A Study On The Contextual Modulation Effect In Conceptual Processing Of English Action Verbs

Language is a high-level cognitive activity whereby the sensorimotor system is the basis of language cognition in the framework of embodied cognition theory.The conceptual processing of action verbs activates the sensorimotor system and influences the perception and recognition of actions.Action recognition is facilitated when an action described by the lexical concept is consistent with the actual action.Studies have explored the embodied basis and characteristics of the conceptual processing of action verbs,but the influence of contextual factors on action verb concept processing needs to be clarified.Therefore,the present study aims to investigate the contextual modulation effect,and reveal that the conceptual processing of action verbs varies under different contextual conditions and subsequently affects action recognition.The specific research questions are:(1)Does the contextual modulation effect of scene type exist in the conceptual processing of English action verbs?(2)Does the contextual modulation effect of personal subject type exist in the conceptual processing of English action verbs?(3)Does the action congruency effect exist in the conceptual processing of English action verbs?(4)Are there any interaction effects among scene type,personal subject type and action congruency type in the conceptual processing of English action verbs?The study employed a three-factor within-subjects design,with factors of 2(scene type:usual scene,unusual scene)×2(personal subject type:first-person subject,third-person subject)×2(action congruency:congruent action,incongruent action).Before the formal experiment,a questionnaire was used to survey and evaluate English action sentences and point-light displays appeared in the experiment.The experimental task was action congruency judgment,and the experiment recorded participants’behavioural data when making judgments about target actions depicted by the point-light displays.The experiment was programmed by Psychopy software,and the behavioural data were analyzed using SPSS25.0 for repeated measures ANOVA.The results of the experiment are as follows:(1)There is a significant main effect of the scene type,F(1,29)=10.817,p=.003<.01,η~2=.272.This suggests that the reaction time of the usual scene condition was significantly faster than the unusual scene condition.The result indicates the contextual modulation effect in the conceptual processing of English action verbs.Moreover,scene type can modulate the conceptual processing of English action verbs.(2)There is a significant main effect of personal subject type,F(1,29)=86.039,p=.000<.001,η~2=.748.This suggests that the reaction time of the first-person subject condition was significantly faster than the third-person subject condition.The result demonstrates the contextual modulation effect in the conceptual processing of English action verbs.Moreover,personal subject type can modulate the conceptual processing of English action verbs.(3)There is a significant main effect of action congruency,F(1,29)=190.377,p=.000<.001,η~2=.868.This suggests that the reaction time for participants to process different congruency actions indicates statistical differences.This indicates that the action congruency effect exists in the conceptual processing of English action verbs.(4)The three-way interaction effect of the scene type,personal subject type,and action congruency is significant,F(1,29)=9.349,p=.005<.01,η~2=.244.This indicates that the two-way interaction effects between scene type and personal subject type vary with changes in action congruency when processing English action verbs.The two-way interaction effect between personal subject type and action congruency is also significant,F(1,29)=10.322,p=.003<.01,η~2=.262.This indicates that personal subject type and action congruency influence each other when processing English action verbs.The two-way interaction effect between scene type and personal subject type is insignificant,F(1,29)=.601,p=.445>.05,η~2=.020.This indicates that there is no mutual influence between the two factors of scene type and personal subject type when processing English action verbs.The two-way interaction effect between scene type and action congruency is insignificant,F(1,29)=.171,p=.682>.05,η~2=.006.This indicates that there is no mutual influence between the two factors of scene type and action congruency type when processing English action verbs.In summary,the results of this study support the embodied cognition theory and validate the contextual modulation effect in the conceptual processing of English action verbs.These findings not only have theoretical implications for a deeper understanding of the conceptual processing mechanisms and the impact of context on conceptual processing,but also practical implications for action verbs teaching,language rehabilitation of patients with movement disorders,and artificial intelligence.