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Processing Four-Character TCM Terms by Foreign Students of TCM in China: A Cultural Neuroscience Approach

Received: 26 September 2022    Accepted: 13 October 2022    Published: 24 October 2022
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Abstract

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been in China for thousands of years, which is the collective wisdom of Chinese people and has made huge contribution to the health care of China and neighboring countries. Yet, in the modern era, it has undergone criticism for being non-scientific. One approach to this unfair criticism is to explore the neurological basis of some classic TCM terms known as four-character TCM Terms (FcTTs) by foreign students majoring TCM in China because it is clear that one major obstacle for learners of TCM to fully appreciate TCM is to crack the difficult classic Chinese as most of the TCM canons are written two or three thousand years ago whose language is full of metaphors. Currently, cultural neuroscience has provided a suitable paradigm to explore the tripartite relationships among culture, communication, and molecular genetics with the hypothesis that culture influences human brain. The current research is therefore carried out with the help of Event-related Potential technology in order to uncover the neurological basis of FsTTs. Under the guidance of Prime-Target Paradigm, an ERP experiment is carried out with 21 foreign students from key Belt and Road Initiative countries, which is fully in conformity with the Declaration of Helsinki. Statistical analysis of data elicited from ERP experiment shows the prominence of N400, a reliable indicator of difficulty in retrieving figurative meaning during reading, thus prove that CFL learners also show a direct access to literal or non-literal meaning in accordance with the prominence of the context.

Published in International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences (Volume 7, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20220704.12
Page(s) 44-50
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

TCM Globalization, Belt and Road Initiative, CFL Learners, N400, ERP

References
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  • APA Style

    Ningjun Xu, Hongxia Zhang. (2022). Processing Four-Character TCM Terms by Foreign Students of TCM in China: A Cultural Neuroscience Approach. International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 7(4), 44-50. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20220704.12

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    ACS Style

    Ningjun Xu; Hongxia Zhang. Processing Four-Character TCM Terms by Foreign Students of TCM in China: A Cultural Neuroscience Approach. Int. J. Psychol. Brain Sci. 2022, 7(4), 44-50. doi: 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20220704.12

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    AMA Style

    Ningjun Xu, Hongxia Zhang. Processing Four-Character TCM Terms by Foreign Students of TCM in China: A Cultural Neuroscience Approach. Int J Psychol Brain Sci. 2022;7(4):44-50. doi: 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20220704.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijpbs.20220704.12,
      author = {Ningjun Xu and Hongxia Zhang},
      title = {Processing Four-Character TCM Terms by Foreign Students of TCM in China: A Cultural Neuroscience Approach},
      journal = {International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences},
      volume = {7},
      number = {4},
      pages = {44-50},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijpbs.20220704.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20220704.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijpbs.20220704.12},
      abstract = {Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been in China for thousands of years, which is the collective wisdom of Chinese people and has made huge contribution to the health care of China and neighboring countries. Yet, in the modern era, it has undergone criticism for being non-scientific. One approach to this unfair criticism is to explore the neurological basis of some classic TCM terms known as four-character TCM Terms (FcTTs) by foreign students majoring TCM in China because it is clear that one major obstacle for learners of TCM to fully appreciate TCM is to crack the difficult classic Chinese as most of the TCM canons are written two or three thousand years ago whose language is full of metaphors. Currently, cultural neuroscience has provided a suitable paradigm to explore the tripartite relationships among culture, communication, and molecular genetics with the hypothesis that culture influences human brain. The current research is therefore carried out with the help of Event-related Potential technology in order to uncover the neurological basis of FsTTs. Under the guidance of Prime-Target Paradigm, an ERP experiment is carried out with 21 foreign students from key Belt and Road Initiative countries, which is fully in conformity with the Declaration of Helsinki. Statistical analysis of data elicited from ERP experiment shows the prominence of N400, a reliable indicator of difficulty in retrieving figurative meaning during reading, thus prove that CFL learners also show a direct access to literal or non-literal meaning in accordance with the prominence of the context.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Processing Four-Character TCM Terms by Foreign Students of TCM in China: A Cultural Neuroscience Approach
    AU  - Ningjun Xu
    AU  - Hongxia Zhang
    Y1  - 2022/10/24
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20220704.12
    T2  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
    JF  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
    JO  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-1573
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20220704.12
    AB  - Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been in China for thousands of years, which is the collective wisdom of Chinese people and has made huge contribution to the health care of China and neighboring countries. Yet, in the modern era, it has undergone criticism for being non-scientific. One approach to this unfair criticism is to explore the neurological basis of some classic TCM terms known as four-character TCM Terms (FcTTs) by foreign students majoring TCM in China because it is clear that one major obstacle for learners of TCM to fully appreciate TCM is to crack the difficult classic Chinese as most of the TCM canons are written two or three thousand years ago whose language is full of metaphors. Currently, cultural neuroscience has provided a suitable paradigm to explore the tripartite relationships among culture, communication, and molecular genetics with the hypothesis that culture influences human brain. The current research is therefore carried out with the help of Event-related Potential technology in order to uncover the neurological basis of FsTTs. Under the guidance of Prime-Target Paradigm, an ERP experiment is carried out with 21 foreign students from key Belt and Road Initiative countries, which is fully in conformity with the Declaration of Helsinki. Statistical analysis of data elicited from ERP experiment shows the prominence of N400, a reliable indicator of difficulty in retrieving figurative meaning during reading, thus prove that CFL learners also show a direct access to literal or non-literal meaning in accordance with the prominence of the context.
    VL  - 7
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • College of Humanities and Management, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, PR China

  • College of Humanities and Management, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, PR China

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