The Embodied Metaphor Effect Between Power Perception And Central-Peripheral Space

The embodied theories of conceptual processing hold that the forming of concepts is based on the sensorimotor experience.Abstract concepts also have the basis of perceptual experience,even though the construction of concepts are not exactly the same as the construction of concrete concepts.Conceptual metaphor theory holds that the processing of abstract concept is in the form of metaphor.Power,as a widely used abstract concept,is also has the physical basis of space.But most previous studies only explored the mutual influence between vertical space and power,ignoring the metaphor between central-peripheral space and power.In this paper,we designed three experiments to investigate the metaphorical effect between the central-peripheral space and power.The effect of power on central-peripheral special perception was discussed through experiment 1.Two group of participants were initiated of high/low power,then they were asked to select a seat in different position.The result showed that the participants of high-power priming group were more likely choose the seats near the central position,and the low-power priming group chose more seats near the peripheral position.The result shows that the perception of power can influence the spatial perception of individuals.The second experiment aims to explore the influence of central-peripheral spatial perception on power perception.Two group of participants were asked to seated in the central or the peripheral seat in a room,and then completed the self-evaluation of power.The results showed that the power perception of the central group was significantly higher than that of the peripheral group.It shows that the central-edge spatial perception can affect the individual's sense of power.Experiment three used event-related potential technology to investigate the central-peripheral spatial metaphor effect of power.Participants were asked to make a judgment of power words after a central/peripheral priming.Behavioral results show that there is no signifieant difference between the response time and the correct rate of response when the metaphor is consistent and inconsistent.Electroencephalogram(EEG)showed that the typical Nl,P2 and N400 components were induced in the process of word judgment.The results shows that larger P200 wave amplitude were induced under the consistent condition,and larger N400 wave amplitude were induced under the inconsistent condition.This shows that there is a metaphorical congruence effect on the central-edge schema,indicating that the concept of high and low power has a metaphorical relation with the central-peripheral space.To sum up,this study proved that the representation and processing of the abstract concept of power is closely related to the central-peripheral space to the perception experience,and the experience of individual space perception and the representation of power are interrelated.