University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA.
Cognition. 2013 Aug;128(2):134-9. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.03.012. Epub 2013 May 13.
Verb aspect conveys the temporal flow of an action, such as whether it is on-going or complete. If language guides how situation models are to be constructed, then verb aspect could influence cognition that would use situation models, as in solving insight problems. In this study, verb aspect within the insight problem was manipulated to determine if the imperfective aspect (was accepting) or perfective aspect (accepted) influenced people's solution rates. Results revealed that solution rates for problems that depended on the way an action was being done within the problem were better when the imperfective aspect was used. For problems that did not focus on the action of the sentence, solution rates were better when the perfective aspect was used. The language used to convey problems can influence the ease which people are able to arrive at a solution.
动词体貌传达了动作的时间流程，例如动作是正在进行还是已经完成。如果语言指导情境模型的构建方式，那么动词体貌可能会影响使用情境模型的认知，例如在解决顿悟问题时。在这项研究中，通过在顿悟问题中操纵动词体貌来确定未完成体（was accepting）还是完成体（accepted）是否会影响人们的解题率。结果表明，当使用未完成体时，那些依赖于问题中动作完成方式的问题的解题率更高。而对于那些不关注句子动作的问题，使用完成体时解题率更高。用来传达问题的语言可以影响人们得出解决方案的难易程度。
