Metaphorical Representation Research On Vertical Space And Color Of Emotional Concept

Emotion reflects the individual’s attitude and experience towards objects as well as its corresponding behavior,which can be seen anywhere in our life.However,the concept of emotion is complex,abstract and imperceptible.The study of metaphorical representation has always been a hot topic in cognitive psychology.In the context of embodied cognition and conceptual metaphor theory,three behavioral experiments were conducted to explore: 1)the metaphorical relationship between emotional conceptual valence and vertical space;2)the metaphorical relationship between emotional conceptual valence and red and black color;3)whether the two types of metaphors and the affect valence exist double metaphorical effects.Experiment 1: adopts 2(vertical space position: above vs below)× 2(vocabulary type:positive vocabulary vs negative vocabulary)experiment design to verify the psychological reality of emotional concept in vertical spatial metaphor.The results show that the positive valence words presented above the screen and the negative valence words presented below the screen are judged faster,and the error rate is lower too.That is,in the representation of abstract emotional concepts,there is a vertical spatial metaphor mapping of "positive in the upper and the negative in the bottom".Experiment 2: adopts 2(color: red vs black)× 2(vocabulary type: positive vocabulary vs negative vocabulary)experiment design to verify whether the red and black metaphors of emotional concepts have psychological reality.The results show that when the positive words are red,the subjects’ judgment reaction is faster than that of black,and the accurate rate is higher;when the negative words are black,the subjects’ judgment reaction is faster than that of red,and the accurate rate is also higher.That is,red is more implicitly associated with positive,while black is more implicitly associated with negative.Experiment 3: adopts 2(vertical space position: above vs below)× 2(color: red vs black)× 2(vocabulary type: positive vocabulary vs negative vocabulary)experiment design to explore whether the psychological reality of double metaphor exists.The experimental results show that both positive and negative valence words have double metaphorical effects.In conclusion:(1)there is a metaphorical association of "positive in the upper and negative in the bottom";(2)metaphorical consistency exists between red and positive affect valence and between black and negative affect valence;(3)double metaphors of emotional concept have psychological reality,and color metaphors have higher intensity.