condition, we observed main effect of truth value effect in the N400 time window, but the N400 effect of negation appeared only in the short interval condition and there were no interaction of truth value and negation in either condition.These results indicated that:a) the process of negative words was real-time but negation was fully integrated into sentence meaning at a later point in the comprehension process, b) the process of double negative was real-time too, the transformation of double negation to affirmation was immediate, which occurs in the mid of the sentence(verb phases) but not the end of the sentence. c) when the negated state was obvious, the process of the negative sentence did not conform to the two-step simulation hypothesis; when two negative words were next to each other, the processing of the double negative sentences only need one-step simulation which was similar to the affirmative sentences. d) the principle of cognitive economy may be a more general principle, which has a direct impact on the processing of sentences.