최근 체화된 인지 관점에 따르면 글 이해는 언어자극의 추상적, 명제적 표상에만 근거하여 이루어지는 것이 아니라 감각과 행위 정보의 심적 모사(mental simulation)를 통해 이루어진다고 제안되고 있다. 이러한 주장은 글의 상황적 의미를 표상하는 과정에서 문장에서 함축된 대상의 형태, 방향, 색 등과 같은 지각적 상징들의 활성을 통해 상황모형이 표상된다는 많은 선행연구결과들에 의해 뒷받침되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 한글문장이해에서 심적 모사를 통한 의미표상을 알아보기 위해 독자가 문장에서 암시된 대상의 형태를 표상하는 지를 조사해 보았으며, 더 나아가 청년과 노인의 형태 표상을 비교해 봄으로써 심적 모사에 근거한 상황모형(situation model) 구축에 노화가 어떤 차이를 가져오는지를 알아보았다. 실험 결과, 문장과 그림의 형태 일치조건에서 불일치 조건보다 정확률이 높았고 반응시간도 빠른 것으로 나타났다. 한편 노인은 청년보다 전반적으로 정확률이 낮고 반응시간이 느린 것으로 나타났으나, 형태일치효과를 비교해 보았을 때 연령과 관련한 차이는 없었으며 노인과 청년은 유사한 크기의 형태일치효과를 보였다. 본 결과는 심적 모사를 통한 상황모형 표상이 한글문장이해에서도 나타났다는 점과, 문장이 암시하는 대상의 형태를 표상하는 면에서 노인과 청년이 다르지 않음을 시사해 준다.
Readers routinely activate perceptual representations while constructing and updating mental models of situations described by the text. For example, English younger and older adults were faster to verify pictures that matched the shape or orientation implied by the sentence than when there was a mismatch (i.e., the match effect). In this study, Korean younger and older adults were tested to examine the universal pattern of the mental simulation of shape in sentence comprehension. All participants read sentences describing an animal or object and were then presented with a picture of the animal or the object in question. They were asked to judge whether the pictured animal or object's shape was mentioned in the preceding sentence. Overall, the results showed that responses were more accurate and faster in the shape-matching condition for all participants than in the mismatching condition. However, there were no age-related differences in the match effect. Accordingly, these findings suggest that during reading, both Korean younger and older adult were similarly able to active the perceptual simulation of shape in the matching condition.
Readers routinely activate perceptual representations while constructing and updating mental models of situations described by the text. For example, English younger and older adults were faster to verify pictures that matched the shape or orientation implied by the sentence than when there was a mismatch (i.e., the match effect). In this study, Korean younger and older adults were tested to examine the universal pattern of the mental simulation of shape in sentence comprehension. All participants read sentences describing an animal or object and were then presented with a picture of the animal or the object in question. They were asked to judge whether the pictured animal or object's shape was mentioned in the preceding sentence. Overall, the results showed that responses were more accurate and faster in the shape-matching condition for all participants than in the mismatching condition. However, there were no age-related differences in the match effect. Accordingly, these findings suggest that during reading, both Korean younger and older adult were similarly able to active the perceptual simulation of shape in the matching condition.
