Citron Francesca M M, Michaelis Nora, Goldberg Adele E
Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, UK.
Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
Neuropsychologia. 2020 Mar 16;140:107381. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107381. Epub 2020 Feb 25.
The present study aims to investigate the neural correlates of processing conventional figurative language in non-native speakers in a comparison with native speakers. Italian proficient L2 learners of German and German native speakers read conventional metaphorical statements as well as literal paraphrases that were comparable on a range of psycholinguistic variables. Results confirm previous findings that native speakers show increased activity for metaphorical processing, and left amygdala activation increases with increasing Metaphoricity. At the whole-brain level, L2 learners showed the expected overall differences in activation when compared to native speakers (in the fronto-temporal network). But L2 speakers did not show any distinctive activation outside the caudate nucleus as Metaphoricity increased, suggesting that the L2 speakers were less affected by increasing Metaphoricity than native speakers were. With small volume correction, only a single peak in the amygdala reached threshold for L2 speakers as Metaphoricity increased. The findings are consistent with the view that metaphorical language is more engaging for native speakers but not necessarily for L2 speakers.
本研究旨在通过与以母语为者对比，探究非母语者处理传统比喻性语言的神经关联。精通意大利语的德语二语学习者和以德语为母语者阅读了传统隐喻语句以及在一系列心理语言学变量上具有可比性的字面释义。结果证实了先前的研究发现，即母语者在隐喻处理时表现出增强的活动，并且左杏仁核激活随着隐喻性的增加而增强。在全脑水平上，与母语者相比，二语学习者在激活方面表现出预期的总体差异（在额颞网络中）。但是随着隐喻性增加，二语者在尾状核之外未表现出任何独特的激活，这表明二语者受隐喻性增加的影响小于母语者。经过小体积校正，随着隐喻性增加，二语者杏仁核中只有一个峰值达到阈值。这些发现与以下观点一致，即隐喻性语言对母语者更具吸引力，但对二语者不一定如此。
