摘要
A good number of neurophysiological studies have been conducted to explore the neural mechanisms of metaphor processing, but few have taken the bilingual phenomenon into consideration. The current study, by using event related potentials （ERPs）, investigated the neural mechanism employed by Chinese native speakers whose second language is English in comprehending Chinese and English metaphors. Amplitudes of the N400 ERP component （350-600 ms） were more negative for English metaphors compared with Chinese literal sentences, English literal sentences and Chinese metaphors. In addition, both hemispheres were more activated in processing English metaphors than other conditions. These findings provide electrophysiological evidence for a different mechanism used by Chinese-English bilinguals to comprehend Chinese and English metaphors.
目前隐喻脑机制的神经生理研究已经开展了很多,但是很少研究涉及双语者隐喻脑机制。本研究使用事件相关电位ERP技术,对母语是汉语、二语是英语的中国人被试加工汉语隐喻和英语隐喻脑机制进行对比研究。结果表明,被试在加工英语隐喻时ERP成分N400比加工汉语本义、汉语隐喻和英语本义呈现更明显的负向波。左右脑在加工英语隐喻都有激活,活跃度比其他条件更高。
基金
funded by the research project for Humanities and Social Science,granted by the Ministry of Education,PRC,2012.The project order:12YJCZH010
funded by Dalian University of Technology Research Fund DUT10RW402
