Language-space Association In An Embodied L2 Artificial Word Learning Paradigm

Embodied cognition holds that sensorimotor systems are automatically engaged during conceptual processing.Activation of motor information is intrinsic during language cognition.A series of studies in second language(L2)processing have shown that sensorimotor experience such as action and location closely linked to the specific words can be established in word learning.And these experiential traces can be reactivated in later word processing.However,these results are mostly based on real word tests,which are prone to the interference of word frequency,subjects' previous learning experience.Thus,it is difficult to tell whether such associations are resulted from long-term learning or can be established through short-term initial learning.A robust way is to test such effect with artificial novel words which are free from previous interferences.The current study is designed to investigate whether embodied sensorimotor association can be established through initial novel word learning using L2 artificial word-learning paradigm.The study used a classic color Stroop test paradigm embedded in an L2 artificial word-learning task to compare the Chinese-English language learners' behavioral performance in the pre-test and post-test.In the learning phase,novel objects without prior spatial meanings were located in the participants' upper or lower visual field and participants learned the objects' names by a multi-sensory interactive learning mode to form implicit space experiential association with objects.A vertical color Stroop test was adopted to test participants' implicit word processing,in which participants responded to the ink color of the artificial words(objects' names)with either an upward or downward directed response.The three independent variables are test phase(pre-vs post),word referent location(up vs.down)and response direction(congruent vs incongruent).Participants' reaction times(RTs)and error rate were recorded as the indexes of dependent variables.All data were analyzed through SPSS 22.0.Repeated measures ANOVA results showed a main effect of test phase,such that the RTs were shorter for post-test than pre-test,with participants improved accuracy across each learning cycle.However,no interaction between test phase and word referent location and response direction,RTs were not shorter when the movement direction was compatible with the word's referent location during the learning phase.The response in the compatible condition was not significantly faster than that in the incompatible condition in the post-test.No such congruency effect was found in error rate.These results manifest that there is no obvious association between implicit processing of artificial L2 words and motor responses even if words are comprehended within a short time.These findings support the weak embodiment cognition hypothesis of Symbols Interdependency System and Language and Situated Simulation.The conceptual system may have a dual processing mechanism consisting of both amodal and modal representations that coexist in an integrated manner.