語言是富有想像力的：利用腦電波探討具體性效果的神經機制

Imaginative Language: What Event-Related Potentials have Revealed about the Nature and Source of Concreteness Effects

行為及神經生理學的研究證據均發現提取具體概念的歷程不同於抽象概念，同時具體概念在大腦的表徵也不同於抽象概念。本研究回顧使用腦電波以及分視野的研究典範所得到的具體性效果，證據指出具體性效果並不是單一的歷程，其中左半腦會利用具體概念預測下一個詞彙，而右半腦則會把文字和感官意象結合。

Behavioral and neuropsychological evidence suggest that abstract and concrete concepts may be represented, retrieved, and processed differently in the human brain. As reviewed in this paper, data using event-related potential measures, some in combination with visual half-field presentation methods, have offered a detailed picture of the nature and source of concreteness effects. In particular, the results provide strong evidence for multiple mechanisms underlying the behavioral processing differences that have long been noted for concrete and abstract words and, further, suggest an intriguing, unique role for the right hemisphere in associating words with sensory imagery.