中文情緒詞的隱式處理

Abstract

有大量的研究發現帶有情緒意涵的刺激與中性刺激有相當不同的處理方式。然而在中文情緒詞可否進行隱式處理的議題上並沒有一致的看法，部分原因可能來自於在定義隱式或無意識處理的閾值上有相當分歧的標準。為了確認參與者的確無法看到刺激，本研究採用一個新發展的派典：持續閃現抑制派典(continuous flash suppression, Tsuchiya & Koch(2005))用以探討這個議題。在此派典中，情緒中文詞被呈現在某一眼，不斷閃動的高對比蒙德里安圖像(Mondrians)出現在另一眼。參與者被要求偵測字的任何一部份即按鍵停止，所需要從雙眼競爭中釋放的時間可作為壓抑階段隱式處理的指標。實驗一中，我們操弄雙字詞的方向性(正立以及倒立)以及詞的情緒性(正向、中性以及負向)。結果顯示相對於中性詞，情緒詞需要較長的時間才能從壓抑中釋放，而詞的倒立效果僅發生在正向詞以及中性詞。實驗二，我們控制了詞性以及知覺相似性仍然得到如同實驗一的結果。在實驗三中我們排除了可能是因為反應偏誤造成的結果。我們推論即便在參與者無法主觀看到的雙眼抑制階段，中文情緒詞的處理仍然與中性詞不同

There has been increasing evidence showing that emotionally significant stimuli are processed differently than neutral ones. However, no consensus has been reached as to whether emotional Chinese words can be processed implicitly, partly due to the debatable criteria of defining the threshold of implicit or unconscious processing. To ensure that the stimuli were indeed unseen to the observer, we used a newly developed paradigm, the continuous flash suppression (Tsuchiya & Koch, 2005), to examine this issue. Emotional Chinese words were presented to one eye, and a series of high-contrast dynamic Mondrians were presented to the other eye. Participants were asked to press a key when they detected the word, and reaction times needed for them to release from suppression due to binocular rivalry were measured as the time for implicit processing of words under the invisible condition. In Experiment 1, we manipulated two factors: the orientation of the words (upright vs. inverted) and the emotional valence (positive, negative, and neutral). Results showed that, emotional words required longer time to be released from suppression, compared to neutral words, and the word inversion effects were found for positive and neutral words. Experiment 2 controlled for the structural role of the words and found the same results as in Experiment 1. Results in Experiment 3 ruled out the possibility of response bias. We conclude that emotional Chinese words could be processed differently from the neutral ones even when it is invisible to the observer in the interocular suppression phase.