To testify the role of sensory-perceptual experience in abstract semantic processing, an experiment study was carried out to examine the activation of spatial schema in temporal words understanding. Results showed that temporal words processing activated left-right spatial schema simultaneously and aroused an attentional shift, congruent with the metaphorical mapping in TIME-SPACE metaphor(past/left-future/right). Past word shifted attention to the left and facilitated the detection of left target; future words shifted attention to the right and facilitated the detection of right target. The results provide experimental evidence to the simulation of spatial experience in abstract temporal reasoning, as well as the experimental support to the question of “ symbolic grounding ” of abstract semantics.