Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2011 Sep;23(9):2400-14. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2010.21578. Epub 2010 Sep 17.
According to embodied theories, the symbols used by language are meaningful because they are grounded in perception, action, and emotion. In contrast, according to abstract symbol theories, meaning arises from the syntactic combination of abstract, amodal symbols. If language is grounded in internal bodily states, then one would predict that emotion affects language. Consistent with this, advocates of embodied theories propose a strong link between emotion and language [Havas, D., Glenberg, A. M., & Rinck, M. Emotion simulation during language comprehension. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14, 436-441, 2007; Niedenthal, P. M. Embodying emotion. Science, 316, 1002-1005, 2007]. The goal of this study was to test abstract symbol vs. embodied views of language by investigating whether mood affects semantic processing. To this aim, we induced different emotional states (happy vs. sad) by presenting film clips that displayed fragments from a happy movie or a sad movie. The clips were presented before and during blocks of sentences in which the cloze probability of mid-sentence critical words varied (high vs. low). Participants read sentences while ERPs were recorded. The mood induction procedure was successful: Participants watching the happy film clips scored higher on a mood scale than those watching the sad clips. For N400, mood by cloze probability interactions were obtained. The N400 cloze effect was strongly reduced in the sad mood compared with the happy mood condition. Furthermore, a difference in late positivity was only present for the sad mood condition. The mood by semantic processing interaction observed for N400 supports embodied theories of meaning and challenges abstract symbol theories that assume that processing of word meaning reflects a modular process.
根据具身理论，语言所使用的符号之所以有意义，是因为它们根植于感知、行动和情感。相比之下，根据抽象符号理论，意义源于抽象、非模态符号的句法组合。如果语言根植于内部身体状态，那么人们会预测情绪会影响语言。与这一观点一致，具身理论的支持者提出情绪与语言之间存在强烈联系[Havas，D.，Glenberg，A. M.，& Rinck，M. 情绪模拟在语言理解中的作用。心理通报与评论，14，436-441，2007；Niedenthal，P. M. 情绪体现。科学，316，1002-1005，2007]。本研究的目的是通过研究情绪是否影响语义处理来检验语言的抽象符号与具身观点。为此，我们通过呈现显示快乐电影或悲伤电影片段的电影片段来诱导不同的情绪状态（快乐与悲伤）。在句子块之前和期间呈现这些片段，句子中的句子中间关键单词的补全概率不同（高与低）。参与者在阅读句子时记录 ERP。情绪诱导程序是成功的：观看快乐电影片段的参与者在情绪量表上的得分高于观看悲伤电影片段的参与者。对于 N400，观察到了情绪与补全概率的交互作用。与快乐情绪条件相比，悲伤情绪条件下 N400 的补全效应明显减弱。此外，仅在悲伤情绪条件下才存在晚期正性差异。对于 N400 观察到的情绪与语义处理的相互作用支持了意义的具身理论，挑战了假设词意处理反映模块化过程的抽象符号理论。
