Is the Processing of Chinese Verbal Metaphors Simulated or Abstracted? Evidence From an ERP Study.

ABSTRACT: The theory of embodied semantics holds that verbal metaphors are strongly grounded in sensorimotor experience. Many studies have proven that besides sensorimotor simulation, the comprehension of verbal metaphors also requires semantic abstraction. But the interaction between simulation and abstraction, as well as the time course of metaphorical meaning integration, is not well understood. In the present study, we aimed to investigate whether embodiment or abstraction, or both, is employed in the processing of Chinese verbal metaphor. Participants were asked to read subject-verb metaphorical, verb-object metaphorical, literal-concrete and literal-abstract sentences, and the target words were measured at the verb and the object of each sentence. The results revealed that a similar N400 effec

SUBMITTER: Li Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9328078 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature