词语语义加工中N400影响因素研究述评

作为语义加工大脑指标的N400成分受多种因素的影响。研究者从词类、词频、拼写相似性、语义关联、词语具体性、语境以及词汇隐喻等方面对词语语义加工中影响N400成分的因素进行了大量的研究。然而,这些研究对词语的出现条件进行了严格的限制：对词语列表中的词语的考察脱离了语境的制约,对完形填空中词语出现概率的考察受到句法结构的制约。本文对这些影响N400成分的因素进行了评述,建议该领域的研究重点可以倾向于脱离句法结构的条件限制,考察不同结构中词语或词语组合的语义加工过程,倾向于词语语义加工的跨语言渗透,并提出在词汇学习或教学中遴选词语的策略和语境制约的作用。

A Review of the Factors Affecting the Amplitude of N400 Component in Semantic Processing of Words

The N400 component, as a brain indicator of semantic processing, is affected by various factors. Researches on the factors which affect the N400 component in semantic processing of words have included word class, word frequency, orthographic neighborhood, semantic association, meaning concreteness, context interaction and lexical metaphor. However, strict restrictions are imposed on the semantic processing of words in these researches： words in the wordlist are free from the context constraint, and words for possible sentence completions are constrained by the sentence structure. This review discussed the factors affecting the amplitude of the N400, suggested that the future research in the field be freed from the structural constraint to investigate the semantic processing of words or word clusters in different structures and emphasize the cross-language permeability in bilingual semantic processing of words, and proposed the strategies of word selection and the function of context in vocabulary learning.