School of Foreign Languages, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China; Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä 40014, Finland; Language and Brain Research Center, Sichuan International Studies University, Chongqing 400031, China.
School of Foreign Languages, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
Brain Lang. 2020 Feb;201:104714. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2019.104714. Epub 2019 Nov 29.
The framework of embodied cognition has challenged the modular view of a language-cognition divide by suggesting that meaning-retrieval critically involves the sensory-motor system. Despite extensive research into the neural mechanisms underlying language-motor coupling, it remains unclear how the motor system might be differentially engaged by different levels of linguistic abstraction and language proficiency. To address this issue, we used fMRI to quantify neural activations in brain regions underlying motor and language processing in Chinese-English speakers' processing of literal, metaphorical, and abstract language in their L1 and L2. Results overall revealed a response in motor ROIs gradually attenuating in intensity from literal to abstract via metaphorical language in both L1 and L2. Furthermore, contrast analyses between L1 and L2 showed overall greater activations of motor ROIs in the L2. We conclude that motor involvement in language processing is graded rather than all-or-none and that the motor system has a dual-functional role.
具身认知框架通过表明意义检索关键涉及感觉运动系统，挑战了语言认知分离的模块观点。尽管对语言运动耦合的神经机制进行了广泛的研究，但仍不清楚运动系统如何通过不同程度的语言抽象和语言熟练程度而有所不同地参与。为了解决这个问题，我们使用 fMRI 来量化汉语 - 英语使用者在母语和第二语言中处理字面、隐喻和抽象语言时，大脑中与运动和语言处理相关的区域的神经激活。结果总体上显示，在母语和第二语言中，从字面到隐喻再到抽象的语言处理中，运动 ROI 的反应强度逐渐减弱。此外，母语和第二语言之间的对比分析显示，第二语言中的运动 ROI 的激活总体上更大。我们得出结论，运动系统参与语言处理是逐渐的，而不是全有或全无的，并且运动系统具有双重功能作用。
