Liu Ting, Wang Yan, Wang Zhisheng, Yu Hao
School of International Business Communication, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian, 116025, China.
Research Institute of Photonics, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian, 116034, China.
Sci Rep. 2025 May 25;15(1):18177. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-03248-5.
Metaphor translation is a complex cognitive process. Previous studies have generally relied on traditional testing methods that primarily focus on completed translation works. The use of dynamic and procedural experimental methods for detection is still lacking. Going beyond previous studies, the current research utilizes eye-tracking and EEG technology to simultaneously record and analyze eye movement indicators and alpha band activity during the metaphor translation process. Eye movement indicators reflect cognitive effort in the context of source text (ST) comprehension, while the alpha band reflects divergent thinking during the translation output stage of the target text (TT). The participants were professional and student translators. The results indicate that the translators exert more cognitive effort in the metaphor translation process compared to the non-metaphor translation process. Additionally, they demonstrate more effective divergent thinking during metaphor translation tasks than during non-metaphor translation tasks. Furthermore, professional translators require less cognitive effort and maintaining a more stable level of divergent thinking. These empirical results suggest that metaphor translation requires not only linguistic abilities for cognitive processing but also divergent thinking skills to find the most appropriate translation solutions.
隐喻翻译是一个复杂的认知过程。以往的研究通常依赖于传统测试方法，这些方法主要关注已完成的翻译作品。目前仍缺乏用于检测的动态和程序性实验方法。与以往研究不同的是，当前的研究利用眼动追踪和脑电图技术，在隐喻翻译过程中同步记录和分析眼动指标以及阿尔法波段活动。眼动指标反映了在源文本理解背景下的认知努力，而阿尔法波段则反映了目标文本翻译输出阶段的发散性思维。参与者为专业翻译人员和学生翻译者。结果表明，与非隐喻翻译过程相比，翻译者在隐喻翻译过程中付出了更多的认知努力。此外，他们在隐喻翻译任务中比在非隐喻翻译任务中表现出更有效的发散性思维。此外，专业翻译人员需要的认知努力较少，并且能保持更稳定的发散性思维水平。这些实证结果表明，隐喻翻译不仅需要用于认知处理的语言能力，还需要发散性思维技能来找到最合适的翻译解决方案。
