Embodied processing of disgust in Mandarin words: An ERP study

Abstract

The embodiment theory of linguistic meaning posits that comprehension reuses the sensory-motor systems and their neural networks. The present study aims to verify the embodiment theory by investigating the spatiotemporal brain dynamics of processing disgust-related words in Mandarin. These words were chosen because disgust is a basic emotion (e.g., it recruits neural resources in the insula) that has received little attention in neurolinguistics. The participants were required to read disgust-related and neutral words, with instructions to perform a semantic categorization task while their EEG data were recorded. The results revealed that disgust-related words elicited larger amplitudes in the P2 and LPC components of the ERP and reduced the N400 amplitudes compared to neutral words. The source localization for the effects obtained in the P2 time window showed activations of the insula and other sensory and emotion-related brain structures. These results demonstrated the brain dynamics of Mandarin-speaking Chinese participants during emotion processing in words and clearly supported the theory of embodiment semantics. • Disgust-related Mandarin words modulate both early and late ERP components comparing to neutral Mandarin words. • Emotion and action-related brain structures were activated during the early processing of disgust-related Mandarin words. • Chinese participants processed disgust-related Mandarin words in an embodied fashion.