A New Issue in the Study of the Spatial Metaphor of Time: The Left-and-Right Representation of Time

Abstract

Traditionally,studies of the spatial metaphor of time were focused on the psychological reality of the sagittal (front/back) and vertical (up/down) representation of time by using the priming paradigm; in recent years,however,researchers have used the sequence method,the judgment method,the comparison method and the cueing paradigm to examine and confirm the use of the transverse (left/right) axis to represent time in the mind. Since the conventional theory failed to explain the left-and-right representation of time,researchers have tended to adopt the embodiment theory,which argues that the reading and writing habit is the reason for such representation. A deeper understanding of the relationship between the spatial axes and temporal representation relies on a unified research paradigm,an integrated theoretical framework and a new line of research into the neurological basis of the spatial metaphor of time.