自从语言出现以来，口口相传、叙事转述一直是人类信息传递、文化演进的重要途径，情感的交流也是叙事转述的隐含目标。语言从形式与意义的对应单位上主要可以分为词汇、句子和语篇三个层级。在叙事转述中，这三个语言层级在传递语义信息的同时，也都在传递着情感信息。在此过程中，不同语言层级的情感如何被人们即时加工与理解，其神经基础如何，这种情感信息的传递与理解又如何随叙事迭代而变化，都有待揭示。据此，本研究采用“代际传递”范式模拟真实情境下的叙事转述，结合功能性磁共振成像技术，并收集针对叙事转述过程中所有故事在词汇、句子、语篇层面的情感类别与情感效价评分，以解析叙事转述过程中同时发生的不同语言层级的情感理解，探究叙事转述中不同语言层级情感理解的神经基础与代际效应。

研究一利用编码模型分析，将神经数据分别与情感评测结果、计算语言模型获得的语义向量相匹配，并通过皮层网络分析与皮层下全脑灰质体素分析，揭示相对独立于语义进行情感理解的神经基础。结果发现，对不同语言层级情感进行差异化理解的神经基础在大脑网络上分布广泛；左右侧纹状体、左侧中央前回和颞下回都呈现出对情感的编码效果从词汇到句子、语篇的增强，对语义编码随词汇、句子、语篇的层级递增而减弱。这表明叙事转述中的情感理解虽然是以语义理解为基础的，但也有着相对独立的神经基础与编码模式，词汇层面的情感理解更加依赖于语义，而句子与语篇层面的情感理解则是在语义基础上进行了更高维的抽象与感受。

研究二则在研究一的基础上，通过将不同语言层级下被试行为上对叙事故事情感评测结果的一致性进行代际间比较，并将这种情感理解的一致性与神经信号关联拟合，进一步考察了叙事转述中不同语言层级理解的代际效应及其神经基础。结果表明，在叙事迭代的过程中，词汇与句子层面的情感信息传递与理解会随遣词造句与细节内容的变异而模糊，主要由参与情感加工的左侧中央后回与参与语义加工的右侧角回所体现；语篇层面的关键情感信息则会稳定保留与优化，在神经基础上主要表现在左侧颞下回、上顶叶和右侧额上回。

综上，本研究创新性地将情感理解分为词汇、句子、语篇三个不同层级同时考察，揭示了叙事转述中在语义整合基础上进行的、更高维情感加工的神经基础，并探究了叙事转述中情感信息理解与传递的代际变化模式。本研究对于深入理解语言与情感的关系、信息与情感的传播机制具有重要启发意义。

Since the emergence of language, oral transmission and narrative retelling have been an important way of information transmission and cultural evolution for human, and emotional communication is also an implicit goal of narrative transmission. Language can be mainly divided into three levels according to meaning units: lexicon, sentence and discourse. In narrative transmission, these three linguistic levels transmit not only semantic information, but also emotional information. In this process, it remains to be revealed how emotions at different linguistic levels are instantly processed and understood in real time, what the neural bases are, and how the transmission and understanding of such emotional information changes with narrative iteration. Accordingly, the present study adopts the "generational transfer" paradigm to simulate real-life narrative transmission, combining with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology. Meanwhile, we collects emotional categories and emotional valence scores at the lexical, sentence, and discourse levels of all the stories in the process of narrative transmission, in order to elucidate the simultaneous emotional comprehension of the different linguistic levels. The goal of this study is to explore the neural basis and generational effects of emotion comprehension at different linguistic levels in narrative transmission.

Study 1 used Encoding Model Analysis to match the neural data with emotional evaluation results and the semantic vectors obtained from the computational language model respectively, and revealed the neural basis of emotion comprehension which was relatively independent of semantics through cortical network analysis and sub-cortical whole-brain voxel-based analysis. The results showed that the neural basis for differential comprehension of emotion at different linguistic levels was widely distributed across brain networks. The left and right striatum, left precentral gyrus, and the left inferior temporal gyrus all demonstrated an enhanced effect of encoding emotion from lexicon to sentence and discourse, and a weakening of semantic encoding effect with increasing levels of lexicon, sentence, and discourse. This indicates that although emotion comprehension in narrative transmission is based on semantic understanding, it also has a relatively independent neural basis and encoding pattern. Emotion comprehension at the lexical level is more dependent on semantics, while emotion comprehension at the sentence and discourse levels is based on higher-dimensional abstraction and perception beyond semantics.

Study 2, on the basis of Study 1, further investigated the generational effect and its neural basis of different linguistic levels of emotion comprehension in narrative transmission. We compared the consistency of behavioral emotional evaluation across narrative generations and correlating them with neural signals through regression analysis. The results exhibited that during narrative iteration, the transmission and comprehension of emotional information at the lexical and sentence levels would be vague due to variations in word choice and sentence construction, as well as details, which was mainly reflected by the left postcentral gyrus involved in affective processing and the right angular gyrus involved in semantic processing. However, the key emotional information at the discourse level would be stably preserved and optimized, which was mainly manifested in the left inferior temporal gyrus, superior parietal lobe, and the right superior frontal gyrus.

In summary, the present study innovatively examined emotion comprehension at the word, sentence, and discourse levels simultaneously in the process of narrative transmission, revealed the neural basis for higher-dimensional emotion processing on the basis of semantic integration and explored the pattern of generational changes in the comprehension and transmission of emotional information in narrative retelling. This study provides an important inspiration for deepening our understanding of the relationship between language and emotion, the transmission mechanism of information and emotion.