Swaab Tamara Y, Baynes Kathleen, Knight Robert T
Department of Psychology, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616-8686, USA.
Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2002 Dec;15(1):99-103. doi: 10.1016/s0926-6410(02)00219-7.
Concrete, highly imageable words (e.g. banana) are easier to understand than abstract words for which it is difficult to generate an image (e.g. justice). This effect of concreteness or imageability has been taken by some as evidence for the existence of separable verbal- and image-based semantic systems. Instead, however, effects of concreteness may result from better associations to relevant contextual representations for concrete than for abstract words within a single semantic system. In this study, target words of high and low imageability were preceded by supportive (related) or non-supportive (unrelated) context words. The influence of contextual support on the imageability effect was measured by recording event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to the high and low imageable target words in both context conditions. The topographic distributions of the ERPs elicited by the high versus low imageable target words were found to be different, and this effect was independent of contextual support. These data are consistent with the idea that distinct verbal- and image-based semantic codes exist for word representations, and that as a result, concrete words that are highly imageable can be understood more easily.
具体的、具有高度形象性的词汇（如香蕉）比难以形成形象的抽象词汇（如正义）更容易理解。具体性或形象性的这种效应被一些人视为存在可分离的基于言语和基于形象的语义系统的证据。然而，相反地，具体性效应可能是由于在单一语义系统中，具体词汇比抽象词汇与相关情境表征有更好的关联。在本研究中，高形象性和低形象性的目标词汇之前会出现支持性（相关）或非支持性（不相关）的情境词汇。通过记录在两种情境条件下对高形象性和低形象性目标词汇的事件相关脑电位（ERP），来测量情境支持对形象性效应的影响。发现高形象性和低形象性目标词汇所引发的ERP的地形分布是不同的，并且这种效应与情境支持无关。这些数据与以下观点一致，即对于词汇表征存在不同的基于言语和基于形象的语义代码，因此，具有高度形象性的具体词汇更容易理解。
