Abstract
Abstract Brain mechanism of metaphor processing has always been a focus in Neurolinguistics. This study approaches bilinguals’ metaphor semantic representation mechanism with Chinese bilinguals with different levels of second language proficiency by means of ERP (Event-related Potentials) technology. The experiment results showed that: 1) Both hemispheres collaborate in metaphor processing with the left hemisphere serving a leading semantic recognition role. The left hemisphere is more sensitive to first language input, while the right hemisphere is more active to second language input. 2) Compared with Chinese learners of higher proficiency in L2, learners of lower proficiency tend to adopt more Chinese neural mechanism in processing English metaphors. 3) When learners process metaphors, the neural mechanism difference of learners of higher proficiency is smaller than that of those of lower proficiency. The higher the second language proficiency, the higher the degree of common representation of Chinese and English metaphor.
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