An ERP Study on Metaphor Comprehension
in the Bilingual Brain

Hongjun Chen; Xiaoshuang Peng; Yanli Zhao

doi:10.1515/cjal-2013-0034

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An ERP Study on Metaphor Comprehension in the Bilingual Brain

Hongjun Chen , Xiaoshuang Peng and Yanli Zhao

Published/Copyright: October 23, 2013

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From the journal Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics Volume 36 Issue 4

Abstract

A good number of neurophysiological studies have been conducted to explore the neural mechanisms of metaphor processing, but few have taken the bilingual phenomenon into consideration. The current study, by using event related potentials (ERPs), investigated the neural mechanism employed by Chinese native speakers whose second language is English in comprehending Chinese and English metaphors. Amplitudes of the N400 ERP component (350-600 ms) were more negative for English metaphors compared with Chinese literal sentences, English literal sentences and Chinese metaphors. In addition, both hemispheres were more activated in processing English metaphors than other conditions. These findings provide electrophysiological evidence for a different mechanism used by Chinese – English bilinguals to comprehend Chinese and English metaphors.

Keywords: ERP; N400; Neural mechanism; Bilinguals; Metaphor

Published Online: 2013-10-23

Published in Print: 2013-10-22

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/cjal-2013-0034

Keywords for this article

ERP; N400; Neural mechanism; Bilinguals; Metaphor