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Khatin-Zadeh O, Hu J, Eskandari Z, Banaruee H, Yanjiao Z, Farsani D, He J. Embodiment and gestural realization of ergative verbs. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2024; 88:762-772. [PMID: 37880423 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-023-01887-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 10/01/2023] [Indexed: 10/27/2023]
Abstract
In this study, we examined the gestural embodiment of active, passive, and active-form/passive-sense voices of ergative verbs in English. We analyzed gestures produced by presenters talking about a variety of subjects in a set of videos. We used several Chi-square tests to find out what type of gesture (representational, beat, and pointing gestures) co-occurred more frequently with active, passive, and active-form/passive-sense voices of ergative verbs. The results showed that representational gestures occurred more frequently with active than passive and active-form/passive-sense voices of ergative verbs. Furthermore, representational gestures occurred more frequently with active voices of ergative verbs having human subjects than non-human subjects. This was also the case with active-form/passive-sense sentences. Based on these results, it is suggested that form of a sentence is an influential factor in the process of embodying the situation that is described by that sentence. Active voice of an English ergative verb is more likely to be accompanied by representational gestures and is embodied more strongly than passive and active-form/passive-sense voices of that verb.
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Affiliation(s)
- Omid Khatin-Zadeh
- School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Jiehui Hu
- School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Zahra Eskandari
- School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Hassan Banaruee
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Education of Weingarten, Weingarten, Germany
| | - Zhu Yanjiao
- School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Danyal Farsani
- Facultad de Educación, Psicología y Familia, Universidad Finis Terrae, Santiago, Chile
| | - Jiayong He
- School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
- School of Foreign Languages, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
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2
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Quettier T, Moro E, Tsuchiya N, Sessa P. When mind and body align: examining the role of cross-modal congruency in conscious representations of happy facial expressions. Cogn Emot 2024; 38:267-275. [PMID: 37997901 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2023.2285823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2023] [Accepted: 11/13/2023] [Indexed: 11/25/2023]
Abstract
This study explored how congruency between facial mimicry and observed expressions affects the stability of conscious facial expression representations. Focusing on the congruency effect between proprioceptive/sensorimotor signals and visual stimuli for happy expressions, participants underwent a binocular rivalry task displaying neutral and happy faces. Mimicry was either facilitated with a chopstick or left unrestricted. Key metrics included Initial Percept (bias indicator), Onset Resolution Time (time from onset to Initial Percept), and Cumulative Time (content stabilization measure). Results indicated that mimicry manipulation significantly impacted Cumulative Time for happy faces, highlighting the importance of congruent mimicry in stabilizing conscious awareness of facial expressions. This supports embodied cognition models, showing the integration of proprioceptive information significantly biases conscious visual perception of facial expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Quettier
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Padua, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Elena Moro
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Padua, Italy
| | - Naotsugu Tsuchiya
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health & School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing, and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Osaka, Japan
- Advanced Telecommunications Research Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Paola Sessa
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Padua, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padova, Padova, Italy
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Garofalo G, Gherri E, Riggio L. Syntax matters in shaping sensorimotor activation driven by nouns. Mem Cognit 2024; 52:285-301. [PMID: 37672153 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-023-01460-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/07/2023]
Abstract
Existing evidence has shown that adjectives modulate the grasp-compatibility effect elicited by object nouns. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of syntax on the sensorimotor activation elicited by nouns in a grasp-compatibility task. We assessed two languages with different syntactic rules, Italian in Experiment 1 and English in Experiment 2. In both experiments, an adjective-noun pair was shown on the screen. The adjective was always in a pre-nominal position and denoted either a disadvantageous quality of the object graspability (e.g., sharp) or the object colour (e.g., reddish). Participants had to categorize the object nouns as natural or artifact, performing a precision or a power reach-to-grasp movement. On different trials, the grasp response was compatible or incompatible with the grip typically used to manipulate the object indicated by the noun. In Experiment 1 (Italian language) the adjective-noun order violated the syntactic order and no difference emerged between reaction times on compatible and incompatible trials (no grasp compatibility effect). In Experiment 2 (English language), the adjective-noun order followed the syntactic rule. Results showed a grasp-compatibility effect when a colour adjective was presented before a natural object noun. When a disadvantageous adjective preceded an artifact or a natural object noun, an inverted grasp-compatibility effect emerged with slower responses on compatible than incompatible trials. Taken together, these findings suggest that adjectives can shape the sensorimotor activation elicited by nouns of graspable objects only when the syntax is correct. Results are discussed with respect to embodied cognition theories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gioacchino Garofalo
- Department of Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Via Azzo Gardino 23, 40122, Bologna, Italy.
- Department of Medicine and Surgery - Unit of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Via Volturno 39, 43125, Parma, Italy.
| | - Elena Gherri
- Department of Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Via Azzo Gardino 23, 40122, Bologna, Italy
- Department of Psychology, Human Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Lucia Riggio
- Department of Medicine and Surgery - Unit of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Via Volturno 39, 43125, Parma, Italy
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van Hoef R, Connell L, Lynott D. The effects of sensorimotor and linguistic information on the basic-level advantage. Cognition 2023; 241:105606. [PMID: 37722237 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105606] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2022] [Revised: 08/05/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/20/2023]
Abstract
The basic-level advantage is one of the best-known effects in human categorisation. Traditional accounts argue that basic-level categories present a maximally informative or entry level into a taxonomic organisation of concepts in semantic memory. However, these explanations are not fully compatible with most recent views on the structure of the conceptual system such as linguistic-simulation accounts, which emphasise the dual role of sensorimotor (i.e., perception-action experience of the world) and linguistic distributional information (i.e., statistical distribution of words in language) in conceptual processing. In four preregistered word→picture categorisation studies, we examined whether novel measures of sensorimotor and linguistic distance contribute to the basic level-advantage in categorical decision-making. Results showed that overlap in sensorimotor experience between category concept and member concept (e.g., animal→dog) predicted RT and accuracy at least as well as a traditional division into discrete subordinate, basic, and superordinate taxonomic levels. Furthermore, linguistic distributional information contributed to capturing effects of graded category structure where typicality ratings did not. Finally, when image label production frequency was taken into account (i.e., how often people actually produced specific labels for images), linguistic distributional information predicted RT and accuracy above and beyond sensorimotor information. These findings add to our understanding of how sensorimotor-linguistic theories of the conceptual system can explain categorisation behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rens van Hoef
- Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom.
| | - Louise Connell
- Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom; Department of Psychology, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland
| | - Dermot Lynott
- Department of Psychology, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland
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Sanabria A, Restrepo MA, Peter B, Valentin A, Glenberg A. Relationships Among Motor, First, and Second Language Skills Among Bilingual Children With Language Disorders. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2023; 66:3536-3549. [PMID: 37532242 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-23-00043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/04/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine the significance and directions of the relationships among oral and manual fine motor skills and language abilities among Spanish-English bilingual children. If such relationships exist, this would support a shared biological influence on motor and language development. METHOD Participants included 56 bilingual children, 24 of whom met criteria for developmental language disorder (DLD), recruited based on teacher concern for language and/or reading comprehension abilities. Students participated in a battery of baseline tests to determine motor, language, and cognitive abilities. Correlations among all variables were examined for direction of relationships. Regression models explored the predictive power of motor skills with Spanish and English language ability as the outcome measure. RESULTS Oral fine motor abilities (diadochokinetic rate productions of /pa/ and /pata/) predicted Spanish (but not English) oral language abilities in the expected direction (i.e., faster rates were associated with better language). Manual fine motor performance on computer tapping tasks was not related to performance in either language. CONCLUSIONS Oral fine motor abilities are related to language abilities in bilingual children, but only for the native language. We did not find reliable differences in oral and manual fine motor skills between groups of bilingual children with and without DLD. These findings support a limited role of shared biological influences on motor and language development.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Arthur Glenberg
- Arizona State University, Tempe
- Universidad de Salamanca, Spain
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Grossberg S. How children learn to understand language meanings: a neural model of adult-child multimodal interactions in real-time. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1216479. [PMID: 37599779 PMCID: PMC10435915 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1216479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2023] [Accepted: 06/28/2023] [Indexed: 08/22/2023] Open
Abstract
This article describes a biological neural network model that can be used to explain how children learn to understand language meanings about the perceptual and affective events that they consciously experience. This kind of learning often occurs when a child interacts with an adult teacher to learn language meanings about events that they experience together. Multiple types of self-organizing brain processes are involved in learning language meanings, including processes that control conscious visual perception, joint attention, object learning and conscious recognition, cognitive working memory, cognitive planning, emotion, cognitive-emotional interactions, volition, and goal-oriented actions. The article shows how all of these brain processes interact to enable the learning of language meanings to occur. The article also contrasts these human capabilities with AI models such as ChatGPT. The current model is called the ChatSOME model, where SOME abbreviates Self-Organizing MEaning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Grossberg
- Center for Adaptive Systems, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States
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Schütt E, Dudschig C, Bergen BK, Kaup B. Sentence-based mental simulations: Evidence from behavioral experiments using garden-path sentences. Mem Cognit 2023; 51:952-965. [PMID: 36307639 PMCID: PMC10129931 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-022-01367-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Language comprehenders activate mental representations of sensorimotor experiences related to the content of utterances they process. However, it is still unclear whether these sensorimotor simulations are driven by associations with words or by a more complex process of meaning composition into larger linguistic expressions, such as sentences. In two experiments, we investigated whether comprehenders indeed create sentence-based simulations. Materials were constructed such that simulation effects could only emerge from sentence meaning and not from word-based associations alone. We additionally asked when during sentence processing these simulations are constructed, using a garden-path paradigm. Participants read either a garden-path sentence (e.g., "As Mary ate the egg was in the fridge") or a corresponding unambiguous control with the same meaning and words (e.g., "The egg was in the fridge as Mary ate"). Participants then judged whether a depicted entity was mentioned in the sentence or not. In both experiments, picture response times were faster when the picture was compatible (vs. incompatible) with the sentence-based interpretation of the target entity (e.g., both for garden-path and control sentence: an unpeeled egg), suggesting that participants created simulations based on the sentence content and only operating over the sentence as a whole.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emanuel Schütt
- Department of Psychology, Language and Cognition Research Group, University of Tübingen, Schleichstr. 4, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Carolin Dudschig
- Department of Psychology, Language and Cognition Research Group, University of Tübingen, Schleichstr. 4, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Benjamin K Bergen
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Barbara Kaup
- Department of Psychology, Language and Cognition Research Group, University of Tübingen, Schleichstr. 4, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
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Tian L, Chen H, Heikkinen PP, Liu W, Parviainen T. Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Activation in Motor and Language Areas Suggest a Compensatory Role of the Motor Cortex in Second Language Processing. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2023; 4:178-197. [PMID: 37229145 PMCID: PMC10205076 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/14/2022] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
The involvement of the motor cortex in language understanding has been intensively discussed in the framework of embodied cognition. Although some studies have provided evidence for the involvement of the motor cortex in different receptive language tasks, the role that it plays in language perception and understanding is still unclear. In the present study, we explored the degree of involvement of language and motor areas in a visually presented sentence comprehension task, modulated by language proficiency (L1: native language, L2: second language) and linguistic abstractness (literal, metaphorical, and abstract). Magnetoencephalography data were recorded from 26 late Chinese learners of English. A cluster-based permutation F test was performed on the amplitude of the source waveform for each motor and language region of interest (ROI). Results showed a significant effect of language proficiency in both language and motor ROIs, manifested as overall greater involvement of language ROIs (short insular gyri and planum polare of the superior temporal gyrus) in the L1 than the L2 during 300-500 ms, and overall greater involvement of motor ROI (central sulcus) in the L2 than the L1 during 600-800 ms. We interpreted the over-recruitment of the motor area in the L2 as a higher demand for cognitive resources to compensate for the inadequate engagement of the language network. In general, our results indicate a compensatory role of the motor cortex in L2 understanding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lili Tian
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
- School of Foreign Languages, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
- Language and Brain Research Centre, Sichuan International Studies University, Chongqing, China
| | - Hongjun Chen
- School of Foreign Languages, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
| | - Pyry Petteri Heikkinen
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Wenya Liu
- Faculty of Information Technology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Tiina Parviainen
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
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9
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Establishing conversational engagement and being effective: The role of body movement in mediated communication. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2023; 233:103840. [PMID: 36681014 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.103840] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Revised: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 01/16/2023] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
A model for investigating the effects of body movement on conversational effectiveness in computer-mediated communication (CMC) is developed based on theories of motor cognition and embodiment. Movement is relevant to a wide range of CMC settings, including remote interviews, court testimonials, instructing, medical consultation, and socializing. The present work allows for a consideration of different forms of motoric activation, including gesturing and full-body motion, in mediated conversational settings and the derivation of a range of testable hypothesis. Motor cognition and embodiment provide an account of how speaker and listener become subject to the consequences of the muscular activation patterns that come with body movement. While movement supports internal elaboration, thus helping the speaker in formulating messages, it also has direct effects on the listener through behavioral synchrony and motor contagion. The effects of movement in CMC environments depend on two general characteristics: the level of visibility of movement and the extent to which the technology facilitates or inhibits movement. Available channels, set-up of technology, and further customization therefore determine whether movement can fulfil its internal functions (relevant to cognitive-affective elaboration of what is being said by the speaker) and its external functions (relevant to what is being perceived by and activated within the listener). Several indicators of conversational effectiveness are identified that serve as outcome variables. This MCEE model is intended to help users, developers and service provides to make CMC more engaging and more meaningful.
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Banks B, Connell L. Multi-dimensional sensorimotor grounding of concrete and abstract categories. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210366. [PMID: 36571121 PMCID: PMC9791484 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Semantic categories, and the concepts belonging to them, have commonly been defined by their relative concreteness, that is, their reliance on perception. However, sensorimotor grounding must be regarded as going beyond the basic five senses and incorporate a multi-dimensional variety of perceptual and action experience. We present a series of exploratory analyses examining the sensorimotor grounding of participant-produced member concepts for 117 categories, spanning concrete (e.g. animal and furniture) and highly abstract (e.g. unit of time and science) categories. We found that both concrete and abstract categories are strongly grounded in multi-dimensional sensorimotor experience. Both domains were dominated by vision and, to a lesser extent, head movements, but concrete categories were more grounded in touch and hand-arm action, while abstract categories were more grounded in hearing and interoception. Importantly, this pattern of grounding was not uniform, and subdomains of concrete (e.g. ingestibles, animates, natural categories and artefacts) and abstract (e.g. internal, social and non-social) categories were grounded in different profiles of sensorimotor experience. Overall, these findings suggest that the distinction between abstract and concrete categories is not as clearcut as ontological assumptions might suggest, and that the strength and diversity of sensorimotor grounding in abstract categories must not be underestimated. This article is part of the theme issue 'Concepts in interaction: social engagement and inner experiences'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Briony Banks
- Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Fylde College, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YF, UK
| | - Louise Connell
- Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Fylde College, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YF, UK.,Department of Psychology, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland
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W D, C P, C ML, F L. Imagining and reading actions: Towards similar motor representations. Heliyon 2023; 9:e13426. [PMID: 36816230 PMCID: PMC9932708 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Revised: 12/27/2022] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
While action language and motor imagery both engage the motor system, determining whether these two processes indeed share the same motor representations would contribute to better understanding their underlying mechanisms. We conducted two experiments probing the mutual influence of these two processes. In Exp.1, hand-action verbs were presented subliminally, and participants (n = 36) selected the verb they thought they perceived from two alternatives. When congruent actions were imagined prior to this task, accuracy significantly increased, i.e. participants were better able to "see" the subliminal verbs. In Exp.2, participants (n = 19) imagined hand flexion or extension, while corticospinal excitability was measured via transcranial magnetic stimulation. Corticospinal excitability was modulated by action verbs subliminally presented prior to imagery. Specifically, the typical increase observed during imagery was suppressed after presentation of incongruent action verbs. This mutual influence of action language and motor imagery, both at behavioral and neurophysiological levels, suggests overlapping motor representations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dupont W
- INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences du Sport, F-21000, Dijon, France
| | - Papaxanthis C
- INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences du Sport, F-21000, Dijon, France
| | - Madden-Lombardi C
- INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences du Sport, F-21000, Dijon, France
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France
| | - Lebon F
- INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences du Sport, F-21000, Dijon, France
- Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France
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12
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Capuano F, Claus B, Kaup B. The experiential basis of compatibility effects in reading-by-rotating paradigms. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2023; 87:124-136. [PMID: 35220497 PMCID: PMC9873596 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-022-01663-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2021] [Accepted: 02/06/2022] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
The current study originates from inconsistent findings within the framework of embodied language processing, specifically in the reading-by-rotating literature: whereas some studies report a match advantage (e.g., Zwaan and Taylor (J Exp Psychol 135:1, 2006)), i.e., shorter reading times when the direction of a linguistically conveyed manual rotation matched rather than mismatched the direction of an actually to be performed manual rotation Claus (Acta Psychol 156:104-113, 2015) found a mismatch advantage. The current study addresses two explanations that were previously discussed as potentially responsible for this inconsistency: on the one hand, differences in the knob devices employed; on the other hand, differences in the perspectives adopted by the readers depending on the number of characters involved in the narratives. Concurrently, the study exploits individual differences in motoric experience to explore the experiential basis of action-sentence compatibility effects. The results are inconclusive with respect to the two explanations. However, in their overall picture, they contribute suggestive considerations for the ongoing debate on action-simulation effects by pointing to the potential role of interindividual variation in motoric experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Capuano
- Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, Schleichstr. 4, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Berry Claus
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu, Berlin, Germany
| | - Barbara Kaup
- Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, Schleichstr. 4, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
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13
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Dupont W, Papaxanthis C, Lebon F, Madden-Lombardi C. Does the Motor Cortex Want the Full Story? The Influence of Sentence Context on Corticospinal Excitability in Action Language Processing. Neuroscience 2022; 506:58-67. [PMID: 36328232 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2022.10.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2022] [Revised: 10/21/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The reading of action verbs has been shown to activate motor areas, whereby sentence context may serve to either globally strengthen this activation or to selectively sharpen it. To investigate this issue, we manipulated the presence of manual actions and sentence context, assessing the level of corticospinal excitability by means of transcranial magnetic stimulation. We hypothesized that context would serve to sharpen the neural representation of the described actions in the motor cortex, reflected in context-specific modulation of corticospinal excitability. Participants silently read manual action verbs and non-manual verbs, preceded by a full sentence (rich context) or not (minimal context). Transcranial magnetic stimulation pulses were delivered at rest or shortly after verb presentation. The coil was positioned over the cortical representation of the right first dorsal interosseous (pointer finger). We observed a general increase of corticospinal excitability while reading both manual action and non-manual verbs in minimal context, whereas the modulation was action-specific in rich context: corticospinal excitability increased while reading manual verbs, but did not differ from baseline for non-manual verbs. These findings suggest that sentence context sharpens motor representations, activating the motor cortex when relevant and eliminating any residual motor activation when no action is present.
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Affiliation(s)
- W Dupont
- INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences du Sport, F-21000 Dijon, France.
| | - C Papaxanthis
- INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences du Sport, F-21000 Dijon, France
| | - F Lebon
- INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences du Sport, F-21000 Dijon, France; Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), France
| | - C Madden-Lombardi
- INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences du Sport, F-21000 Dijon, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France
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14
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Boulenger V, Finos L, Koun E, Salemme R, Desoche C, Roy AC. Up right, not right up: Primacy of verticality in both language and movement. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:981330. [PMID: 36248682 PMCID: PMC9558293 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.981330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2022] [Accepted: 09/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
When describing motion along both the horizontal and vertical axes, languages from different families express the elements encoding verticality before those coding for horizontality (e.g., going up right instead of right up). In light of the motor grounding of language, the present study investigated whether the prevalence of verticality in Path expression also governs the trajectory of arm biological movements. Using a 3D virtual-reality setting, we tracked the kinematics of hand pointing movements in five spatial directions, two of which implied the vertical and horizontal vectors equally (i.e., up right +45° and bottom right −45°). Movement onset could be prompted by visual or auditory verbal cues, the latter being canonical in French (“en haut à droite”/up right) or not (“à droite en haut”/right up). In two experiments, analyses of the index finger kinematics revealed a significant effect of gravity, with earlier acceleration, velocity, and deceleration peaks for upward (+45°) than downward (−45°) movements, irrespective of the instructions. Remarkably, confirming the linguistic observations, we found that vertical kinematic parameters occurred earlier than horizontal ones for upward movements, both for visual and congruent verbal cues. Non-canonical verbal instructions significantly affected this temporal dynamic: for upward movements, the horizontal and vertical components temporally aligned, while they reversed for downward movements where the kinematics of the vertical axis was delayed with respect to that of the horizontal one. This temporal dynamic is so deeply anchored that non-canonical verbal instructions allowed for horizontality to precede verticality only for movements that do not fight against gravity. Altogether, our findings provide new insights into the embodiment of language by revealing that linguistic path may reflect the organization of biological movements, giving priority to the vertical axis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Véronique Boulenger
- Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage, UMR 5596, CNRS/University Lyon 2, Lyon, France
- *Correspondence: Véronique Boulenger,
| | - Livio Finos
- Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Eric Koun
- Integrative Multisensory Perception Action & Cognition Team (IMPACT), Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM U1028, CNRS U5292, University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Roméo Salemme
- Integrative Multisensory Perception Action & Cognition Team (IMPACT), Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM U1028, CNRS U5292, University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
- Neuro-Immersion, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Lyon, France
| | - Clément Desoche
- Integrative Multisensory Perception Action & Cognition Team (IMPACT), Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM U1028, CNRS U5292, University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
- Neuro-Immersion, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Lyon, France
| | - Alice C. Roy
- Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage, UMR 5596, CNRS/University Lyon 2, Lyon, France
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15
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The action-sentence compatibility effect (ACE): Meta-analysis of a benchmark finding for embodiment. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2022; 230:103712. [PMID: 36103797 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2021] [Revised: 08/12/2022] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The embodied account of language comprehension has been one of the most influential theoretical developments in the recent decades addressing the question how humans comprehend and represent language. To examine its assumptions, many studies have made use of behavioral paradigms involving basic compatibility effects. The action-sentence compatibility effect (ACE) is one of the most influential of these compatibility effects and is the most widely cited evidence for the embodied account of language comprehension. However, recently there have been difficulties in extending or even in reliably replicating the ACE. The conflicting findings concerning the ACE and its extensions lead to the discussion of whether the ACE is indeed a reliable effect. In a first step we conducted a meta-analysis using a random-effects model. This analysis revealed a small but significant effect size of the ACE. Furthermore, the task-parameter Delay occurred as a factor of interest in whether the ACE appears with positive or negative effect direction. A second meta-analytic approach (Fisher's method) supports these findings. Additionally, an analysis of publication bias suggests that there is bias in the ACE literature. In post-hoc analyses of the recent multi-lab investigation of the ACE (Morey et al., 2021), evidence for individual differences in the ACE was found. However, further analyses indicate that these differences are likely due to item-specific variability and the specific way in which items were assigned to conditions in the counterbalancing lists.
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16
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Hand constraint reduces brain activity and affects the speed of verbal responses on semantic tasks. Sci Rep 2022; 12:13545. [PMID: 35941140 PMCID: PMC9360433 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-17702-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2022] [Accepted: 07/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
According to the theory of embodied cognition, semantic processing is closely coupled with body movements. For example, constraining hand movements inhibits memory for objects that can be manipulated with the hands. However, it has not been confirmed whether body constraint reduces brain activity related to semantics. We measured the effect of hand constraint on semantic processing in the parietal lobe using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. A pair of words representing the names of hand-manipulable (e.g., cup or pencil) or nonmanipulable (e.g., windmill or fountain) objects were presented, and participants were asked to identify which object was larger. The reaction time (RT) in the judgment task and the activation of the left intraparietal sulcus (LIPS) and left inferior parietal lobule (LIPL), including the supramarginal gyrus and angular gyrus, were analyzed. We found that constraint of hand movement suppressed brain activity in the LIPS toward hand-manipulable objects and affected RT in the size judgment task. These results indicate that body constraint reduces the activity of brain regions involved in semantics. Hand constraint might inhibit motor simulation, which, in turn, would inhibit body-related semantic processing.
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17
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Bonnet C, Bayram M, El Bouzaïdi Tiali S, Lebon F, Harquel S, Palluel-Germain R, Perrone-Bertolotti M. Kinesthetic motor-imagery training improves performance on lexical-semantic access. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0270352. [PMID: 35749512 PMCID: PMC9232155 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 06/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of Motor Imagery (MI) training on language comprehension. In line with literature suggesting an intimate relationship between the language and the motor system, we proposed that a MI-training could improve language comprehension by facilitating lexico-semantic access. In two experiments, participants were assigned to a kinesthetic motor-imagery training (KMI) group, in which they had to imagine making upper-limb movements, or to a static visual imagery training (SVI) group, in which they had to mentally visualize pictures of landscapes. Differential impacts of both training protocols on two different language comprehension tasks (i.e., semantic categorization and sentence-picture matching task) were investigated. Experiment 1 showed that KMI training can induce better performance (shorter reaction times) than SVI training for the two language comprehension tasks, thus suggesting that a KMI-based motor activation can facilitate lexico-semantic access after only one training session. Experiment 2 aimed at replicating these results using a pre/post-training language assessment and a longer training period (four training sessions spread over four days). Although the improvement magnitude between pre- and post-training sessions was greater in the KMI group than in the SVI one on the semantic categorization task, the sentence-picture matching task tended to provide an opposite pattern of results. Overall, this series of experiments highlights for the first time that motor imagery can contribute to the improvement of lexical-semantic processing and could open new avenues on rehabilitation methods for language deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camille Bonnet
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, Grenoble, France
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Mariam Bayram
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, Grenoble, France
| | | | - Florent Lebon
- INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences du Sport, Dijon, France
| | - Sylvain Harquel
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, Grenoble, France
- Defitech Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics (CNP) and Brain Mind Institute (BMI), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | - Marcela Perrone-Bertolotti
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, Grenoble, France
- Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
- * E-mail:
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18
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Lomas JD, Lin A, Dikker S, Forster D, Lupetti ML, Huisman G, Habekost J, Beardow C, Pandey P, Ahmad N, Miyapuram K, Mullen T, Cooper P, van der Maden W, Cross ES. Resonance as a Design Strategy for AI and Social Robots. Front Neurorobot 2022; 16:850489. [PMID: 35574227 PMCID: PMC9097027 DOI: 10.3389/fnbot.2022.850489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2022] [Accepted: 03/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Resonance, a powerful and pervasive phenomenon, appears to play a major role in human interactions. This article investigates the relationship between the physical mechanism of resonance and the human experience of resonance, and considers possibilities for enhancing the experience of resonance within human-robot interactions. We first introduce resonance as a widespread cultural and scientific metaphor. Then, we review the nature of "sympathetic resonance" as a physical mechanism. Following this introduction, the remainder of the article is organized in two parts. In part one, we review the role of resonance (including synchronization and rhythmic entrainment) in human cognition and social interactions. Then, in part two, we review resonance-related phenomena in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI). These two reviews serve as ground for the introduction of a design strategy and combinatorial design space for shaping resonant interactions with robots and AI. We conclude by posing hypotheses and research questions for future empirical studies and discuss a range of ethical and aesthetic issues associated with resonance in human-robot interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- James Derek Lomas
- Department of Human Centered Design, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands
| | - Albert Lin
- Center for Human Frontiers, Qualcomm Institute, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States
| | - Suzanne Dikker
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, United States
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Deborah Forster
- Center for Human Frontiers, Qualcomm Institute, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States
| | - Maria Luce Lupetti
- Department of Human Centered Design, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands
| | - Gijs Huisman
- Department of Human Centered Design, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands
| | - Julika Habekost
- The Design Lab, California Institute of Information and Communication Technologies, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States
| | - Caiseal Beardow
- Department of Human Centered Design, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands
| | - Pankaj Pandey
- Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, India
| | - Nashra Ahmad
- Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, India
| | - Krishna Miyapuram
- Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, India
| | - Tim Mullen
- Intheon Labs, San Diego, CA, United States
| | - Patrick Cooper
- Department of Physics, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Willem van der Maden
- Department of Human Centered Design, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands
| | - Emily S. Cross
- Social Robotics, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, School of Computing Science, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
- SOBA Lab, School of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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19
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Chai X, Ma M. Exploring Relationships Between L2 Chinese Character Writing and Reading Acquisition From Embodied Cognitive Perspectives: Evidence From HSK Big Data. Front Psychol 2022; 12:779190. [PMID: 35264991 PMCID: PMC8900728 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.779190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2021] [Accepted: 12/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Chinese characters are central to understanding how learners learn to read a logographic script. However, researchers know little about the role of character writing in reading Chinese as a second language (CSL). Unlike an alphabetic script, a Chinese character symbol transmits semantic information and is a cultural icon bridging embodied experience and text meaning. As a unique embodied practice, writing by hand contributes to cognitive processing in Chinese reading. Therefore, it is essential to clarify how Chinese character writing (bodily activity), language distance (past language usage), and cultural background (bodily coupling with the environment) influence CSL reading proficiency. Based on extant research on L2 reading acquisition and strength of key theoretical perspectives of embodied cognition theory (ECT), this study tested a regression model for CSL reading involving individual-level factors (Chinese character writing proficiency [CCWP]) and group-level predictors (language distance and cultural background). This study collected big data in a sample of 74,362 CSL learners with 67 diverse L1s. Results of hierarchical linear modeling showed a significant effect of CCWP and significant language distance × CCWP interaction effect on reading proficiency; however, cultural background × CCWP interaction effect was not significant. These results conform to the ECT and indicate that bodily activity, past language usage, and cultural background aided reading. CCWP may benefit from withstanding the negative transfer from L1s. Furthermore, CCWP and cultural background are not synergistic predictors of reading. This study may open novel avenues for explorations of CSL reading development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xingsan Chai
- Institute on Educational Policy and Evaluation of International Students, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China
| | - Mingzhu Ma
- Institute on Educational Policy and Evaluation of International Students, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China
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20
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Borelli E, Butera C, Katirai A, Adams TCE, Aziz-Zadeh L. Impact of motor stroke on novel and conventional action metaphor comprehension. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2022; 226:105081. [PMID: 35051790 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2021] [Revised: 12/17/2021] [Accepted: 01/07/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Previous studies indicate that damage to motor brain regions impacts comprehension of literal action-related language. However, whether such damage also impacts comprehension of action-metaphors remains unknown. Such a finding would support the notion that metaphors are grounded in sensorimotor representations. Here we tested this hypothesis by comparing comprehension of novel, conventional, and frozen action and non-action metaphors in 14 right-handed adults with right-sided mild to moderate paresis following left hemisphere motor stroke and 23 neurotypical participants. Consistent with our hypothesis, results indicated that only in the stroke group, accuracy for action metaphors was significantly lower than for non-action metaphors. Further, in the stroke group, accuracy was significantly worse in the following pattern: novel < conventional < frozen action metaphors. These results strongly support the notion that motor-related brain regions are important not only for literal action-related language comprehension, but also for action-related metaphor comprehension, especially for less familiar metaphors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleonora Borelli
- Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy; Center for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy; Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Christiana Butera
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Andrew Katirai
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Thomas C E Adams
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Lisa Aziz-Zadeh
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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21
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Sanabria AA, Restrepo MA, Walker E, Glenberg A. A Reading Comprehension Intervention for Dual Language Learners With Weak Language and Reading Skills. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2022; 65:738-759. [PMID: 35050697 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-21-00266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE We evaluated the efficacy of a reading comprehension intervention with dual language learners (DLLs) with documented English reading comprehension difficulties, half of whom had a developmental language disorder. The intervention EMBRACE (Enhanced Moved by Reading to Accelerate Comprehension in English) required children to move images on an iPad to both improve and demonstrate understanding of multichapter stories. Additionally, we determined the characteristics of students who most benefit from the intervention. METHOD Fifty-six participants in second to fifth grades were randomly assigned to one of two groups: (a) Spanish support intervention or (b) Spanish support control. Outcome measures included performance on comprehension questions related to the intervention texts, two transfer texts with no strategy instruction, and the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests-Fourth Edition Reading Comprehension subtest administered pre- and post-intervention. RESULTS Multilevel hierarchical linear models were used to account for nesting of question within child within classroom. For this group of DLLs, the overall intervention effect was not statistically significant. However, the intervention was most effective with narrative (vs. expository) texts and easy (vs. more difficult) texts. DLLs with lower initial English reading abilities (decoding and comprehension) benefited more from the intervention than those with stronger reading skills. CONCLUSIONS The EMBRACE intervention has promise for use with DLLs with low baseline decoding and comprehension skills, particularly in early elementary grades. Future research should aim to match text difficulty with child skills when introducing new comprehension strategies to maximize benefit from the intervention.
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22
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Jäggi T, Sato S, Gillioz C, Gygax PM. Is the future near or far depending on the verb tense markers used? An experimental investigation into the effects of the grammaticalization of the future. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0262778. [PMID: 35051226 PMCID: PMC8775301 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2021] [Accepted: 01/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Psycholinguistic approaches that study the effects of language on mental representations have ignored a potential role of the grammaticalization of the future (i.e., how the future manifests linguistically). We argue that the grammaticalization of the future may be an important aspect, as thinking about the future is omnipresent in our everyday life. The aim of this study was to experimentally manipulate the degree of future time references (i.e., present and future verb tense and temporal adverbials) to address their impact on the perceived location of future events. Across four experiments, two in French and two in German, no effect was found, irrespective of our verb and adverbial manipulations, and contrary to our hypotheses. Bayes factors confirmed that our null effects were not due to a lack of power. We present one of the first empirical accounts investigating the role of the grammaticalization of the future on effects of mental representations. We discuss possible reasons for these null results and illustrate further avenues for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tiziana Jäggi
- Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Sayaka Sato
- Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Christelle Gillioz
- Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
| | - Pascal Mark Gygax
- Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
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23
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Zakowicz P, Skibińska M, Pawlak J. Disembodied Language in Early-Onset Schizophrenia. Front Psychiatry 2022; 13:888844. [PMID: 35865304 PMCID: PMC9294146 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.888844] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
A recent view on schizophrenia phenomenology underlines the impaired relations between the mind and the body. An aberrant feeling of ipseity may be the real source of suffering of the patients from psychosis and impacts general symptomatology. The disturbed connection between thinking processes and environmental stimuli may lead to language disembodiment. In the study, we aimed to experimentally test the presence of disembodied language and investigate its association with symptoms of psychosis in adolescents diagnosed with early-onset schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Assessment of language embodiment was conducted using the Zabór Verbal Task (ZVT) with concurrent linguistic and clinical assessment using the Thought, Language, and Communication Scale (TLCS) and Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS). The study group of patients (n = 31) aged 11-18 years, with the diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) criteria, was compared with a sex- and age-matched healthy control sample (n = 31). Patients with psychosis made more errors in ZVT than healthy controls (p = 0.01) and this parameter did not improve after 6-8 weeks of standard treatment (p = 0.55). A higher number of errors in ZVT were associated with the presence of auditory hallucinations (odds ratio [OR] 1.14; 95% CI 1.02-1.26). ZVT errors coincided with perception disorders, alternatively to the TLCS scores where we observed association with abnormal beliefs. The results of these preliminary studies indicate the value of the phenomenological approach in the diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum and suggest a potential involvement of language disembodiment in symptomatology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Przemysław Zakowicz
- Department of Psychiatric Genetics, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.,Center for Child and Adolescent Treatment in Zabór, Zielona Góra, Poland
| | - Maria Skibińska
- Department of Psychiatric Genetics, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland
| | - Joanna Pawlak
- Department of Psychiatric Genetics, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland
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24
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Del Maschio N, Fedeli D, Garofalo G, Buccino G. Evidence for the Concreteness of Abstract Language: A Meta-Analysis of Neuroimaging Studies. Brain Sci 2021; 12:32. [PMID: 35053776 PMCID: PMC8773921 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12010032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2021] [Revised: 12/06/2021] [Accepted: 12/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The neural mechanisms subserving the processing of abstract concepts remain largely debated. Even within the embodiment theoretical framework, most authors suggest that abstract concepts are coded in a linguistic propositional format, although they do not completely deny the role of sensorimotor and emotional experiences in coding it. To our knowledge, only one recent proposal puts forward that the processing of concrete and abstract concepts relies on the same mechanisms, with the only difference being in the complexity of the underlying experiences. In this paper, we performed a meta-analysis using the Activation Likelihood Estimates (ALE) method on 33 functional neuroimaging studies that considered activations related to abstract and concrete concepts. The results suggest that (1) concrete and abstract concepts share the recruitment of the temporo-fronto-parietal circuits normally involved in the interactions with the physical world, (2) processing concrete concepts recruits fronto-parietal areas better than abstract concepts, and (3) abstract concepts recruit Broca's region more strongly than concrete ones. Based on anatomical and physiological evidence, Broca's region is not only a linguistic region mainly devoted to speech production, but it is endowed with complex motor representations of different biological effectors. Hence, we propose that the stronger recruitment of this region for abstract concepts is expression of the complex sensorimotor experiences underlying it, rather than evidence of a purely linguistic format of its processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicola Del Maschio
- Faculty of Psychology, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, 20132 Milano, Italy; (N.D.M.); (D.F.)
| | - Davide Fedeli
- Faculty of Psychology, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, 20132 Milano, Italy; (N.D.M.); (D.F.)
| | - Gioacchino Garofalo
- Divisione di Neuroscienze, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, 20132 Milano, Italy;
- IRCCS San Raffaele, 20132 Milano, Italy
| | - Giovanni Buccino
- Divisione di Neuroscienze, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, 20132 Milano, Italy;
- IRCCS San Raffaele, 20132 Milano, Italy
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25
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A pre-registered, multi-lab non-replication of the action-sentence compatibility effect (ACE). Psychon Bull Rev 2021; 29:613-626. [PMID: 34755319 PMCID: PMC9038876 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-021-01927-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The Action-sentence Compatibility Effect (ACE) is a well-known demonstration of the role of motor activity in the comprehension of language. Participants are asked to make sensibility judgments on sentences by producing movements toward the body or away from the body. The ACE is the finding that movements are faster when the direction of the movement (e.g., toward) matches the direction of the action in the to-be-judged sentence (e.g., Art gave you the pen describes action toward you). We report on a pre-registered, multi-lab replication of one version of the ACE. The results show that none of the 18 labs involved in the study observed a reliable ACE, and that the meta-analytic estimate of the size of the ACE was essentially zero.
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26
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Feng Y, Zhou R. Does Embodiment of Verbs Influence Predicate Metaphor Processing in a Second Language? Evidence From Picture Priming. Front Psychol 2021; 12:759175. [PMID: 34803840 PMCID: PMC8595923 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.759175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Distinct from nominal metaphors, predicate metaphors entail metaphorical abstraction from concrete verbs, which generally involve more action and stronger motor simulation than nouns. It remains unclear whether and how the concrete, embodied aspects of verbs are connected with abstract, disembodied thinking in the brains of L2 learners. Since English predicate metaphors are unfamiliar to Chinese L2 learners, the study of embodiment effect on English predicate metaphor processing may provide new evidence for embodied cognition and categorization models that remain controversial, and offer practical insights into L2 metaphor processing and pedagogy. Hence, we aim to investigate whether the embodiment of verbs, via the activation of sensorimotor information, influences two groups of L2 learners during their comprehension of conventional and novel predicate metaphors. The results show a significant effect of embodiment: a stronger facilitation for novel predicate metaphors in both higher-level and lower-level groups, and a weaker facilitation for conventional predicate metaphors in the lower-level group. The findings demonstrate preliminary evidence for a graded effect of embodiment on predicate metaphors processing, modulated by L2 proficiency and metaphor novelty. The study supports a hybrid view of embodied cognition and reveals that sensorimotor aspects of verbs may be the intermediate entity involved in the indirect categorization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yin Feng
- School of Foreign Studies, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- Center for Language Cognition and Assessment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Rong Zhou
- School of Foreign Studies, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- Center for Language Cognition and Assessment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
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Banks B, Wingfield C, Connell L. Linguistic Distributional Knowledge and Sensorimotor Grounding both Contribute to Semantic Category Production. Cogn Sci 2021; 45:e13055. [PMID: 34647346 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2020] [Revised: 06/22/2021] [Accepted: 09/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The human conceptual system comprises simulated information of sensorimotor experience and linguistic distributional information of how words are used in language. Moreover, the linguistic shortcut hypothesis predicts that people will use computationally cheaper linguistic distributional information where it is sufficient to inform a task response. In a pre-registered category production study, we asked participants to verbally name members of concrete and abstract categories and tested whether performance could be predicted by a novel measure of sensorimotor similarity (based on an 11-dimensional representation of sensorimotor strength) and linguistic proximity (based on word co-occurrence derived from a large corpus). As predicted, both measures predicted the order and frequency of category production but, critically, linguistic proximity had an effect above and beyond sensorimotor similarity. A follow-up study using typicality ratings as an additional predictor found that typicality was often the strongest predictor of category production variables, but it did not subsume sensorimotor and linguistic effects. Finally, we created a novel, fully grounded computational model of conceptual activation during category production, which best approximated typical human performance when conceptual activation was allowed to spread indirectly between concepts, and when candidate category members came from both sensorimotor and linguistic distributional representations. Critically, model performance was indistinguishable from typical human performance. Results support the linguistic shortcut hypothesis in semantic processing and provide strong evidence that both linguistic and grounded representations are inherent to the functioning of the conceptual system. All materials, data, and code are available at https://osf.io/vaq56/.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Louise Connell
- Department of Psychology, Lancaster University.,Department of Psychology, Maynooth University
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28
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Xu Q, Zhang S, Li J, Wu B, Qiu H, Qilimuge. The Post-verbal Effect of Negators in Mongolian Contradictory Negations Provides Support for the Fusion Model. Front Psychol 2021; 12:603075. [PMID: 34093301 PMCID: PMC8173153 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.603075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2020] [Accepted: 03/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
There are two contending models regarding the processing of negation: the fusion model and the schema-plus-tag model. Most previous studies have centered on negation in languages such as English and Mandarin, where negators are positioned before predicates. Mongolian, quite uniquely, is a language whose negators are post-verbal, making them natural replicas of the schema-plus-tag model. The present study aims to investigate the representation process of Mongolian contradictory negative sentences to shed light on the debate between the models, meanwhile verifying the post-verbal effect of negators. A series of experiments using the sentence-picture verification paradigm supports the fusion model: (i) Mongolian contradictory negative sentences were processed by representing the actual conditions rather than the negated state of affairs at 250 ISI (interstimulus interval of 250 ms), and (ii) despite the fact that a post-verbal effect of negators was measured at 250 ISI when Mongolian and Mandarin negative sentences were compared, Mongolian-Mandarin bilinguals adopted the same representational strategy for contradictory negation in both languages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qinghong Xu
- The Key Laboratory of Psychology, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot, China.,School of Psychology, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot, China.,School of Foreign Languages, Yulin University, Yulin, China
| | - Shujun Zhang
- School of Psychology, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot, China.,Baotou Municipal Party School, Baotou, China
| | - Jie Li
- The Key Laboratory of Psychology, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot, China.,School of Psychology, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot, China
| | - Baizhou Wu
- School of Psychology, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot, China.,Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China
| | - Helin Qiu
- School of Psychology, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot, China
| | - Qilimuge
- School of Psychology, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot, China
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29
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Greco A. Spatial and Motor Aspects in the "Action-Sentence Compatibility Effect". Front Psychol 2021; 12:647899. [PMID: 33897555 PMCID: PMC8062728 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.647899] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2020] [Accepted: 03/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The Action-sentence Compatibility Effect (ACE) is often taken as supporting the fundamental role of the motor system in understanding sentences that describe actions. This effect would be related to an internal "simulation," i.e., the reactivation of past perceptual and motor experiences. However, it is not easy to establish whether this simulation predominantly involves spatial imagery or motor anticipation. In the classical ACE experiments, where a real motor response is required, the direction and motor representations are mixed. In order to disentangle spatial and motor aspects involved in the ACE, we performed six experiments in different conditions, where the motor component was always reduced, asking participants to judge the sensibility of sentences by moving a mouse, thus requiring a purely spatial representation, compatible with nonmotor interpretations. In addition, our experiments had the purpose of taking into account the possible confusion of effects of practice and of compatibility (i.e., differences in reaction times simultaneously coming from block order and opposite motion conditions). Also, in contrast to the usual paradigm, we included no-transfer filler sentences in the analysis. The ACE was not found in any experiment, a result that failed to support the idea that the ACE could be related to a simulation where spatial aspects rather than motor ones prevail. Strong practice effects were always found and were carved out from results. A surprising effect was that no-transfer sentences were processed much slower than others, perhaps revealing a sort of participants' awareness of the structure of stimuli, i.e., their finding that some of them involved motion and others did not. The relevance of these outcomes for the embodiment theory is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alberto Greco
- Department of Educational Sciences, Cognilab, Laboratory of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
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30
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Knoeferle P. Grounding Language Processing: The Added Value of Specifying Linguistic/Compositional Representations and Processes. J Cogn 2021; 4:24. [PMID: 33829122 PMCID: PMC8015707 DOI: 10.5334/joc.155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2020] [Accepted: 02/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Abundant empirical evidence suggests that visual perception and motor responses are involved in language comprehension ('grounding'). However, when modeling the grounding of sentence comprehension on a word-by-word basis, linguistic representations and cognitive processes are rarely made fully explicit. This article reviews representational formalisms and associated (computational) models with a view to accommodating incremental and compositional grounding effects. Are different representation formats equally suitable and what mechanisms and representations do models assume to accommodate grounding effects? I argue that we must minimally specify compositional semantic representations, a set of incremental processes/mechanisms, and an explicit link from the assumed processes to measured behavior. Different representational formats can be contrasted in psycholinguistic modeling by holding the set of processes/mechanisms constant; contrasting different processes/mechanisms is possible by holding representations constant. Such psycholinguistic modeling could be applied across a wide range of experimental investigations and complement computational modeling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pia Knoeferle
- Institut für deutsche Sprache und Linguistik, Unter den Linden 6, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10099 Berlin
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31
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Garofalo G, Marino BFM, Bellelli S, Riggio L. Adjectives Modulate Sensorimotor Activation Driven by Nouns. Cogn Sci 2021; 45:e12953. [PMID: 33755244 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12953] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2019] [Revised: 01/27/2021] [Accepted: 02/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
We performed three experiments to investigate whether adjectives can modulate the sensorimotor activation elicited by nouns. In Experiment 1, nouns of graspable objects were used as stimuli. Participants had to decide if each noun referred to a natural or artifact, by performing either a precision or a power reach-to-grasp movement. Response grasp could be compatible or incompatible with the grasp typically used to manipulate the objects to which the nouns referred. The results revealed faster reaction times (RTs) in compatible than in incompatible trials. In Experiment 2, the nouns were combined with adjectives expressing either disadvantageous information about object graspability (e.g., sharp) or information about object color (e.g., reddish). No difference in RTs between compatible and incompatible conditions was found when disadvantageous adjectives were used. Conversely, a compatibility effect occurred when color adjectives were combined with nouns referring to natural objects. Finally, in Experiment 3 the nouns were combined with adjectives expressing tactile or shape proprieties of the objects (e.g., long or smooth). Results revealed faster RTs in compatible than in incompatible condition for both noun categories. Taken together, our findings suggest that adjectives can shape the sensorimotor activation elicited by nouns of graspable objects, highlighting that language simulation goes beyond the single-word level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gioacchino Garofalo
- Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Industries, University of Parma.,Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma
| | | | | | - Lucia Riggio
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma
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32
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The Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms: multidimensional measures of perceptual and action strength for 40,000 English words. Behav Res Methods 2020; 52:1271-1291. [PMID: 31832879 PMCID: PMC7280349 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-019-01316-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Sensorimotor information plays a fundamental role in cognition. However, the existing materials that measure the sensorimotor basis of word meanings and concepts have been restricted in terms of their sample size and breadth of sensorimotor experience. Here we present norms of sensorimotor strength for 39,707 concepts across six perceptual modalities (touch, hearing, smell, taste, vision, and interoception) and five action effectors (mouth/throat, hand/arm, foot/leg, head excluding mouth/throat, and torso), gathered from a total of 3,500 individual participants using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform. The Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms are unique and innovative in a number of respects: They represent the largest-ever set of semantic norms for English, at 40,000 words × 11 dimensions (plus several informative cross-dimensional variables), they extend perceptual strength norming to the new modality of interoception, and they include the first norming of action strength across separate bodily effectors. In the first study, we describe the data collection procedures, provide summary descriptives of the dataset, and interpret the relations observed between sensorimotor dimensions. We then report two further studies, in which we (1) extracted an optimal single-variable composite of the 11-dimension sensorimotor profile (Minkowski 3 strength) and (2) demonstrated the utility of both perceptual and action strength in facilitating lexical decision times and accuracy in two separate datasets. These norms provide a valuable resource to researchers in diverse areas, including psycholinguistics, grounded cognition, cognitive semantics, knowledge representation, machine learning, and big-data approaches to the analysis of language and conceptual representations. The data are accessible via the Open Science Framework (http://osf.io/7emr6/) and an interactive web application (https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/psychology/lsnorms/).
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33
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Vitale F, Padrón I, Avenanti A, de Vega M. Enhancing Motor Brain Activity Improves Memory for Action Language: A tDCS Study. Cereb Cortex 2020; 31:1569-1581. [PMID: 33136142 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2019] [Revised: 08/17/2020] [Accepted: 08/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The embodied cognition approach to linguistic meaning posits that action language understanding is grounded in sensory-motor systems. However, evidence that the human motor cortex is necessary for action language memory is meager. To address this issue, in two groups of healthy individuals, we perturbed the left primary motor cortex (M1) by means of either anodal or cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), before participants had to memorize lists of manual action and attentional sentences. In each group, participants received sham and active tDCS in two separate sessions. Following anodal tDCS (a-tDCS), participants improved the recall of action sentences compared with sham tDCS. No similar effects were detected following cathodal tDCS (c-tDCS). Both a-tDCS and c-tDCS induced variable changes in motor excitability, as measured by motor-evoked potentials induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation. Remarkably, across groups, action-specific memory improvements were positively predicted by changes in motor excitability. We provide evidence that excitatory modulation of the motor cortex selectively improves performance in a task requiring comprehension and memory of action sentences. These findings indicate that M1 is necessary for accurate processing of linguistic meanings and thus provide causal evidence that high-order cognitive functions are grounded in the human motor system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Vitale
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 38200, Spain
| | - Iván Padrón
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 38200, Spain
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, Cesena 47521, Italy
- Centro de Investigación en Neuropsicología y Neurociencias Cognitivas, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca 3460000, Chile
| | - Manuel de Vega
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 38200, Spain
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34
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Afonso O, Suárez-Coalla P, Cuetos F, Ibáñez A, Sedeño L, García AM. The Embodied Penman: Effector-Specific Motor-Language Integration During Handwriting. Cogn Sci 2020; 43:e12767. [PMID: 31310023 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2018] [Revised: 05/23/2019] [Accepted: 05/31/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Several studies have illuminated how processing manual action verbs (MaVs) affects the programming or execution of concurrent hand movements. Here, to circumvent key confounds in extant designs, we conducted the first assessment of motor-language integration during handwriting-a task in which linguistic and motoric processes are co-substantiated. Participants copied MaVs, non-manual action verbs, and non-action verbs as we collected measures of motor programming and motor execution. Programming latencies were similar across conditions, but execution was faster for MaVs than for the other categories, regardless of whether word meanings were accessed implicitly or explicitly. In line with the Hand-Action-Network Dynamic Language Embodiment (HANDLE) model, such findings suggest that effector-congruent verbs can prime manual movements even during highly automatized tasks in which motoric and verbal processes are naturally intertwined. Our paradigm opens new avenues for fine-grained explorations of embodied language processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olivia Afonso
- Department of Psychology, Health, & Professional Development, Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University
| | | | | | - Agustín Ibáñez
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN), Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience (INCYT), INECO Foundation, Favaloro University.,National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET).,Universidad Autónoma del Caribe.,Center for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience (CSCN), School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez.,Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australian Research Council (ARC)
| | - Lucas Sedeño
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN), Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience (INCYT), INECO Foundation, Favaloro University.,National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET)
| | - Adolfo M García
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN), Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience (INCYT), INECO Foundation, Favaloro University.,National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET).,Faculty of Education, National University of Cuyo (UNCuyo)
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35
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Cayol Z, Nazir TA. Why Language Processing Recruits Modality Specific Brain Regions: It Is Not About Understanding Words, but About Modelling Situations. J Cogn 2020; 3:35. [PMID: 33043245 PMCID: PMC7528693 DOI: 10.5334/joc.124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2020] [Accepted: 09/07/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Whether language comprehension requires the participation of brain structures that evolved for perception and action has been a subject of intense debate. While brain-imaging evidence for the involvement of such modality-specific regions has grown, the fact that lesions to these structures do not necessarily erase word knowledge has invited the conclusion that language-induced activity in these structures might not be essential for word recognition. Why language processing recruits these structures remains unanswered, however. Here, we examine the original findings from a slightly different perspective. We first consider the 'original' function of structures in modality-specific brain regions that are recruited by language activity. We propose that these structures help elaborate 'internal forward models' in motor control (c.f. emulators). Emulators are brain systems that capture the relationship between an action and its sensory consequences. During language processing emulators could thus allow accessing associative memories. We further postulate the existence of a linguistic system that exploits, in a rule-based manner, emulators and other nonlinguistic brain systems, to gain complementary (and redundant) information during language processing. Emulators are therefore just one of several sources of information. We emphasize that whether a given word-form triggers activity in modality-specific brain regions depends on the linguistic context and not on the word-form as such. The role of modality-specific systems in language processing is thus not to help understanding words but to model the verbally depicted situation by supplying memorized context information. We present a model derived from these assumptions and provide predictions and perspectives for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zoé Cayol
- Univ. Lyon, CNRS, UMR 5304 – Institut des Sciences Cognitives – Marc Jeannerod, Bron, FR
| | - Tatjana A. Nazir
- Univ. Lyon, CNRS, UMR 5304 – Institut des Sciences Cognitives – Marc Jeannerod, Bron, FR
- Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 9193 – SCALab – Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, Lille, FR
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36
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Language is the missing link in action-perception coupling: an EEG study. Sci Rep 2020; 10:14587. [PMID: 32884072 PMCID: PMC7471270 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-71575-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2020] [Accepted: 07/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The paper reports an electrophysiological (EEG) study investigating how language is involved in perception–action relations in musically trained and untrained participants. Using an original backward priming paradigm, participants were exposed to muted point-light videos of violinists performing piano or forte nuances followed by a congruent vs. incongruent word. After the video presentation, participants were asked to decide whether the musician was playing a piano or forte musical nuance. EEG results showed a greater P200 event-related potential for trained participants at the occipital site, and a greater N400 effect for untrained participants at the central site. Musically untrained participants were more accurate when the word was semantically congruent with the gesture than when it was incongruent. Overall, language seems to influence the performance of untrained participants, for which perception–action couplings are less automatized.
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37
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Bidet-Ildei C, Beauprez SA, Badets A. A review of literature on the link between action observation and action language: advancing a shared semantic theory. NEW IDEAS IN PSYCHOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.newideapsych.2019.100777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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38
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Liu B, Gu B, Beltrán D, Wang H, de Vega M. Presetting an inhibitory state modifies the neural processing of negated action sentences. An ERP study. Brain Cogn 2020; 143:105598. [PMID: 32645511 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2020.105598] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2020] [Revised: 06/13/2020] [Accepted: 06/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
It has been proposed that understanding negated action sentences (You don't cut the bread) uses the neural networks of action inhibition. The evidence comes from studies in which affirmative or negative action language immediately preceded a Go/NoGo task. It was found that negation selectively modulates inhibition-related signatures of NoGo trials, supporting the Reusing Inhibition for Negation (RIN) hypothesis. To further explore this hypothesis, this study tested the reverse effects; namely, how presetting an inhibitory state affects the processing of negated action sentences. To this end, Go/NoGo responses preceded sentence reading and EEG activities were recorded throughout the entire trials. ERP results indicate that the presetting of inhibition by the NoGo cue induced a sustained modulation of waveform for negated action sentences relative to affirmative ones, which began shortly after the negation operator onset and remained beyond the action verb onset. Crucially, the estimated sources of such effect were the right inferior frontal gyrus and the left middle frontal gyrus, both relevant regions in the action inhibition circuitry. These results, complemented by previous findings, support the idea that action inhibition and negated action language share neural mechanisms and influence each other, thus confirming and extending the RIN hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bo Liu
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - Beixian Gu
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - David Beltrán
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; Departamento de Psicología Cognitiva, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - Huili Wang
- Institute for Language and Cognition, School of Foreign Languages, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
| | - Manuel de Vega
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; Departamento de Psicología Cognitiva, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.
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39
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Macedonia M, Lehner AE, Repetto C. Positive effects of grasping virtual objects on memory for novel words in a second language. Sci Rep 2020; 10:10760. [PMID: 32612096 PMCID: PMC7329851 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-67539-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2019] [Accepted: 06/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Theories of embodied cognition describe language processing and representation as inherently connected to the sensorimotor experiences collected during acquisition. While children grasp their world, collect bodily experiences and name them, in second language (L2), students learn bilingual word lists. Experimental evidence shows that embodiment by mean of gestures enhances memory for words in L2. However, no study has been conducted on the effects of grasping in L2. In a virtual scenario, we trained 46 participants on 18 two- and three-syllabic words of Vimmi, an artificial corpus created for experimental purposes. The words were assigned concrete meanings of graspable objects. Six words were learned audio-visually, by reading the words projected on the wall and by hearing them. Another 6 words were trained by observation of virtual objects. Another 6 words were learned by observation and additional grasping the virtual objects. Thereafter participants were subministered free, cued recall, and reaction time tests in order to assess the word retention and the word recognition. After 30 days, the recall tests were repeated remotely to assess the memory in the long term. The results show that grasping of virtual objects can lead to superior memory performance and to lower reaction times during recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Macedonia
- Department of Information Engineering, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria.
- Linz Center of Mechatronics GmbH, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria.
- Lise Meitner Research Group "Cognition and Plasticity", Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - A E Lehner
- Department of Linguistics, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - C Repetto
- Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
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40
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Boulenger V, Martel M, Bouvet C, Finos L, Krzonowski J, Farnè A, Roy AC. Feeling better: Tactile verbs speed up tactile detection. Brain Cogn 2020; 142:105582. [PMID: 32422452 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2020.105582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2019] [Revised: 04/16/2020] [Accepted: 04/24/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Embodiment of action-related language into the motor system has been extensively documented. Yet the case of sensory words, especially referring to touch, remains overlooked. We investigated the influence of verbs denoting tactile sensations on tactile perception. In Experiment 1, participants detected tactile stimulations on their forearm, preceded by tactile or non-tactile verbs by one of three delays (170, 350, 500 ms) reflecting different word processing stages. Results revealed shorter reaction times to tactile stimulations following tactile than non-tactile verbs, irrespective of delay. To ensure that priming pertained to tactile, and not motor, verb properties, Experiment 2 compared the impact of tactile verbs to both action and non-tactile verbs, while stimulations were delivered on the index finger. No priming emerged following action verbs, therefore not supporting the motor-grounded interpretation. Facilitation by tactile verbs was however not observed, possibly owing to methodological changes. Experiment 3, identical to Experiment 2 except that stimulation was delivered to participants' forearm, replicated the priming effect. Importantly, tactile stimulations were detected faster after tactile than after both non-tactile and action verbs, indicating that verbs' tactile properties engaged resources shared with sensory perception. Our findings suggest that language conveying tactile information can activate somatosensory representations and subsequently promote tactile detection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Véronique Boulenger
- Laboratory Dynamique du Langage CNRS/Lyon 2 University UMR5596, Maisons des Sciences de l'Homme, 14 avenue Berthelot, 69007 Lyon, France.
| | - Marie Martel
- Laboratory Dynamique du Langage CNRS/Lyon 2 University UMR5596, Maisons des Sciences de l'Homme, 14 avenue Berthelot, 69007 Lyon, France; Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham TW20 0EY, London, England, United Kingdom
| | - Cécile Bouvet
- Laboratory Dynamique du Langage CNRS/Lyon 2 University UMR5596, Maisons des Sciences de l'Homme, 14 avenue Berthelot, 69007 Lyon, France
| | - Livio Finos
- Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Battisti, 241, 35121 Padova, Italy
| | - Jennifer Krzonowski
- Laboratory Dynamique du Langage CNRS/Lyon 2 University UMR5596, Maisons des Sciences de l'Homme, 14 avenue Berthelot, 69007 Lyon, France
| | - Alessandro Farnè
- Integrative Multisensory Perception Action & Cognition Team - ImpAct, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM U1028, CNRS U5292, Lyon 1 University, 16 avenue du Doyen Lépine, 69500 Bron, France; Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Palazzo Fedrigotti - corso Bettini, 31, 38068 -TN Rovereto, Italy
| | - Alice Catherine Roy
- Laboratory Dynamique du Langage CNRS/Lyon 2 University UMR5596, Maisons des Sciences de l'Homme, 14 avenue Berthelot, 69007 Lyon, France
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41
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An Interdisciplinary Approach to Understanding the Psychological Impact of Different Grammaticalizations of the Future. J Cogn 2020; 3:10. [PMID: 32405609 PMCID: PMC7207255 DOI: 10.5334/joc.100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Considering how fundamental and ubiquitous temporal information is in discourse (e.g., Zwaan & Radvansky, 1998), it seems rather surprising that the impact of the grammaticalization of the future on the way we perceive the future has only been scarcely studied. We argue that this may be due to its rather abstract nature and how it has been previously operationalized. In this review, we lay the foundation for studying the impact of the grammaticalization of the future on mental representations of the future by taking an interdisciplinary perspective, connecting cognitive sciences, linguistics, psycholinguistics, economics, and health psychology. More specifically, we argue that experimental psycholinguistics, combined with more applied domains, constitute a promising research avenue.
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Birba A, Beltrán D, Martorell Caro M, Trevisan P, Kogan B, Sedeño L, Ibáñez A, García AM. Motor-system dynamics during naturalistic reading of action narratives in first and second language. Neuroimage 2020; 216:116820. [PMID: 32278096 PMCID: PMC7412856 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116820] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2019] [Revised: 02/06/2020] [Accepted: 03/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Do embodied semantic systems play different roles depending on when and how well a given language was learned? Emergent evidence suggests that this is the case for isolated, decontextualized stimuli, but no study has addressed the issue considering naturalistic narratives. Seeking to bridge this gap, we assessed motor-system dynamics in 26 Spanish-English bilinguals as they engaged in free, unconstrained reading of naturalistic action texts (ATs, highlighting the characters’ movements) and neutral texts (NTs, featuring low motility) in their first and second language (L1, L2). To explore functional connectivity spread over each reading session, we recorded ongoing high-density electroencephalographic signals and subjected them to functional connectivity analysis via a spatial clustering approach. Results showed that, in L1, AT (relative to NT) reading involved increased connectivity between left and right central electrodes consistently implicated in action-related processes, as well as distinct source-level modulations in motor regions. In L2, despite null group-level effects, enhanced motor-related connectivity during AT reading correlated positively with L2 proficiency and negatively with age of L2 learning. Taken together, these findings suggest that action simulations during unconstrained narrative reading involve neural couplings between motor-sensitive mechanisms, in proportion to how consolidated a language is. More generally, such evidence addresses recent calls to test the ecological validity of motor-resonance effects while offering new insights on their relation with experiential variables.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agustina Birba
- Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, C1425FQB, Argentina
| | - David Beltrán
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia (IUNE), Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, 3820, Spain
| | - Miguel Martorell Caro
- Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, C1425FQB, Argentina
| | | | - Boris Kogan
- Institute of Basic and Applied Psychology and Technology (IPSIBAT), National University of Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Agency of Scientific and Technological Promotion (ANPCyT), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Lucas Sedeño
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, C1425FQB, Argentina
| | - Agustín Ibáñez
- Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, C1425FQB, Argentina; Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, Australian Research Council (ARC), Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia; Center for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience (CSCN), School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago de Chile, 7550344, Chile; Universidad Autónoma del Caribe, Barranquilla, 08002, Colombia
| | - Adolfo M García
- Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, C1425FQB, Argentina; Faculty of Education, National University of Cuyo, Mendoza, M5502JMA, Argentina; Departamento de Lingüística y Literatura, Facultad de Humanidades, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
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The development of dynamic perceptual simulations during sentence comprehension. Cogn Process 2020; 21:197-208. [PMID: 32086663 PMCID: PMC8354901 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-020-00959-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2019] [Accepted: 02/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Based on an embodied account of language comprehension, this study investigated the dynamic characteristics of children and adults’ perceptual simulations during sentence comprehension, using a novel paradigm to assess the perceptual simulation of objects moving up and down a vertical axis. The participants comprised adults (N = 40) and 6-, 8-, and 10-year-old children (N = 116). After listening in experimental trials to sentences implying that objects moved upward or downward, the participants were shown pictures and had to decide as quickly as possible whether the objects depicted had been mentioned in the sentences. The target pictures moved either up or down and then stopped in the middle of the screen. All age groups’ reaction times were found to be shorter when the objects moved in the directions that the sentences implied. Age exerted no developmental effect on reaction times. The findings suggest that dynamic perceptual simulations are fundamental to language comprehension in text recipients aged 6 and older.
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Sun D, Custers R, Marien H, Aarts H. Ideomotor Action: Evidence for Automaticity in Learning, but Not Execution. Front Psychol 2020; 11:185. [PMID: 32116968 PMCID: PMC7033682 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2019] [Accepted: 01/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Human habits are widely assumed to result from stimulus-response (S-R) associations that are formed if one frequently and consistently does the same thing in the same situation. According to Ideomotor Theory, a distinct but similar process could lead to response-outcome (R-O) associations if responses frequently and consistently produce the same outcomes. This process is assumed to occur spontaneously, and because these associations can operate in a bidirectional manner, merely perceiving or thinking of an outcome should automatically activate the associated action. In the current paper we test this automaticity feature of ideomotor learning. In four experiments, participants completed the same learning phase in which they could acquire associations, and were either explicitly informed about the contingency between actions and outcomes, or not. Automatic action selection and initiation were investigated using a free-choice task in Experiment 1 and forced-choice tasks in Experiment 2, 3a, and 3b. An ideomotor effect was only obtained in the free-choice, but not convincingly in the forced-choice tasks. Together, this suggests that action-outcome relations can be learned spontaneously, but that there may be limits to the automaticity of the ideomotor effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Sun
- Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Ruud Custers
- Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
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Moretti S, Greco A. Nodding and shaking of the head as simulated approach and avoidance responses. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2020; 203:102988. [PMID: 31935659 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2019] [Revised: 12/18/2019] [Accepted: 12/20/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Our recent study within the embodiment perspective showed that the evaluation of true and false information activates the simulation of vertical and horizontal head movements involved in nodding and shaking of the head (Moretti & Greco, 2018). This result was found in an explicit evaluation task where motion detection software was deployed to enable participants to assess a series of objectively true or false statements by moving them with the head vertically and horizontally on a computer screen, under conditions of compatibility and incompatibility between simulated and performed action. This study replicated that experiment, but with subjective statements about liked and disliked food, in both explicit and implicit evaluation tasks. Two experiments, plus one control experiment, were devised to test the presence of a motor-affective compatibility effect (vertical-liked; horizontal-disliked) and whether the motor-semantic compatibility found with objective statements (vertical-true; horizontal-false) could be a sub-effect of a more general and automatic association (vertical-accepted; horizontal-refused). As expected, response times were shorter when statements about liked foods and disliked foods were moved vertically and horizontally respectively by making head movements, even when participants were not explicitly required to evaluate them. In contrast, the truth compatibility effect only occurred in the explicit evaluation task. Overall results support the idea that head-nodding and shaking are simulated approach-avoidance responses. Different aspects of the meaning of these gestures and the practical implications of the study for cognitive and social research are discussed.
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Argiris G, Budai R, Maieron M, Ius T, Skrap M, Tomasino B. Neurosurgical lesions to sensorimotor cortex do not impair action verb processing. Sci Rep 2020; 10:523. [PMID: 31949237 PMCID: PMC6965077 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-57361-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2019] [Accepted: 12/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
There is ongoing debate regarding the role that sensorimotor regions play in conceptual processing, with embodied theories supporting their direct involvement in processing verbs describing body part movements. Patient lesion studies examining a causal role for sensorimotor activation in conceptual task performance have suffered the caveat of lesions being largely diffuse and extensive beyond sensorimotor cortices. The current study addresses this limitation in reporting on 20 pre-operative neurosurgical patients with focal lesion to the pre- and post-central area corresponding to somatotopic representations. Patients were presented with a battery of neuropsychological tests and experimental tasks tapping into motor imagery and verbal conceptual verb processing in addition to neurophysiological measures including DTI, fMRI, and MEP being measured. Results indicated that left tumor patients who presented with a lesion at or near somatotopic hand representations performed significantly worse on the mental rotation hand task and that performance correlated with MEP amplitudes in the upper limb motor region. Furthermore, performance on tasks of verbal processing was within the normal range. Taken together, while our results evidence the involvement of the motor system in motor imagery processes, they do not support the embodied view that sensorimotor regions are necessary to tasks of action verb processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgette Argiris
- Scientific Institute IRCCS "Eugenio Medea", Polo FVG, San Vito al Tagliamento, PN, Italy.
- Columbia University Medical Center, Neurological Institute, 710 West 168th Street, New York, NY, 10032, USA.
| | - Riccardo Budai
- Unità Operativa di Neurologia, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Integrata S. Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy
| | - Marta Maieron
- Fisica Medica, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Integrata S. Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy
| | - Tamara Ius
- Unità Operativa di Neurochirurgia, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Integrata S. Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy
| | - Miran Skrap
- Unità Operativa di Neurochirurgia, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Integrata S. Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy
| | - Barbara Tomasino
- Scientific Institute IRCCS "Eugenio Medea", Polo FVG, San Vito al Tagliamento, PN, Italy
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Gianelli C, Kühne K, Lo Presti S, Mencaraglia S, Dalla Volta R. Action processing in the motor system: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) evidence of shared mechanisms in the visual and linguistic modalities. Brain Cogn 2020; 139:105510. [PMID: 31923805 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2019.105510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2019] [Revised: 11/26/2019] [Accepted: 12/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
In two experiments, we compared the dynamics of corticospinal excitability when processing visually or linguistically presented tool-oriented hand actions in native speakers and sequential bilinguals. In a third experiment we used the same procedure to test non-motor, low-level stimuli, i.e. scrambled images and pseudo-words. Stimuli were presented in sequence: pictures (tool + tool-oriented hand action or their scrambled counterpart) and words (tool noun + tool-action verb or pseudo-words). Experiment 1 presented German linguistic stimuli to native speakers, while Experiment 2 presented English stimuli to non-natives. Experiment 3 tested Italian native speakers. Single-pulse trascranial magnetic stimulation (spTMS) was applied to the left motor cortex at five different timings: baseline, 200 ms after tool/noun onset, 150, 350 and 500 ms after hand/verb onset with motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) recorded from the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) and abductor digiti minimi (ADM) muscles. We report strong similarities in the dynamics of corticospinal excitability across the visual and linguistic modalities. MEPs' suppression started as early as 150 ms and lasted for the duration of stimulus presentation (500 ms). Moreover, we show that this modulation is absent for stimuli with no motor content. Overall, our study supports the notion of a core, overarching system of action semantics shared by different modalities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Gianelli
- Division of Cognitive Sciences, University of Potsdam, Germany; IUSS, University School of Advanced Studies, Pavia, Italy.
| | - Katharina Kühne
- Division of Cognitive Sciences, University of Potsdam, Germany
| | - Sara Lo Presti
- IUSS, University School of Advanced Studies, Pavia, Italy
| | | | - Riccardo Dalla Volta
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Università Magna Graecia, Catanzaro, Italy.
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Chen SC, de Koning BB, Zwaan RA. Does Object Size Matter With Regard to the Mental Simulation of Object Orientation? Exp Psychol 2020; 67:56-72. [DOI: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Abstract. Language comprehenders have been arguing to mentally represent the implied orientation of objects. However, compared to the effects of shape, size, and color, the effect of orientation is rather small. We examined a potential explanation for the relatively low magnitude of the orientation effect: Object size moderates the orientation effect. Theoretical considerations led us to predict a smaller orientation effect for small objects than for large objects in a sentence–picture verification task. We furthermore investigated whether this pattern generalizes across languages (Chinese, Dutch, and English) and tasks (picture-naming task). The results of the verification task show an orientation effect overall, which is not moderated by object size (contrary to our hypothesis) and language (consistent with our hypothesis). Meanwhile, the preregistered picture–picture verification task showed the predicted interaction between object size and orientation effect. We conducted exploratory analyses to address additional questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sau-Chin Chen
- Department of Human Development and Psychology, Tzu-Chi University, Taiwan
| | - Bjorn B. de Koning
- Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Rolf A. Zwaan
- Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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Stairways to the brain: Transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS) modulates a cerebellar-cortical network enhancing verb recovery. Brain Res 2020; 1727:146564. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2019.146564] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2019] [Revised: 11/01/2019] [Accepted: 11/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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50
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Suggate S, Lehmann J, Stoeger H, Jansen P. Cognition embodied: mental rotation is faster for objects that imply a greater body–object interaction. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2019.1678627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Suggate
- Department of Psychology, Education, and Sports Science, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Jennifer Lehmann
- Department of Psychology, Education, and Sports Science, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Heidrun Stoeger
- Department of Psychology, Education, and Sports Science, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Petra Jansen
- Department of Psychology, Education, and Sports Science, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
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