Mental Simulation in Sentence Comprehension With Bilingual—Evidence From Linguistic Looming Effect

Abstract

Using the novel Linguistic Looming Effect (LLE) paradigm, this study examines the role of mental simulation in bilingual sentence processing and its potential boundary conditions. This study, with Chinese–English bilinguals as participants, examines how sentence constructions (e.g., double-object vs. subject–verb–object [SVO] constructions) and conceptual abstraction (concrete vs. abstract) modulate the LLE. Reaction times (RT) and Error rate data from 147 undergraduate students were analyzed using a repeated-measures analysis of variance. Our findings demonstrate robust LLE stability in L1 contexts and remain unaffected by variations in sentence constructions or conceptual abstraction, supporting the Perceptual Symbol Systems Theory. However, the LLE in L2 is abolished under abstract concepts in SVO sentences, suggesting that propositional representation and mental simulation may operate in a coordinated manner during L2 processing. The originality of this study lies in (a) examining the robustness of the LLE as a novel paradigm for investigating mental simulation and (b) exploring mental simulation and its boundary conditions in both L1 and L2 processing. These results suggest that L2 processing is neither “disembodied” nor “strongly embodied,” but rather aligns with the Symbolic Interdependency Hypothesis—which posits that propositional representations and mental simulation can complement and work together in language processing.