2019/09/05 by Bo Liu, Huili Wang, David Beltrán +4 · 1 citation
Neuroscience · Psychology · #Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism #Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies #Action Observation and Synchronization
paper · doi:10.1080/23273798.2019.1662460
openalex publication_date 2019/09/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/13
The recently proposed Reusing Inhibition for Negation (RIN) hypothesis posits that the inhibitory control mechanism is reused to understand sentential negation. The RIN hypothesis has only been tested in alphabetic languages, and its novelty requires additional support from non-alphabetic languages, like logographic non-Indo-European languages. This study examined the RIN hypothesis in the context of Mandarin, which has unique linguistic features and neural underpinnings. Participants read either affirmative or negative action-related sentences while performing an embedded Go/NoGo task. Reduced inhibition-related N2 was detected in NoGo-negative compared to NoGo-affirmative condition. Brain source estimation of the N2 interaction effect revealed strongest activation in the right inferior parietal lobule, a typical inhibition-related brain region. These results confirm the generalizability of the RIN hypothesis, suggesting that comprehension of negation in logographic Mandarin also recruits the inhibitory control mechanism.