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Abstract Concepts are Weakly Embodied in the Second Language of Chinese-English Bilinguals
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Poster C22 in Poster Session C, Wednesday, October 25, 10:15 am - 12:00 pm CEST, Espace Vieux-Port
Yufen Wei1, Wenwen Yang1, Gary Oppenheim1, Jiehui Hu2, Guillaume Thierry1,3; 1Bangor University, 2University of Electronic Sciences and Technology of China, 3Adam Mickiewicz University
Embodied cognition posits that processing concepts requires sensorimotor activation. Previous research has shown that the perception of perceived power is spatially embodied along the vertical axis. However, it is unclear whether such mapping applies equally in the two languages of bilinguals. In the current study, we employed event-related potentials (ERPs) to compare the neural correlates of spatial embodiment in Chinese-English bilinguals and in native English speakers as they process the abstract concept of perceived power. We recruited 25 bilingual participants and 25 English native speakers as a control group. Our stimuli consisted of 120 Chinese words and 120 translation equivalents in English. The stimuli were further divided into 60 high/low perceived power human words (metaphorical relation-to-space, e.g., king/servant), high/low spatial references (direct relation-to-space, e.g., sun/ground, 30 words) and animal names (fillers, e.g., tiger/rabbit, 30 words). Participants were instructed to report the source of auditory words as being presented from either above or below their sitting position. Behaviourally, we failed to find an expected main effect of congruency between sound origin and metaphorical relation-to-space of perceived power, and we only found a main effect of language on RTs for words with a direct or metaphorical relation to space. Bilingual participants tested in Chinese registered more correct responses to congruent than incongruent items, whereas no such difference was found in English. ERP results based on our pre-registered analyses also failed to modulate P3 or N400 amplitude or interact with language. However, exploratory analyses on high-power human words showed a congruency effect on RTs for high-power words only. Furthermore, participants made fewer errors for congruent than incongruent stimuli when responding to high- as compared to low-power words and when they were tested in Chinese relative to English. Critically, analyses focusing on high-power words showed that bilinguals elicited ¬more positive P3 amplitudes in the congruent than incongruent condition, and more negative N400 amplitudes in the reverse comparison. This, however, applied when they were tested in Chinese, not in English. Finally, we found no such effect in English controls. Our findings suggest that spatial embodiment of perceived power may differ across languages in bilinguals, namely weaker embodiment effect in bilinguals’ second language (English) compared to their first language (Chinese). This discrepancy may be due to cultural factors, such as differences in the emphasis placed on power-related concepts in Chinese and Western cultures, or language proficiency, as participants had different levels of expertise in their two languages.
Topic Areas: Morphology, Meaning: Discourse and Pragmatics