An Empirical Study Of Chinese EFL Learners’ Modality Switching Effect In English Conceptual Processing

Numerous research findings have shown that during the perceptual processing,shift between different modalities elicits processing costs.Perceptual Symbol Systems holds that external things are stored in the form of multimodal perceptual symbols in the brain and our cognition to outside world is realized by the simulators,composed by the relevant perceptual symbols.Therefore,different conceptual representation will activate different perceptual experience.Based on the theory,conceptual representation is grounded in perceptual simulation and the processing of different properties of concepts will incur switching costs.Accordingly,scholars abroad have made a series of researches to testify the supposition,which is confirmed latter.However,most studies on the modality switching effect of conceptual processing are done at lexical level,and the modality switching effect in second language processing is rarely considered.What’s more,though previous studies demonstrate that negation is represented in an embodied way,the effect of perceptual simulation on the processing of negation is unclear.Therefore,the present study adopts ERP technique and further explore the modality switching effect on conceptual processing in both affirmative and negative sentences for Chinese EFL learners.The research questions are:(1)Is there any modality switching effect in Chinese EFL learners’ English conceptual processing of affirmative sentences?(2)Is there any modality switching effect in Chinese EFL learners’ English conceptual processing of negative sentences?The present study adopted 2(modality condition: modality-matched condition and modality-switched condition)×2(sentence type: affirmative sentences and negative sentences)two-factor within subject design.20 postgraduates majoring in English from SISU were recruited to participate in the experiments and verify the sentences presented.After that,the behavioral and ERP data were discussed to explore the effect of modality switching on conceptual processing for Chinese EFL learners.Both experiments were programmed by E-Prime 2.0.Neuroscan 4.5 and Synaps 2 were used to collect and record the behavioral and ERP data,which were analyzed offline by the statistic software SPSS 19.0.The whole experiments were made in the Key Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience & Foreign Language Learning at SISU.The experimental findings are as follows:(1)In affirmative sentences,behavioral data show that neither response times(t=-0.186,p=0.855>0.05)nor accuracy rate(t=0.000,p= 1.000>0.05)reveals significant difference between modality-matched condition and modality-switched one;meanwhile,the ERP data show that switched modality elicits a P200 with larger amplitude(t=-3.551,p=0.001<0.05)and a N400 with longer latency(t=-2.053,p=0.042<0.05),which reveal that Chinese EFL learners’ conceptual representation in second language is grounded in perceptual experience as well,and participants need to pay more attention and efforts to processing the switched modality.Besides,the present study finds that a larger N100(t=-2.920,p=0.004<0.05)is elicited under modality-matched condition than modality-switched one,which illustrates that perceptual stimuli in different modalities could elicit different ERP modulations.(2)In negative sentences,behavioral data show that response times(t=-0.186,p=0.855>0.05)reveal no significant difference between two conditions,but participants have lower accuracy rate under modality-switched condition than under modality-matched one(t=2.364,p=0.031<0.05),indicating that contextual sentences in different modalities hinder the conceptual representation of target negative sentences or the same modality facilitates that;meanwhile,the ERP data show that the conceptual representation in affirmative and negative sentences are similar: switched modality elicits P200 with larger amplitude(t=-4.026,p=0.000<0.05),N400 with longer latency(t=-2.965,p=0.004<0.05)and N100 with larger amplitude(t=-4.145,p=0.000<0.05).The result demonstrates that the added semantic marker negation does not change the modality switching effect on conceptual representation.Besides,under the influence of modal contextual sentences,negation processing is not a delayed process,but an immediate and online one.Given all that,Chinese EFL learners make embodied simulation in conceptualprocessing and modality switching effect exists in the conceptual representation of both negative and affirmative sentences.