Different Metaphorical Orientations of Time Succession between Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine

ABSTRACT Speakers of different languages perceive time differently depending on various factors such as age, pace of life, religion, time of day, and even pregnancy. In recent years, studies have shown that this is the case even within one same language community. This article presents research showing that doctors in China differ in their perception of time, based on their specific background training, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) or Western medicine (WM), even when both categories speak the same mother tongue. An initial questionnaire showed that TCM doctors were significantly more vertically oriented than WM doctors. To test these findings’ generalizability, we designed a spatial priming experiment (using horizontal and vertical pictures as priming stimuli) to obtain reaction time and accuracy of the doctors’ response on horizontal and vertical questions. TCM doctors showed significantly shorter reaction times and higher accuracy rates than WM doctors when answering vertical questions. These results confirmed the findings of our first survey. Overall, this study provides support for the hypothesis that background training affects the perception of time succession.