Abstract Previous behavioral studies have suggested that word concreteness affects the similarity of semantic representations between native and second languages. However, it is unclear whether and how word concreteness influences the cross-language similarity in neural representations. In the present study, we quantified the neural pattern similarity between native and second languages by using representational similarity analysis, and examined the modulatory effect of word concreteness on cross-language similarity in neural representations. Twenty-six Chinese-English bilinguals performed a semantic decision task during fMRI scan. Results showed that concrete and abstract words elicited stronger activation in the right sensorimotor cortex for nonverbal processing and the left prefrontal cortex for verbal processing, respectively. Consistently, representational similarity analysis revealed that concrete and abstract words showed higher cross-language neural pattern similarity in those brain regions for nonverbal and verbal processing, respectively. More importantly, we found that the left middle temporal gyrus contained item-specific cross-language semantic representations for abstract words. These results suggest that word concreteness plays an important role in influencing cross-language similarity in neural representations.

中文翻译：

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语义分类中单词具体性对跨语言神经模式相似度的影响

摘要 先前的行为研究表明，词的具体性会影响母语和第二语言之间语义表示的相似性。然而，目前尚不清楚单词具体性是否以及如何影响神经表征中的跨语言相似性。在本研究中，我们通过使用表征相似性分析量化了母语和第二语言之间的神经模式相似性，并检查了单词具体性对神经表征中跨语言相似性的调节作用。26 名中英双语者在 fMRI 扫描期间执行了语义决策任务。结果表明，具体和抽象的词分别在用于非语言处理的右侧感觉运动皮层和用于语言处理的左侧前额叶皮层中引起更强的激活。一贯地，表征相似性分析表明，具体词和抽象词分别在非言语和言语处理的大脑区域中表现出更高的跨语言神经模式相似性。更重要的是，我们发现左颞中回包含抽象词的特定项目跨语言语义表示。这些结果表明，单词具体性在影响神经表征中的跨语言相似性方面起着重要作用。