Maffei Roberto, Convertini Livia S, Quatraro Sabrina, Ressa Stefania, Velasco Annalisa
A.L.B.E.R.T. Research group, ARPA-Firenze-Cultural association , Firenze , Italy.
PeerJ. 2015 Oct 27;3:e1361. doi: 10.7717/peerj.1361. eCollection 2015.
Background. Even though the interpretation of natural language messages is generally conceived as the result of a conscious processing of the message content, the influence of unconscious factors is also well known. What is still insufficiently known is the way such factors work. We have tackled interpretation assuming it is a process, whose basic features are the same for the whole humankind, and employing a naturalistic approach (careful observation of phenomena in conditions the closest to "natural" ones, and precise description before and independently of data statistical analysis). Methodology. Our field research involved a random sample of 102 adults. We presented them with a complete real world-like case of written communication using unabridged message texts. We collected data (participants' written reports on their interpretations) in controlled conditions through a specially designed questionnaire (closed and opened answers); then, we treated it through qualitative and quantitative methods. Principal Findings. We gathered some evidence that, in written message interpretation, between reading and the attribution of conscious meaning, an intermediate step could exist (we named it "disassembling") which looks like an automatic reaction to the text words/expressions. Thus, the process of interpretation would be a discontinuous sequence of three steps having different natures: the initial "decoding" step (i.e., reading, which requires technical abilities), disassembling (the automatic reaction, an unconscious passage) and the final conscious attribution of meaning. If this is true, words and expressions would firstly function like physical stimuli, before being taken into account as symbols. Such hypothesis, once confirmed, could help explaining some links between the cultural (human communication) and the biological (stimulus-reaction mechanisms as the basis for meanings) dimension of humankind.
背景。尽管自然语言信息的解读通常被视为对信息内容进行有意识处理的结果，但无意识因素的影响也广为人知。然而，这些因素的作用方式仍鲜为人知。我们在进行解读研究时，假定它是一个过程，其基本特征对全人类而言都是相同的，并采用了自然主义的方法（在最接近“自然”的条件下仔细观察现象，并在进行数据统计分析之前且独立于此进行精确描述）。方法。我们的实地研究涉及102名成年人的随机样本。我们向他们展示了一个完整的、类似现实世界的书面交流案例，使用的是未删节的信息文本。我们通过一份专门设计的问卷（封闭式和开放式答案）在受控条件下收集数据（参与者关于其解读的书面报告）；然后，我们通过定性和定量方法对其进行处理。主要发现。我们收集了一些证据，表明在书面信息解读中，在阅读和有意识意义的归因之间，可能存在一个中间步骤（我们将其命名为“拆解”），它看起来像是对文本单词/表达的自动反应。因此，解读过程将是一个由三个性质不同的步骤组成的不连续序列：初始的“解码”步骤（即阅读，这需要技术能力）、拆解（自动反应，一个无意识的过程）以及最终的有意识意义归因。如果这是真的，那么单词和表达首先会像物理刺激一样起作用，然后才会被视为符号。这一假设一旦得到证实，可能有助于解释人类文化（人际交流）和生物（作为意义基础的刺激 - 反应机制）维度之间的一些联系。
