The Temporal Features Of Processing Of Horizontal Spatial Metaphors After Disgust Priming:Evidence From ERPs

BackgroundWith the continuous progress of cognitive science and the perfection of embodied cognitive theory,more and more researches begin to emphasize that physical experience plays an important role in psychological cognitive process,and believe that psychological cognitive process cannot exist independently from physical experience,among whichemotion plays an important role.Disgust is one of the basic human emotions is closely related to our choices and judgments in daily life.Relevant studies have shown that after moral aversion is induced,individuals can reduce moral aversion by choosing the intention related to morality.At present,most of the research in this field is behavioral research,but few studies combine disgust with moral conceptual metaphor.ObjectiveUsing word priming paradigm and event correlation potential technique,this paper explores the characteristics and neural mechanism of individuals'processing of horizontal spatial metaphor after moral aversion priming.MethodsA total of 36 undergraduates aged between 18 and 24 were randomly recruited from a university.This study was designed for two-factor subjects.Word primes were used to present primes(moral disgust words,non-moral disgust words)and then target stimuli(words on the left side of the screen,words on the right side of the screen).The dependent variables are the accuracy and response time of individuals in judging the target stimulus.Experimental procedures were programmed and behavioral data were recorded using e-prime1.0,and EEG data were recorded and processed using Neuroscan4.5 recording and analysis system.SPSS22.0 software was used to conduct repeated measurement variance analysis on the behavioral data and EEG data,and the Greenhouse-Geisser method was used to correct them.ResultsIn this study,the behavioral data showed that Start the word the Lord effect significantly[F=11.21,P<0.05,?~2=0.33],compared with the moral aversion to start,moral aversion starts,is right to try to target word accuracy is higher.Start the word×target word significant interactions[F=9.37,P<0.05,?~2=0.42],When prime words are moral aversive words,compared with the words presented on the left side of the screen,the subjects correctly judged the words on the right side of the screen.The ERPs data showed that the main effect of target stimulus on N1 amplitude was significant[F=7.56,P<0.01,?~2=0.11],and words induced greater amplitude when presented on the right side of the screen.The interaction of target stimulation×electrode position was significant[F=13.72,P<0.01,?~2=0.00],The simple effect showed that the front scalp amplitude induced by the target stimulus was significantly greater when the target stimulus was presented on the right side of the screen than when the target stimulus was presented on the left side of the screen.In P2 amplitude,there was no significant difference in amplitude between factors(Ps>0.05).The interaction of primes×target stimuli was significant on the N400 amplitude[F=7.18,P<0.01,?~2=0.13],The simple effect shows that the amplitude induced by the display of target stimulus on the left side of the screen after moral aversion is primed is greater than that induced by the display of stimulus on the left side of the screen after non-moral aversion is primed.Conclusion(1)Moral disgust is more semantically connected with the horizontal position(right)of moral concept,and less semantically connected with the horizontal position(left)of moral concept.(2)After the moral disgust is activated,individuals tend to choose the"right"horizontal position of the metaphorical moral concept to alleviate the sense of disgust.