回顧過去探討大腦處理語用的文獻時，發現有兩派說法：一是語用在右腦處理，如Weylman 等人(1988)；另一則是左右腦皆有其重要性，如Zaidel（2002）。回顧文獻的同時，發現到這些研究者所選用的素材（如：圖片），或許是導致他們推測大腦部位的原因，所以我們預期大腦在處理語用測驗時，會因為素材的不同，而在不同的部位處理。因此，本研究以腦事件相關電位（Event-Related Brain Potentials，簡稱ERPs）實驗配合來源分析（Source localization），來觀察客華雙語人在處理語用測驗時，大腦運作歷程的變化。
實驗的受試者為慣用右手的客華雙語人，以其相對年齡區分為老年人組和年輕人組，每位受試者都將進行華語和客語的語用測驗，實驗分為兩個部分進行，第一個實驗是先在聽覺上呈現一句俗諺語，再在視覺上出現一張圖片，第二個實驗是先在聽覺上呈現一段定義，再在聽覺上出現俗諺語。
從ERPs的實驗結果分析，有以下四個發現：
(一)　當不合語意的刺激項違反了受試者的預期，則會在受試者的腦波中觀察到 N400，而當受試者對於某語言的掌握能力較弱時，則 N400 較不容易顯著。
(二)　從兩組受試者N400的T檢定中，可以發現老年人組和年輕人組之間的華語能力差異是大於他們之間的客語能力差異的。
(三)　不管是以華語的圖片或聲音為刺激，還是以客語的圖片或聲音為刺激，都觀察到大腦在進行語用理解時，兩個半腦皆有參與。
(四)　大腦左右腦處理語用理解時的參與度與選用的刺激材料有關。

In this study, we tried to investigate the involvement of the brain hemispheres in comprehending proverbs with the measures of event-related potentials（ERPs）. Fourteen elder Hakka and Mandarin bilingual adults (mean age: 50 years，SD：11.4 years) and sixteen younger Hakka and Mandarin bilingual adults (mean age: 24 years，SD：2.3 years) were tested. Both of them were tested with their first language（Hakka）and their second language（Mandarin）. Since the dominant language in the society they live was Mandarin, they had good command of Mandarin. Especially for the younger subjects, they had even better command of Mandarin than Hakka. Such tendency was revealed by their language screening scores.
There were two experiments in this study. Experiment 1 played the proverbs auditorily first and showed a picture, which might match the metaphorical interpretation of the proverbs or might not, on the screen to the subjects. Experiment 2 played the proverbs auditorily first and played a statement, which might match the metaphorical interpretation of the proverbs or might not, to the subjects. Each experiment contains two kinds of stimuli, Hakka and Mandarin. In each experiment, half of the Mandarin stimuli (48 items) were semantically congruent condition, and the other half (48 items) were semantically incongruent condition; half of the Mandarin stimuli (51 items) were semantically congruence condition, and the other half (51 items) were semantically incongruence condition.
The findings are as follow：
(1) N400 is observed in the semantically incongruent condition. But the effect of N400 varies with the command of the language tested. As the language command is poor, the N400 effect is not statistically significant.
(2) With the comparison of the N400 effects, it is inferred that the difference of Mandarin ability between the old and young groups is greater than the difference of Hakka ability between the two groups.
(3) It is found that both hemispheres are involved in comprehending proverbs.
(4) With different testing materials, the weightings of involvement of the two hemispheres are different. Using pictures as testing materials trigger more involvement of the right hemisphere.

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