The embodied view of semantic processing holds that readers achieve reading comprehension through mental simulation of the objects and events described in the narrative. However, it remains unclear whether and how the encoding of linguistic factors in narrative descriptions impacts narrative semantic processing. This study aims to explore this issue under the narrative context with and without perspective shift, which is an important and common linguistic factor in narratives. A sentence-picture verification paradigm combined with eye-tracking measures was used to explore the issue. The results showed that (1) the inter-role perspective shift made the participants’ to evenly allocate their first fixation to different elements in the scene following the new perspective; (2) the internal–external perspective shift increased the participants’ total fixation count when they read the sentence with the perspective shift; (3) the scene detail depicted in the picture did not influence the process of narrative semantic processing. These results suggest that perspective shift can disrupt the coherence of situation model and increase the cognitive load of readers during reading. Moreover, scene detail could not be constructed by readers in natural narrative reading.

Studies on sentence processing in inflectional languages support that syntactic structure building functionally precedes semantic processing. Conversely, most EEG studies of Chinese sentence processing do not support the priority of syntax. One possible explanation is that the Chinese language lacks morphological inflections. Another explanation may be that the presentation of separate sentence components on individual screens in EEG studies disrupts syntactic framework construction during sentence reading. The present study investigated this explanation using a self-paced reading experiment mimicking rapid serial visual presentation in EEG studies and an eye-tracking experiment reflecting natural reading. In both experiments, Chinese ‘ba’ sentences were presented to Chinese young adults in four conditions that differed across the dimensions of syntactic and semantic congruency. Evidence supporting the functional priority of syntax over semantics was limited to only the natural reading context, in which syntactic violations blocked the processing of semantics. Additionally, we observed a later stage of integrating plausible semantics with a failed syntax. Together, our findings extend the functional priority of syntax to the Chinese language and highlight the importance of adopting more ecologically valid methods when investigating sentence reading.

This study explores the relation between pain sensitivity and the cognitive processing of words. 130 participants evaluated the pain-relatedness of a total of 600 two-syllabic nouns, and subsequently reported on their own pain sensitivity. The results demonstrate that pain-sensitive people associate words more strongly with pain than less sensitive people. In particular, concrete nouns like ‘syringe’, ‘wound’, ‘knife’, and ‘cactus’ are considered to be more pain-related for those who are more pain-sensitive. These findings dovetail with recent studies suggesting that certain bodily characteristics influence the way people form mental representations (Casasanto, 2009). We discuss three mechanisms which could potentially account for our findings: attention and memory bias, prototype analysis, and embodied cognition. We argue that, whereas none of these three accounts can be ruled out, the embodied cognition hypothesis provides a particularly promising view to accommodate our data.

Behavioural studies investigating word processing in bilinguals generally report faster response times (RTs) for first (L1) than for second (L2) language words. To examine the locus of this language effect, this study used behavioural data and event-related potentials (ERPs) collected from bilinguals while performing a semantic categorisation task on visual word pairs. RTs revealed both language and semantic relatedness effects. Spatio-temporal analysis of ERP map series showed that the semantic effect was explained by a condition-specific map segment occurring during the N400 component. The language effect was primarily explained by a map segment that started at ~170 ms and covered the period of the P2 component, that was longer in L2 than in L1 and whose duration correlated with RTs. Source localisation showed that this early segment involved the bilateral occipito-temporal regions including the fusiform area. These findings indicate that ERPs differentiated L1 and L2 during early word recognition steps.

Body-object interaction (BOI) measures people's perceptions of the ease with which a human body can physically interact with a word's referent. Facilitatory BOI effects, involving faster responses for high BOI words, have been reported in a number of visual word recognition tasks using button press responses. Since BOI effects have only been observed in button-press tasks, it is possible that the effects may be due to priming by high BOI words of the motor system, rather than activation of stored motor information in the lexical semantic system. If this hypothesis is correct, BOI effects should not be observed in tasks using verbal responses. We tested this hypothesis in three versions of a go/no-go semantic categorization task: one version required button press responses, whereas the other two versions required verbal responses. Contrary to the motor priming hypothesis, we observed facilitatory BOI effects in all three versions of the semantic categorization task. These results support the inference that stored motor information is indeed an important component of the lexical semantic system.

Recognition potential (RP), a recently discovered electrophysiological response of the brain, is sensitive to semantic aspects of stimuli. Given its peak values (about 250 ms), RP may be a good candidate for the study of semantic processing during its occurrence. However, its topography and neural generators are largely unknown. To improve this state of affairs, high-resolution electroencephalography and brain electrical source analysis were carried out. Results suggest a possible origin of RP in the lingual gyrus, hence reflecting the activity of the basal extrastriate areas. RP therefore appears to be a highly valuable tool in the study of those regions considered to be the “third language areas” (in addition to Broca's and Wernicke's areas), whose precise role in language processing is still largely unknown. Another important finding was that RP amplitude in the left hemisphere differed as a function of the semantic category of the stimuli, providing evidence for the sensitivity of this component to semantic categorization. A tentative proposal is made with regard to the role of the basal extrastriate areas.