Involvement of Perceptual Systems in Semantic Processing: Evidence from the Adaptation Paradigm

Theories of embodied semantic proposed that the processing of semantics and perception are essentially the same, and the two processes have partially overlapping processing mechanisms and neural bases. Previous study had particularly focused on whether the processing of color words facilitate color perception, which is often cited as evidence supporting the theory of embodied semantic. Adopting the adaptation paradigm, this study explored whether there would be a color aftereffect in the processing of the object words with a high color association (i. e. red-green), trying to reveal whether the processing of object words with high color association would involve the similar mechanism in the color perception. There are two experiments in this study. In experiment one, participants performed a color detection task after reading words with high color association (i. e., color diagnosticity). It turned out when an adaptation paradigm was adopted, that is, after participants processed a number of words associated to the same color, their reaction time to the color was shorter in the complementary condition than in the match condition, suggesting that processing of words with a high color association instantly activates the related color perception neural system. In experiment two participants looked at color circles and then judged the color implied by the words with a high color association. When prolonged the time of color circles' exposure, participants' reaction time to the color judgement of the color association words was shorter in the complementary condition than in the match condition, suggesting that the processing of color perception directly influences the processing of words with high color association. Our study proved that there is a complementary color advantage in the adaption aftereffect, suggesting that the processing of color-associated words and the color perception are closely related, which provides evidence for their having some overlapping neural systems. This result provides important evidence for the embodied semantic view, suggesting that language comprehension is embodied rather than a process independent of the body.