University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QB, UK.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2011 Oct;23(10):3146-52. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_00022. Epub 2011 Mar 31.
In human communication, direct speech (e.g., Mary said: "I'm hungry") is perceived to be more vivid than indirect speech (e.g., Mary said [that] she was hungry). However, for silent reading, the representational consequences of this distinction are still unclear. Although many of us share the intuition of an "inner voice," particularly during silent reading of direct speech statements in text, there has been little direct empirical confirmation of this experience so far. Combining fMRI with eye tracking in human volunteers, we show that silent reading of direct versus indirect speech engenders differential brain activation in voice-selective areas of the auditory cortex. This suggests that readers are indeed more likely to engage in perceptual simulations (or spontaneous imagery) of the reported speaker's voice when reading direct speech as opposed to meaning-equivalent indirect speech statements as part of a more vivid representation of the former. Our results may be interpreted in line with embodied cognition and form a starting point for more sophisticated interdisciplinary research on the nature of auditory mental simulation during reading.
在人类交流中，直接引语（例如，玛丽说：“我饿了”）被认为比间接引语（例如，玛丽说她饿了）更生动。然而，对于默读来说，这种区别的表象后果仍不清楚。尽管我们许多人都有一种“内心声音”的直觉，特别是在默读文本中的直接引语陈述时，但到目前为止，这种体验还没有得到直接的实证证实。我们结合 fMRI 和眼动追踪技术，在人类志愿者中进行研究，结果表明，默读直接引语和间接引语会在听觉皮层的语音选择区域产生不同的大脑激活。这表明，与阅读意义相同的间接引语陈述相比，读者在阅读直接引语时更有可能对报告者的声音进行感知模拟（或自发想象），从而形成对前者更生动的表述。我们的研究结果可以根据具身认知进行解释，并为阅读过程中听觉心理模拟的本质的更复杂的跨学科研究提供了起点。
