Neural mechanisms of embodied semantic processing in Chinese olfactory metaphors

Embodied semantics proposes that language comprehension involves sensorimotor reactivations, yet the extent of this in olfactory language remains unclear, particularly for Chinese metaphorical expressions. This study investigated the neural mechanisms of literal and metaphorical olfactory language processing in Chinese. Twenty-four native Mandarin speakers underwent fMRI scanning while silently reading sentences with literal and metaphorical olfactory meanings. Whole-brain and ROI analyses revealed that literal olfactory sentences elicited robust activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus, pars orbitalis, whereas olfactory metaphors did not. This dissociation persisted, although in attenuated form, when sentence-level familiarity was controlled. Olfactory threshold scores correlated positively with right piriform cortex activity during literal sentence processing. We also observed a posterior-to-anterior neural shift from concrete to abstract representations in the olfactory context. Finally, verb- and adjective-based olfactory metaphors appeared to rely on a shared neural system, with limited influence of grammatical class. Taken together, our results support the Embodied Abstraction Account, which emphasizes the flexible, context-dependent nature of conceptual representation, and challenge the Strong Embodiment Theory.