象似性和手语学习经验对中国手语-汉语跨模态语义启动效应的影响

采用启动条件下的词汇判断任务,考察熟练手语使用者和无手语经验成年听人的跨模态语义启动效应。结果发现：1)在象似词条件下,两组被试判断汉语语义相关词的反应时均快于语义无关词,说明手语象似词和汉语词之间存在跨模态语义启动效应。2)在非象似词条件下,仅手语熟练被试判断汉语语义相关词的反应时快于语义无关词,无手语经验被试判断汉语语义相关词和无关词的速度没有差异。这是由于前者心理词库中的手语词和口语词共享语义表征,而后者主要依赖手语象似词的视觉模拟性。整个研究表明,中国手语和汉语间存在跨模态语义启动效应,但该效应受到手语词象似性和手语学习经历的调节。     

Natural reference: A phylo‐ and ontogenetic perspective on the comprehension of iconic gestures and vocalizations

The recognition of iconic correspondence between signal and referent has been argued to bootstrap the acquisition and emergence of language. Here, we study the ontogeny, and to some extent the phylogeny, of the ability to spontaneously relate iconic signals, gestures, and/or vocalizations, to previous experience. Children at 18, 24, and 36 months of age (N = 216) and great apes (N = 13) interacted with two apparatuses, each comprising a distinct action and sound. Subsequently, an experimenter mimicked either the action, the sound, or both in combination to refer to one of the apparatuses. Experiments 1 and 2 found no spontaneous comprehension in great apes and in 18‐month‐old children. At 24 months of age, children were successful with a composite vocalization‐gesture signal but not with either vocalization or gesture alone. At 36 months, children succeeded both with a composite vocalization‐gesture signal and with gesture alone, but not with vocalization alone. In general, gestures were understood better compared to vocalizations. Experiment 4 showed that gestures were understood irrespective of how children learned about the corresponding action (through observation or self‐experience). This pattern of results demonstrates that iconic signals can be a powerful way to establish reference in the absence of language, but they are not trivial for children to comprehend and not all iconic signals are created equal.     

记叙文时间转换机制

采用实时窗口阅读技术和再认探测技术,探讨了间断性时间短语与场景跨度的关系对时间转换的影响,对Zwaan提出的强印象假设与Anderson提出的场景模型进行检验。实验1探讨在与Zwaan实验材料相似长度的场景中人们是否会忽略对较短的非连续性时间标记的处理;实验2探讨在时间跨度较大的场景中,与Zwaan实验材料相似长度的间断性时间标记是否会引起时间的转换。结果表明时间信息的间断性只是产生时间转换的必要条件之一,而不是充分条件;读者在处理间断性的时间短语进行时间转换时还会参照时间短语的跨度与场景跨度的比例。     

Derogation without words: On the power of non-verbal pejoratives

While a large body of literature on pejorative language has emerged recently, derogatory communication is a broader phenomenon that need not constitutively involve the use of words. This paper delineates the class of non-verbal pejoratives (NVPs) and sketches an account of the derogatory power of a subset of NVPs, namely those whose effectiveness crucially relies on iconicity. Along the way, I point out some ways in which iconic NVPs differ from wholly arbitrary NVPs and ritualized threat signals in the animal kingdom, such as the wolf’s snarl, which do not threaten or demean targets by virtue of any kind of iconographic depiction. An iconic portrayal such as a racist caricature disparages its target by inviting recipients to entertain an unflattering image of the target. “Blackface” performers in the nineteenth-century, for example, promulgated an unflattering image of African-Americans by means of make-up, costumes, and vocal impersonations.     

物体的空间关系对语义相关判断的影响

采取快速语义判断任务探讨物体空间关系对语义相关判断的影响。实验1考察词对呈现方式与其指称物空间次序经验的关系对语义相关判断的影响。结果表明,词对呈现位置与其指称物的一般空间次序经验一致时语义判断快。实验2探讨词对呈现方式与其指称物构成方式的关系对语义相关判断的影响。结果表明,词对呈现方式与其指称物的构成方式一致时语义判断快。研究结果支持了知觉符号理论。     

Perceptual simulations and linguistic representations have differential effects on speeded relatedness judgements and recognition memory

We examined the effect of spatial iconicity (a perceptual simulation of canonical locations of objects) and word-order frequency on language processing and episodic memory of orientation. Participants made speeded relatedness judgements to pairs of words presented in locations typical of their real-world arrangements (e.g., ceiling on top and floor on bottom). They then engaged in a surprise orientation recognition task for the word pairs. We replicated Louwerse's (2008) Louwerse, M. M. 2008. Embodied representations are encoded in language. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15: 838–844. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] finding that word-order frequency has a stronger effect on semantic relatedness judgements than does spatial iconicity. This is consistent with recent suggestions that linguistic representations have a stronger impact on immediate decisions about verbal materials than do perceptual simulations. In contrast, spatial iconicity enhanced episodic memory of orientation to a greater extent than word-order frequency did. This new finding indicates that perceptual simulations have an important role in episodic memory. Results are discussed with respect to theories of perceptual representation and linguistic processing.     

情境模型中的时间表征研究

阅读理解中情境模型的建构是当今阅读研究的热点 ,自Zwaan等人提出事件标记模型理论以来 ,很多研究者对影响情境模型建构的空间维度进行了深入的研究 ,尽管对情境模型中时间维度的研究相对缺乏 ,但仍得出了一些有价值的研究成果。本文对情境模型中时间表征的理论假设、实验研究、技术手段及主要研究结论作了介绍和评析 ,并对未来的研究方向进行了展望。     

How many fingers am I holding up? The answer depends on children's language background

Monolingual English‐speaking preschool children tend to process number gestures as unanalyzed wholes rather than use the one‐to‐one (finger‐to‐quantity) correspondence. By school age, however, children can use the one‐to‐one correspondence. The purpose of the present studies was to test whether children learn one‐to‐one correspondence through exposure to a variety of finger configurations to convey a single quantity. In Study 1, we compared children with exposure to multiple one‐to‐one configurations, that is, French‐English and German‐English bilingual children, to English monolingual children who see consistent representations. As predicted, the bilingual children performed better in interpreting unconventional number gestures. In Study 2, we compared Chinese‐English bilingual children who knew arbitrary one‐handed Chinese numbers gestures for quantities 6–10 to Chinese‐English bilingual children who did not know these gestures, as well as to monolingual English speakers. Chinese‐English bilinguals who knew the arbitrary gestures were more likely to interpret unconventional gestures arbitrarily (i.e., influenced by the written and/or Chinese gesture forms). These children did not differ from English monolinguals in the interpretation of unconventional gestures. These results are consistent with the argument that children can become sensitive to the one‐to‐one correspondence in number gestures with exposure to multiple configurations for the same quantity.     

道德概念的空间形象性：语言因素和具身因素的共同作用

采用事件相关电位(ERP)技术探讨抽象道德概念的空间形象性效应, 以及语言因素和具身因素对该效应的影响机制及其加工进程。实验1检验词对空间位置对道德词对语义判断(反义程度)所产生的影响, 结果表明不符合空间形象性呈现条件(即道德-下, 不道德-上)诱发了较大的N400, 并且词对语义判断的反应时较长; 实验2检验词对语义的反义程度对道德词对空间形象性判断所产生的影响, 结果表明语义无关词对诱发了较大的N200和N700, 并且词对空间形象性判断的反应时较长。研究结果表明, 抽象道德概念的加工能够表现出空间形象性效应, 该效应由语言因素和具身因素共同塑造, 前者在概念加工过程中优先被激活并发挥持久影响, 后者仅在概念加工的中期发挥作用。