阅读理解中语境多样性影响情绪词语义加工的认知机制：眼动研究*

胡同文; 张琳琳; 袁心颖; 王敬欣

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20260504

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心理科学 ›› 2026, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (5) : 1064-1074. DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20260504

基础、实验与工效

阅读理解中语境多样性影响情绪词语义加工的认知机制：眼动研究^*

胡同文 ¹^,² ,
张琳琳 ³ ,
袁心颖 ¹ ,
王敬欣 ¹^,⁴^,^**

作者信息 +

The Cognitive Mechanisms of Contextual Diversity's Impact on Emotional Word Semantic Processing in Chinese Reading: An Eye-Tracking Study

Hu Tongwen ¹^,² ,
Zhang Linlin ³ ,
Yuan Xinying ¹ ,
Wang Jingxin ¹^,⁴^,^**

Author information +

文章历史 +

摘要

为考察中文阅读中情绪词的语义加工差异及词汇语境多样性在其中的影响机制，研究分别在研究1(积极)和研究2(消极)中操纵情绪词类型(情绪标签词、情绪负载词)及其语境多样性(高、低)。结果发现，在研究1中，情绪标签词注视时间更长，高语境多样性词加工更快，且两者无交互。在研究2中，情绪标签词与情绪负载词的语义加工差异依然存在，且受到语境多样性的调节，情绪标签词仅在低语境多样性下才表现出更长的注视。这说明中文阅读中不同类型情绪词的语义表征具有显著差异，情绪标签词更具语义优势，能快速激活情绪信息，持续捕获读者注意并难以脱离。同时，阅读理解过程中情绪信息的激活涉及加工倾向和词汇语言信息的广度，且存在语义激活的分化机制。

Abstract

Emotionally salient stimuli preferentially capture attention, a phenomenon termed emotional attentional bias. This effect occurs not only with emotional faces and images but also in language processing. Unlike emotional faces and images, which provide explicit visual cues, emotional attentional bias in language relies on semantic processing of emotional words. Specifically, it involves extracting emotional information from words via semantic access. Research indicates that this process is closely linked to the representation of emotional semantics in words, that is, how words convey emotional meanings. Based on their semantic representation, researchers classify emotional words into two types: emotion-label words (e.g., "joy," "anger"), which directly denote emotions, and emotion-laden words (e.g., "success," "failure"), which convey emotions indirectly. These two types of words differ significantly in semantic processing, especially regarding the activation and extraction of emotional information. However, these findings are primarily based on studies of isolated word processing. In natural language processing, especially in Chinese reading, it remains unclear whether these two categories of emotional words show semantic differences and whether these representational differences affect reading processes. Moreover, it is unclear whether emotional semantic activation during reading depends on the integration of lexical contextual information. In this study, we employed natural reading tasks combined with eye-tracking technology, embedding emotional words within sentences to investigate the mechanisms underlying differences in emotional semantic processing and the influence of contextual diversity.

To investigate differences in emotional semantic processing across valences during natural reading, participants were first recruited to rate the emotional prototypicality of two types of emotional words, defined as the degree to which a word represents a specific emotion. The study comprised two experiments. Experiment 1 targeted positive valence, whereas Experiment 2 targeted negative valence. Both experiments used a 2 (emotion word type: emotion-label vs. emotion-laden) × 2 (contextual diversity: high vs. low) within-subjects design for natural sentence reading. Forty-eight participants took part, and their reading was recorded using an EyeLink 1000 Plus eye-tracker. Participants read one set of four experimental materials comprising 128 sentences: 80 experimental, 40 fillers, and 8 practice sentences. Approximately 30% of the sentences were followed by comprehension questions, to which participants responded with "yes" or "no."

The rating results revealed significant differences in emotional prototypicality between the two types of emotional words. Emotion-label words exhibited higher emotional prototypicality and more accurately represented emotional meanings. In positive valence (Experiment 1), emotion-label words showed longer fixation times, indicating greater attentional capture, whereas words with high contextual diversity had shorter fixation times, suggesting faster processing. No interaction effect was observed. In negative valence (Experiment 2), the main effect of emotion word type persisted, with emotion-label words showing longer fixation times during both early and late stages. Notably, the processing difference between emotion word types in negative valence was moderated by contextual diversity, affecting the entire processing span from early to late stages. Specifically, emotion-label words exhibited longer fixation times only under low contextual diversity, whereas no fixation time differences were observed between emotion-label and emotion-laden words under high contextual diversity.

The results reveal significant differences in the semantic representation of emotional words. Compared with emotion-laden words, emotion-label words more typically represent emotional meanings and exhibit higher emotional prototypicality. Furthermore, these findings suggest stable differences in emotional semantic processing during Chinese reading, with emotion-label words demonstrating a semantic advantage over emotion-laden words. Emotion-label words more effectively convey emotional information, capturing and sustaining readers' attention, emphasizing their ecological validity and supporting the embodied theory of semantic representation. These findings further demonstrate cross-linguistic consistency in emotional semantic differences and activation patterns. Additionally, contextual diversity moderated the semantic advantage of emotion-label words differently across valences, indicating that emotional semantics encompass both depth and breadth, and revealing a dissociation mechanism for activating positive versus negative emotional semantics during reading.

导出引用

胡同文, 张琳琳, 袁心颖, 等. 阅读理解中语境多样性影响情绪词语义加工的认知机制：眼动研究^*[J]. 心理科学. 2026, 49(5): 1064-1074 https://doi.org/10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20260504

Hu Tongwen, Zhang Linlin, Yuan Xinying, et al. The Cognitive Mechanisms of Contextual Diversity's Impact on Emotional Word Semantic Processing in Chinese Reading: An Eye-Tracking Study[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2026, 49(5): 1064-1074 https://doi.org/10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20260504

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