Abstract
Embodied Cognitive Theories assumed that cognition, language and thought were rooted in perception and action. According to the Embodiment Theories, negation is an abstract concept, represented by the time consumption or the transformation of space trajectory embodiedly, the negation processes were the dynamic perceptual simulation.
The Two-Step Simulation Hypothesis assumed that the negative processing is dynamic processes, the negated state of the event were simulated at first, then the attention were transferred to the actual state of the event. In another words, the representation of negation was represented by time consuming in transition between two event states.
Recent studies had found that negation played a different role in regulation of positive and negative emotions. Some researches had shown that negation could regulate the response to negative emotion effectively, but no significant effect on positive emotion regultation. However, existing studies had demonstrated positive emotions had its “positive bias” compared with negative emotions.
Our primary purpose was to explore the effects of negation on the dimension of valence and motivation of emotional words, and whether the negation processes was in line with the Two-Step Simulation Hypothesis of Negation.
In experiment 1, word-picture matching paradigm was adopted as experimental paradigm, in which Not / (positive) + emotional words as language materials and positive and negative emoticons as picture materials, and two ISIs (250ms and 1000ms) were used to detect early stage and middle-late stage of negation. Participants were asked to judged the emoticon were happy or not. All the experiment materials were estimated by the participants who would not participated the formal experiment in order to ensure that materials were coherent and understandable. The results showed negated emotional words have a significant effect on the valence of emotion significantly. Negation has an influence on the embodied representation of emotional word processing.
In experiment 2, the emotional words expressing anger and sadness with equivalent valence were selected as experimental materials to explore the effect of negation on the processing of emotional motivation by the paradigm of approach-avoidance action direction. The same two ISIs was adopted as Experiment 1. Experiment materials were estimated by participants who didn’t participate Experiment 1 and 2 to ensure that materials were coherent and understandable. The results confirmed that negation affected emotional words’ motivational direction processing, but differed between anger and sadness during different processing stages. The results didn’t match the Two-Step Simulation Hypothesis of Negation.
These results suggest that negation processes may have a unique processing mechanism, which may not be explained simply by neither two-step simulation nor one-step. That means that there are some limitations in the Two-Step Simulation Hypothesis of Negation and some correction should be mended.
In addition, this study only discusses the processing of emotional valence and emotional motivation expressing anger and sadness with equivalent valence. There is arousal level of emotion besides valence and motivation in emotional dimensions which has not been discussed in this study. The study is potentially valuable in domain of negation processes research.
Key words
negation /
affective words /
valence /
motivational dimension /
Two-Steps Simulation Hypothesis
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Research on the embodied dynamic Simulation process of negative affective words[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2021, 44(5): 1035-1041
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