| Since the Embodied Cognition was proposed,scholars at home and abroad have conducted a body of studies on embodied language comprehension.Overall,the extant studies on embodied language mainly focus on the semantic domain.By contrast,there is a dearth of studies on the syntactic domain.The evidence of the embodiment of syntactic processing mainly comes from the neural overlapping between action and syntax,while few studies directly address the interaction between syntactic processing and motor system.Moreover,the previous studies on the embodiment of syntactic processing are aimed primarily at L1,but the embodiment of L2 syntactic processing has not been scrutinized.Therefore,based on the previous studies,the present research employs the ERP technique to investigate the interaction between action and L2 syntax,by attesting the hypothesis that there is a neural overlap between L2 syntactic processing and motor planning and execution.Specifically,the research question is addressed: Is there an action-syntax compatibility effect of Chinese EFL learners' processing of English center-embedded relative clauses?This study adopted a 2(self-administration way: linear and nonlinear)× 2(sentence correctness: correct and incorrect)repeated-measures experimental design.Twenty-one postgraduates majoring in English Language and Literature from SISU participated in the experiment.They were required to read English center-embedded relative clauses and then to perform the sentence judgement task,and the behavioral and ERPs data were recorded concurrently.The sentential stimuli,which were previously split into three segments(e.g.,The rat/ that the cat chased/ ran away quickly),were self-administered segment-by-segment in two ways of self-administration: linear and nonlinear.In the linear self-administration task,participants were required to press the three adjacent keys in the keyboard with three consecutive fingers of the right hand,so as to respectively display the three segments of sentences word-by-word.Merely different from the linear self-administration task,the nonlinear one required participants to press the pedal with the right foot when presenting the second segment,rather than with the middle finger.The behavioral data of sentence correctness judgement and the ERPs data of target verb reading were recorded.The experiment was programmed by E-prime 2.0 software.Neuroscan 4.5 and Synaps were capitalized on to collect and record EEG data which were analyzed by SPSS 18.0 with a two-way repeated measures ANOVA.The experiment was conducted in the Key Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience and Foreign Language Learning of SISU.The experimental results are as follows:(1)The statistical results of the behavioral data showed: regarding the RT,no significant main effects of sentence correctness(p =.193 >.05)or self-administration way(p =.747 >.05)was found.Moreover,there was no interaction between the two factors(p =.674 >.05).With respect to the ACC,no significant main effect of self-administration way(p =.371 >.05)was observed.However,a significant main effect of sentence correctness(p =.009 <.01)was revealed.Specifically,the ACC of correct sentence judgement was significantly higher than that of incorrect sentence judgement.Likewise,there was no interaction between the two factors(p =.706 >.05).By and large,the behavioral failed to reveal the influence of self-administration way on L2 syntactic by Chinese EFL learners.(2)The statistical results of the ERP data revealed: with regard to the mean amplitude of negative wave evoked in the 20-199 ms time window,no significant main effect of sentence correctness(p =.287 >.05)was found,but a main effect of self-administration way(p =.017 <.05)was observed.Specifically,a greater amplitude was evoked in response to nonlinear self-administration task relative to the linear self-administration task,irrespective of sentence correctness.Moreover,there was no interaction between the two factors(p =.384 >.05).As for the frontal region's mean amplitude of negative wave evoked in the 250-500 ms time window,both marginal main effects of sentence correctness(p <.1)and self-administration way(p <.1)were observed.Specifically,a greater amplitude was evoked in response to nonlinear administration task,regardless of sentence correctness.However,no significant interaction effect was observed between the two factors(p =.409 >.05).The ERP data were indicative of the influence of self-administration way on L2 syntactic by Chinese EFL learners.Presumably,the syntactic processing consumes more cognitive resources in the nonlinear self-administration condition.Taken together,when L2 syntactic structure was compatible with the concurrent motor task,Chinese EFL learners showed the inhibitory effect of L2 syntactic processing.In other words,there was an inhibitory action-syntax compatibility effect during the processing of center-embedded relative clauses by Chinese EFL learners.There exists a difference of Chinese EFL learners' L2 syntactic processing under two sequentially different motor tasks,which can be explicated by the fact that there is a neural overlap between L2 syntactic processing and motor planning and execution.Therefore,this study endorses the embodied view of language comprehension,positing that L2 syntax may probably be embodied. |
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