The role of vocabulary concreteness in modulating embodied semantic representations in learners of Chinese as a foreign language

Embodied cognition theory posits that semantic representations are instantiated through two primary mechanisms: perceptual–motor simulation and conceptual metaphor. To examine how lexical concreteness influences the embodied representation in learners of Chinese as a second language, two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, a spatial-action Stroop paradigm was employed using concrete and abstract verbs as stimuli. The results showed that only concrete verbs automatically elicited a front–back directional motion compatibility effect. In Experiment 2, concrete and abstract emotion words were used within a vertical space–valence compatibility paradigm. The findings revealed that both concrete and abstract emotion words exhibited a vertical spatial compatibility effect. Taken together, these results indicate that for learners of Chinese as a second language, the embodied representations of concrete foreign-language words are more diversified, whereas the embodied representation of abstract words is manifested primarily through spatial conceptual metaphors.