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Examples of materials used in Experiment 1. The three images are (from left to right): a whole apple (the “early” time point), a half-eaten apple (the “middle” time point), and an apple core (the “late” time point).
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This study recruited English monolinguals, Mandarin monolinguals, and Mandarin–English (ME) bilinguals to examine whether native English and native Mandarin speakers think about time differently and whether the acquisition of L2 English could reshape native Mandarin speakers’ mental representations of temporal sequence. Across two experiments, we u...
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... According to previous studies (De Groot, 1995;Van Hell and De Groot, 1998), abstract concepts are Since spatio-temporal metaphorical expressions are closely related to people's mental concepts, how would M-E bilinguals accommodate differences in spatio-temporal metaphorical expressions between two languages and represent temporal concepts in their minds? Some studies have compared M-E bilinguals with Mandarin (L1) monolinguals to investigate whether learning English (L2) would make M-E bilinguals' retrieval and representation of temporal concepts different from that of L1 monolinguals (Lai and Boroditsky, 2013;Yang and Wen, 2014;Zhang et al., 2016;Li and Zhang, 2019;Yang et al., 2022). Results show that if temporal concepts were accessed via vertical spatial cues or lexical items, the representation of temporal concepts by M-E bilinguals would not differ from that of L1 monolinguals (Yang and Wen, 2014;Zhang et al., 2016;Yang et al., 2022). ...
... Some studies have compared M-E bilinguals with Mandarin (L1) monolinguals to investigate whether learning English (L2) would make M-E bilinguals' retrieval and representation of temporal concepts different from that of L1 monolinguals (Lai and Boroditsky, 2013;Yang and Wen, 2014;Zhang et al., 2016;Li and Zhang, 2019;Yang et al., 2022). Results show that if temporal concepts were accessed via vertical spatial cues or lexical items, the representation of temporal concepts by M-E bilinguals would not differ from that of L1 monolinguals (Yang and Wen, 2014;Zhang et al., 2016;Yang et al., 2022). However, if their temporal concepts were accessed via horizontal spatial lexical items, the retrieval of temporal concepts by M-E bilinguals would differ from that of L1 monolinguals (Lai and Boroditsky, 2013;Li and Zhang, 2019). ...
Mandarin qián and English forward are semantically equivalent in the domain of Space, but could be semantically opposite in the domain of Time. In other words, equivalent spatial lexical items could convey opposite temporal concepts. What temporal concepts conveyed by qián and forward would be retrieved by Mandarin–English (M–E) bilinguals with different language proficiencies? Drawing a sample from college students in Mainland China, this study examines how L1 and L2 proficiencies would affect M–E bilinguals' retrieval of temporal concepts by examining their interpretation of the Mandarin temporal metaphor of qián and the English temporal metaphors of forward. The results show that L1 temporal concepts would be retrieved more frequently than L2 temporal concepts regardless of the testing languages, that L1 and L2 proficiencies were not predictors for the way of interpretation, and that the higher L2 proficiency group could retrieve temporal concepts in line with the testing languages with higher accuracy than the lower L2 proficiency group. The findings suggest that bilinguals with higher L2 proficiency may be able to represent temporal concepts with language tags or may have an attentional and/or inhibitory control advantage.
... Higher L2 proficiency was also shown to be associated with a stronger reliance on the vertical visuospatial mapping in L2 when it is different from the one common in L1 30 . At the same time, Yang et al. 59 did not reveal any influence of L2 proficiency on space-time association in ME bilinguals, since all bilingual participants demonstrated MTL biases similar to Mandarin monolinguals. Therefore, while higher L2 proficiency may entail a stronger link between L2 words and respective spatial representations, existing evidence regarding the role of proficiency in the emergence of spatial biases in processing L2 words is mixed. ...
... Notably, the results of previous studies with variable L2 proficiency have also yielded inconsistent results see for positive findings 30,69,72 , but see for null findings 59,70,71 . Therefore, one possible explanation might be the influence of other L2 parameters, e.g., age of L2 acquisition (AoA), context of L2 acquisition and use, etc. 52 . ...
The existence of a consistent horizontal spatial-conceptual mapping for words denoting time is a well-established phenomenon. For example, words related to the past or future (e.g., yesterday/tomorrow) facilitate respective leftward/rightward attentional shifts and responses, suggesting the visual-spatial grounding of temporal semantics, at least in the native language (L1). To examine whether similar horizontal bias also accompanies access to time-related words in a second language (L2), we tested 53 Russian-English (Experiment 1) and 48 German-English (Experiment 2) bilinguals, who classified randomly presented L1 and L2 time-related words as past- or future-related using left or right response keys. The predicted spatial congruency effect was registered in all tested languages and, furthermore, was positively associated with higher L2 proficiency in Experiment 2. Our findings (1) support the notion of horizontal spatial-conceptual mapping in diverse L1s, (2) demonstrate the existence of a similar spatial bias when processing temporal words in L2, and (3) show that the strength of time-space association in L2 may depend on individual L2 proficiency.
... However, the particular mappings from space to time or the directionalities of MTL vary reliably across languages and cultures, forming an implicit sagittal, horizontal, or vertical spatial linear layout. For instance, inspired by patterns in metaphoric language or orientations of orthography, time in the mind has been documented to flow from back to front (e.g., Casasanto & Jasmin, 2012;Gu et al., 2019;Miles et al., 2010), front to back (e.g., de la Fuente et al., 2014;Walker et al., 2017), left to right (e.g., Casasanto & Bottini, 2014;Ouellet, Santiago, Funes, et al., 2010;Pitt & Casasanto, 2020;Santiago et al., 2010), right to left (e.g., Fuhrman & Boroditsky, 2010;Ouellet, Santiago, Israeli, et al., 2010;Tversky et al., 1991), top to bottom (e.g., Boroditsky, 2001;Fuhrman et al., 2011;Yang et al., 2022;Yang & Sun, 2016) and so on. In summary, the correlation between linguistic, cultural, or other experiential sources and directions of MTLs has attracted much attention in the past three decades. ...
Background: Much experimental work has established that the passage of time is represented along a horizontal or a vertical mental timeline (MTL). Recent research ( Hartmann et al., 2014 ) discovered an additional diagonal MTL that develops from bottom left to top right. This study sought to extend Hartmann et al.’s (2014) work by exploring if the particular representations of diagonal timelines vary across linguistic communities. Methods: We conducted an experiment that recruited English and Mandarin speakers as participants. The experimental setups measured the participants’ space-time mappings along the bottom-left/top-right, top-left/bottom-right, bottom-right/top-left, and top-right/bottom-left axes. Results: There are cross-linguistic/cultural differences in the mental representations of diagonal timelines. While the English speakers displayed a salient propensity to conceive of time as oriented from bottom left to top right, the Mandarin speakers favored a timeline unfolding from top left to bottom right. Discussion: We assume that cultural artifacts such as writing direction may play an important role in affecting the horizontal dimension of people’s MTLs. The current findings refine the existing literature and demonstrate that distinct types of linguistic metaphors may respectively explain the vertical dimension of the MTLs for speakers of different native languages.
Embodied cognition contends that sensorimotor experiences undergird cognitive processes. Three embodied cross-domain metaphorical mappings constitute quintessential illustrations: spatial navigation and orientation underpin the conceptualization of time and emotion and gustatory sensation underlies the formulation of emotion. Threading together these strands of insights, the present research consisted of three studies explored the potential influence of spicy taste on people's metaphorical perspectives on time. The results revealed a positive correlation between spicy taste and the ego-moving metaphor for time such that individuals who enjoyed spicy taste (Study 1) and who consumed spicy (vs. salty) snack (Study 2) exhibited a predilection for the ego-moving perspective when cognizing a temporally ambiguous event. Because both spicy taste and the ego-moving metaphor are associated with anger and approach motivation, the latter two were postulated to be related to the novel taste-time relationship. Corroborative evidence for the hypothesis was found, which indicated that spicy (vs. salty) intake elicited significantly stronger anger toward and significantly greater approach-motivated perception of a rescheduled temporal event (Study 3). Taken together, the current findings demonstrate that spicy taste may play a role in people's perspectives on the movement of events in time and highlight the involved embodied interrelation between language, emotion, and cognition.
Aim of this study is to compare different experimental paradigms and to determine parameters suitable for conducting a neurophysiological experiment with visual stimuli to assess foreign language proficiency and providing further time series analysis of electrical brain activity to reveal specific biomarkers. Methods. This paper explores the possibilities and limitations of various experimental studies using the metaanalysis paradigm. Statistical approaches are used to determine significance of the results. Results. We review the current state of research in the field of experimental works related to visual stimulus presentation and verbal performance acquisition. Generalizations and analytical estimates of the experimental parameters used in the studies are carried out to provide recommendations for future experimental research. Conclusion. In this area of applied research, we have developed experimental design and algorithms for working with multiple data sources. In addition, experimental encephalographic studies have been carried out, that allowed the optimal temporal structure selection.
