Embodied Meaning In Comprehending Mandarin Counterfactual Sentences

The embodied cognition argues cognition is a high situated activity,generating from the interaction between people and the outside world.From the perspective of embodied cognition,mental simulation realized by re-situating oneself is regarded as a means of language comprehension.By activating the related experiences in our sensor-motor systems,people can construct the meaning of linguistic inputs.Previous researches explored language processing at different levels including words,sentences and discourses,verifying the embodied cognition view in language comprehension.However,the factual language instances have generally been the research focus,and little attention was paid to counterfactual one.Moreover,Mandarin characterized with unique phonetic and ideographic components,is potentially distinct in processing mechanism from Indo-European languages.Therefore,new enlightenment can be possibly provided for embodied account by Mandarin counterfactual comprehension.The present research employed the experimental paradigm of Action-Sentence Compatibility Effect(ACE),to investigate whether the embodied meaning was activated in action-related Mandarin counterfactual sentences processing.In the experiment,participants first listened to action-related Mandarin factual or counterfactual sentences describing the transfer events,and then performed the verb-compatible or-incompatible hand motion after the transfer verb onset.The results demonstrated the embodied meaning was activated in both Mandarin factual and counterfactual sentences.The significant difference was found in the response time between verb-compatible and verb-incompatible hand motion.Less response time was produced in the condition of verb-incompatible motor performance.The result was consistent with interfering ACE,namely mismatching advantage.In processing action-related sentences,participants activated the sensory-motor systems related to actions,and they were required to perform the hand actions.Because of the resource competition of sensory-motor systems between mental simulation in language comprehension and motor performance,the interfering ACE emerged.Additionally,the temporal course of interfering ACE was slightly different between Mandarin factual and counterfactual sentences.The thesis further proved and testified the embodied account in language comprehension from Mandarin counterfactual sentences perspective.Although counterfactual sentences described the counter-to-reality events,the mental simulation and the embodied meaning were still constructed and activated in action-related Mandarin counterfactuals,enriching the research on the meaning construction of Mandarin counterfactuals.