1
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Sai X, Wu X, Li X, Zhu L. Visuospatial or verbal-spatial codes? The different effect of two secondary tasks on the power-space associations during a semantic categorizing task. Cogn Process 2023; 24:481-493. [PMID: 37368058 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-023-01149-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
The power-space associations have been extensively studied as a possible way to reveal the nature of concept representations, while the visuospatial and verbal-spatial codes are two primary explanations for the phenomenon. In two experiments, we imposed either a visuospatial or a verbal secondary task during the semantic categorizing of power words to examine their respective roles. The results showed that retaining a letter but not a location concurrently interfered with the power-space association. The results suggested that the verbal-spatial codes might play a more fundamental role than the visuospatial codes in the power-space associations during the semantic categorizing of power words.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xueying Sai
- Department of Psychology, Fudan University, Handan Road 220, Shanghai, 200433, People's Republic of China
| | - Xi Wu
- Department of Psychology, Fudan University, Handan Road 220, Shanghai, 200433, People's Republic of China
| | - Xingjia Li
- Department of Psychology, Fudan University, Handan Road 220, Shanghai, 200433, People's Republic of China
| | - Lei Zhu
- Department of Psychology, Fudan University, Handan Road 220, Shanghai, 200433, People's Republic of China.
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2
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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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3
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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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4
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Modelling response time in a mental rotation task by gender, physical activity, and task features. Sci Rep 2022; 12:15559. [PMID: 36114235 PMCID: PMC9481519 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-19054-2] [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: 12/16/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Mental rotation (MR) is a spatial skill considered to be a key-component of intellectual ability. Studies have suggested that the response time (RT) in a MR task (MRt) might be influenced, with possible gender differences, by the practice of a physical activity (PA) and depending on the plane, direction, degrees of the MR and the frame of reference to perform it. The present study aimed at examining the respective influences of all these variables on the RT by developing a linear mixed-effect model from the RTs varying according to the MR plane, direction, degrees and frame of reference. The MRt was performed by 96 males and females, all undergraduate students, distributed in three groups (sedentary subjects, artistic gymnasts, and futsal players). The results showed that only gender had a main effect (faster log RT in males), probably task-dependent. The other variables interacted among them showing that: (a) the log RT may be influenced by rotations experienced during PA, in particular during the locomotion on a horizontal ground and (b) such influence mainly depends on the compatibility of the physical rotations experienced with the plane and the degrees of the MRt.
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5
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Coburn KL, Kurtz MR, Rivera D, Kana RK. Behavioral and neurobiological evidence for the effects of reading interventions on autistic children: A systematic review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 139:104748. [PMID: 35728668 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104748] [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: 03/10/2022] [Revised: 05/11/2022] [Accepted: 06/15/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
This study systematically reviewed the literature on reading interventions for autistic children. Peer-reviewed articles that reported behavioral and/or neurobiological effects of reading intervention were identified in five online databases. After screening, 15 studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. These studies focus on interventions targeted towards improving specific reading skills: comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, and phonological awareness. Studied interventions included interactive and shared reading, visualization strategies, vocabulary and main idea instruction, video modeling, and interventions supported by tablet-based technology. Overall, the studies identified in this review reported improvements to each of the targeted reading skills and changes to neural activation and connectivity. In addition, changes at the brain level were associated with improvements in reading. Specifically, frontal, temporal, and occipital regions associated with visual and language processing showed increased activation and functional connectivity following intervention. This review provides important insights into the landscape of reading intervention studies in autism and into the neurobiological underpinnings of reading skills and how interventions affect those processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly L Coburn
- Department of Psychology, Center for Innovative Research in Autism, The University of Alabama, 348 Gordon Palmer Hall, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
| | - McKayla R Kurtz
- Department of Psychology, Center for Innovative Research in Autism, The University of Alabama, 348 Gordon Palmer Hall, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
| | - Daphne Rivera
- Department of Psychology, Center for Innovative Research in Autism, The University of Alabama, 348 Gordon Palmer Hall, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
| | - Rajesh K Kana
- Department of Psychology, Center for Innovative Research in Autism, The University of Alabama, 348 Gordon Palmer Hall, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA.
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6
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Papitto G, Lugli L, Borghi AM, Pellicano A, Binkofski F. Embodied negation and levels of concreteness: A TMS study on German and Italian language processing. Brain Res 2021; 1767:147523. [PMID: 34010607 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2021.147523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2021] [Revised: 04/23/2021] [Accepted: 05/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
According to the embodied cognition perspective, linguistic negation may block the motor simulations induced by language processing. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied to the left primary motor cortex (hand area) of monolingual Italian and German healthy participants during a rapid serial visual presentation of sentences from their own language. In these languages, the negative particle is located at the beginning and at the end of the sentence, respectively. The study investigated whether the interruption of the motor simulation processes, accounted for by reduced motor evoked potentials (MEPs), takes place similarly in two languages differing on the position of the negative marker. Different levels of sentence concreteness were also manipulated to investigate if negation exerts generalized effects or if it is affected by the semantic features of the sentence. Our findings indicate that negation acts as a block on motor representations, but independently from the language and words concreteness level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giorgio Papitto
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology, Leipzig, Germany; International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication: Function, Structure, and Plasticity, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Luisa Lugli
- Department of Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Anna M Borghi
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy
| | - Antonello Pellicano
- Division of Clinical Cognitive Sciences, Department of Neurology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Ferdinand Binkofski
- Division of Clinical Cognitive Sciences, Department of Neurology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-4), Research Center Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany
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7
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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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8
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Abstract
The commentaries address our view of abstraction, our ontology of abstract entities, and our account of predictive cognition as relying on relatively concrete simulation or relatively abstract theory-based inference. These responses revisit classic questions concerning mental representation and abstraction in the context of current models of predictive cognition. The counter arguments to our article echo: constructivist theories of knowledge, "neat" approaches in artificial intelligence and decision theory, neo-empiricist models of concepts, and externalist views of cognition. We offer several empirical predictions that address points of contention and that highlight the generative potential of our model.
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9
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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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10
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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: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [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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11
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Zhang P, Schubert TW, Zhu L. The Effect of Secondary Task on the Association Between Power and Space. SOCIAL COGNITION 2019. [DOI: 10.1521/soco.2019.37.1.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
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12
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Zhang Z, Sun Y, Wang Z. Representation of action semantics in the motor cortex and Broca's area. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2018; 179:33-41. [PMID: 29501857 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2018.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2016] [Revised: 11/07/2016] [Accepted: 02/19/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that both reading action words and observing actions engage the motor cortex and Broca's area, but it is still controversial whether a somatotopic representation exists for action verbs within the motor cortex and whether Broca's area encodes action-specific semantics for verbs. Here we examined these two issues using a set of functional MRI experiments, including word reading, action observation and a movement localiser task. Results from multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) showed a somatotopic organisation within the motor areas and action-specific activation in Broca's area for observed actions, suggesting the representation of action semantics for observed actions in these neural regions. For action verbs, however, a lack of finding for the somatotopic activation argues against semantic somatotopy within the motor cortex. Furthermore, activation patterns in Broca's area were not separable between action verbs and unrelated verbs, suggesting that Broca's area does not encode action-specific semantics for verbs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zuo Zhang
- Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai, PR China
| | - Yaoru Sun
- Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai, PR China.
| | - Zijian Wang
- Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai, PR China
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13
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Tomasino B, Nobile M, Re M, Bellina M, Garzitto M, Arrigoni F, Molteni M, Fabbro F, Brambilla P. The mental simulation of state/psychological verbs in the adolescent brain: An fMRI study. Brain Cogn 2018; 123:34-46. [PMID: 29505944 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2018.02.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2017] [Revised: 02/23/2018] [Accepted: 02/25/2018] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
This fMRI study investigated mental simulation of state/psychological and action verbs during adolescence. Sixteen healthy subjects silently read verbs describing a motor scene or not (STIMULUS: motor, state/psychological verbs) and they were explicitly asked to imagine the situation or they performed letter detection preventing them from using simulation (TASK: imagery vs. letter detection). A significant task by stimuli interaction showed that imagery of state/psychological verbs, as compared to action stimuli (controlled by the letter detection) selectively increased activation in the right supramarginal gyrus/rolandic operculum and in the right insula, and decreased activation in the right intraparietal sulcus. We compared these data to those from a group of older participants (Tomasino et al. 2014a). Activation in the left supramarginal gyrus decreased for the latter group (as compared to the present group) for imagery of state/psychological verbs. By contrast, activation in the right superior frontal gyrus decreased for the former group (as compared to the older group) for imagery of state/psychological verbs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Tomasino
- Scientific Institute IRCCS "E. Medea", Italy; Polo FVG, San Vito al Tagliamento, PN, Italy.
| | - Maria Nobile
- Scientific Institute IRCCS "E. Medea", Italy; Polo Bosisio Parini (Lc), Italy
| | - Marta Re
- Scientific Institute IRCCS "E. Medea", Italy; Polo Bosisio Parini (Lc), Italy
| | - Monica Bellina
- Scientific Institute IRCCS "E. Medea", Italy; Polo Bosisio Parini (Lc), Italy
| | | | - Filippo Arrigoni
- Scientific Institute IRCCS "E. Medea", Italy; Polo Bosisio Parini (Lc), Italy
| | - Massimo Molteni
- Scientific Institute IRCCS "E. Medea", Italy; Polo Bosisio Parini (Lc), Italy
| | | | - Paolo Brambilla
- Department of Neurosciences and Mental health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, University of Milan, Italy; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX, USA.
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14
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El Haj M, Coello Y, Kapogiannis D, Gallouj K, Antoine P. Negative Prospective Memory in Alzheimer's Disease: "Do Not Perform That Action". J Alzheimers Dis 2018; 61:663-672. [PMID: 29226877 PMCID: PMC5925753 DOI: 10.3233/jad-170807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Relatively to "standard" prospective memory, i.e., remembering to perform a future action, little is known about negative prospective memory, i.e., remembering not to perform a future action. This study investigated the latter ability in Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD participants and healthy older adults were asked to click on the keyboard or not to click on it when a cue word was encountered. Results showed more omissions (i.e., forgetting to click the keyboard when the instruction was to do so) in AD participants than in healthy older adults, suggesting a prospective memory deficit. Interestingly, more commissions (i.e., clicking the keyboard when the instruction was not to do so) were also observed in AD participants than in healthy older adults. Similar levels of commissions and omissions were observed in AD participants and in healthy older adults. Also, commissions and omissions were correlated with performance on an inhibition assessment task. Our findings reveal that AD is characterized by not only difficulty in the retrieval of recent information, but also difficulty to inhibit no-longer appropriate stimulus-response associations previously learned, suggesting a specific deficit of negative prospective memory in AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamad El Haj
- University of Lille, CNRS, CHU Lille, UMR 9193 - SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, Lille, France
- Unité de Gériatrie, Centre Hospitalier de Tourcoing, Tourcoing, France
| | - Yann Coello
- University of Lille, CNRS, CHU Lille, UMR 9193 - SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, Lille, France
| | | | - Karim Gallouj
- Unité de Gériatrie, Centre Hospitalier de Tourcoing, Tourcoing, France
| | - Pascal Antoine
- University of Lille, CNRS, CHU Lille, UMR 9193 - SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, Lille, France
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15
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Maximo JO, Murdaugh DL, O'Kelley S, Kana RK. Changes in intrinsic local connectivity after reading intervention in children with autism. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2017; 175:11-17. [PMID: 28869842 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2017.08.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2017] [Revised: 07/30/2017] [Accepted: 08/27/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Most of the existing behavioral and cognitive intervention programs in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have not been tested at the neurobiological level, thus falling short of finding quantifiable neurobiological changes underlying behavioral improvement. The current study takes a translational neuroimaging approach to test the impact of a structured visual imagery-based reading intervention on improving reading comprehension and assessing its underlying local neural circuitry. Behavioral and resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) data were collected from children with ASD who were randomly assigned to an Experimental group (ASD-EXP; n=14) and a Wait-list control group (ASD-WLC; n=14). Participants went through an established reading intervention training program (Visualizing and Verbalizing for language comprehension and thinking or V/V; 4-h per day, 10-weeks, 200h of face-to-face instruction). Local functional connectivity was examined using a connection density approach from graph theory focusing on brain areas considered part of the Reading Network. The main results are as follows: (I) the ASD-EXP group showed significant improvement, compared to the ASD-WLC group, in their reading comprehension ability evidenced from change in comprehension scores; (II) the ASD-EXP group showed increased local brain connectivity in Reading Network regions compared to the ASD-WLC group post-intervention; (III) intervention-related changes in local brain connectivity were observed in the ASD-EXP from pre to post-intervention; and (IV) improvement in language comprehension significantly predicted changes in local connectivity. The findings of this study provide novel insights into brain plasticity in children with developmental disorders using targeted intervention programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jose O Maximo
- University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
| | - Donna L Murdaugh
- University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA; Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Sarah O'Kelley
- University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
| | - Rajesh K Kana
- University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
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16
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Dalla Volta R, Avanzini P, De Marco D, Gentilucci M, Fabbri-Destro M. From meaning to categorization: The hierarchical recruitment of brain circuits selective for action verbs. Cortex 2017; 100:95-110. [PMID: 29079343 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.09.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2017] [Revised: 05/20/2017] [Accepted: 09/20/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Sensorimotor and affective brain systems are known to be involved in language processing. However, to date it is still debated whether this involvement is a crucial step of semantic processing or, on the contrary, it is dependent on the specific context or strategy adopted to solve a task at hand. The present electroencephalographic (EEG) study is aimed at investigating which brain circuits are engaged when processing written verbs. By aligning event-related potentials (ERPs) both to the verb onset and to the motor response indexing the accomplishment of a semantic task of categorization, we were able to dissociate the relative stimulus-related and response-related cognitive components at play, respectively. EEG signal source reconstruction showed that while the recruitment of sensorimotor fronto-parietal circuits was time-locked with action verb onset, a left temporal-parietal circuit was time-locked to the task accomplishment. Crucially, by comparing the time course of both these bottom-up and top-down cognitive components, it appears that the frontal motor involvement precedes the task-related temporal-parietal activity. The present findings suggest that the recruitment of fronto-parietal sensorimotor circuits is independent of the specific strategy adopted to solve a semantic task and, given its temporal hierarchy, it may provide crucial information to brain circuits involved in the categorization task. Eventually, a discussion on how the present results may contribute to the clinical literature on patients affected by disorders specifically impairing the motor system is provided.
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Affiliation(s)
- Riccardo Dalla Volta
- Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Università Magna Graecia, Catanzaro, Italy.
| | - Pietro Avanzini
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto di Neuroscienze, Parma, Italy
| | - Doriana De Marco
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto di Neuroscienze, Parma, Italy
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Murdaugh DL, Maximo JO, Cordes CE, O'Kelley SE, Kana RK. From word reading to multisentence comprehension: Improvements in brain activity in children with autism after reading intervention. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2017; 16:303-312. [PMID: 28856093 PMCID: PMC5565787 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2017.08.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2016] [Revised: 06/13/2017] [Accepted: 08/12/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Background Children with ASD show a unique reading profile characterized by decoding abilities equivalent to verbal abilities, but with lower comprehension skills. Neuroimaging studies have found recruitment of regions primarily associated with visual processing (e.g., fusiform gyrus and medial parietal cortex), but reduced activation in frontal and temporal regions, when reading in adults with ASD. The purpose of this study was to assess neural changes associated with an intense reading intervention program in children with ASD using three fMRI tasks of reading. Methods 25 children with ASD were randomly assigned to a treatment (ASD-EXP) or waitlist group (ASD-WLC). Children participated in a reading intervention program (4-hour sessions per day, 5 days a week for 10 weeks). We utilized three tasks: word, sentence, and multisentence processing, each with differential demands of reading comprehension. fMRI data were acquired at each of two scanning sessions 10-weeks apart. Results Across tasks, post-intervention results revealed that the ASD-EXP group showed greater activation in bilateral precentral gyrus and the postcentral gyrus, visual processing regions (e.g., occipital cortex, fusiform gyrus), and frontal regions. In the word task, left thalamus and the right angular gyrus (AG) activation was unique to the ASD-EXP group post-intervention. Sentence tasks showed differential activation of core language areas (e.g., IFG, IPL) post-intervention. Conclusions Our results provide evidence for differential recruitment of brain regions based on task demands in children with ASD, and support the potential of targeted interventions to alter brain activation in response to positive gains in treatment. Children with ASD have a different reading profile from other reading disorders that needs to be specifically targeted in interventions.
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Key Words
- ADI, Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised
- ADOS, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule
- ASD, autism spectrum disorder
- ASD-EXP, children with ASD in the treatment group
- ASD-WLC, children with ASD in the waitlist control group
- Children with ASD
- GORT-4, Gray Oral Reading Test – Fourth Edition
- Intervention
- LFFG, left fusiform gyrus
- LIFG, left inferior frontal gyrus
- LIOG, left inferior occipital gyrus
- LMFG, left middle frontal gyrus
- LPCG, left precentral gyrus
- LSMA, left supplementary motor area
- LSPL, left superior parietal lobule
- LSTG, left superior temporal gyrus
- LTHAL, left thalamus
- Reading comprehension
- SORT-R, Slosson Oral Reading Test - Revised
- V/V, Visualizing and Verbalizing
- WASI, Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence
- fMRI
- fMRI, functional magnetic resonance imaging
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Affiliation(s)
- Donna L. Murdaugh
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
- Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Jose O. Maximo
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
| | - Claire E. Cordes
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
| | - Sarah E. O'Kelley
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
| | - Rajesh K. Kana
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
- Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, CIRC 235G, 1719 6th Ave South, Birmingham, AL 35294-0021, USA.
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Klepp A, Niccolai V, Sieksmeyer J, Arnzen S, Indefrey P, Schnitzler A, Biermann-Ruben K. Body-part specific interactions of action verb processing with motor behaviour. Behav Brain Res 2017; 328:149-158. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2017.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2016] [Revised: 03/27/2017] [Accepted: 04/01/2017] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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Taylor LJ, Evans C, Greer J, Senior C, Coventry KR, Ietswaart M. Dissociation between Semantic Representations for Motion and Action Verbs: Evidence from Patients with Left Hemisphere Lesions. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:35. [PMID: 28261070 PMCID: PMC5306207 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2015] [Accepted: 01/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
This multiple single case study contrasted left hemisphere stroke patients (N = 6) to healthy age-matched control participants (N = 15) on their understanding of action (e.g., holding, clenching) and motion verbs (e.g., crumbling, flowing). The tasks required participants to correctly identify the matching verb or associated picture. Dissociations on action and motion verb content depending on lesion site were expected. As predicted for verbs containing an action and/or motion content, modified t-tests confirmed selective deficits in processing motion verbs in patients with lesions involving posterior parietal and lateral occipitotemporal cortex. In contrast, deficits in verbs describing motionless actions were found in patients with more anterior lesions sparing posterior parietal and lateral occipitotemporal cortex. These findings support the hypotheses that semantic representations for action and motion are behaviorally and neuro-anatomically dissociable. The findings clarify the differential and critical role of perceptual and motor regions in processing modality-specific semantic knowledge as opposed to a supportive but not necessary role. We contextualize these results within theories from both cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience that make claims over the role of sensory and motor information in semantic representation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lawrence J Taylor
- Department of Psychology, Northumbria University Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
| | - Carys Evans
- Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths University of London London, UK
| | - Joanna Greer
- Department of Psychology, Northumbria University Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
| | - Carl Senior
- Department of Psychology, School of Life and Health Sciences, Aston University Birmingham, UK
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Abstract
The 15 articles in this special issue on The Representation of Concepts illustrate the rich variety of theoretical positions and supporting research that characterize the area. Although much agreement exists among contributors, much disagreement exists as well, especially about the roles of grounding and abstraction in conceptual processing. I first review theoretical approaches raised in these articles that I believe are Quixotic dead ends, namely, approaches that are principled and inspired but likely to fail. In the process, I review various theories of amodal symbols, their distortions of grounded theories, and fallacies in the evidence used to support them. Incorporating further contributions across articles, I then sketch a theoretical approach that I believe is likely to be successful, which includes grounding, abstraction, flexibility, explaining classic conceptual phenomena, and making contact with real-world situations. This account further proposes that (1) a key element of grounding is neural reuse, (2) abstraction takes the forms of multimodal compression, distilled abstraction, and distributed linguistic representation (but not amodal symbols), and (3) flexible context-dependent representations are a hallmark of conceptual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lawrence W Barsalou
- Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, 58 Hillhead Street, Glasgow, G12 8QB, UK.
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21
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Abstract
The primary motor cortex (M1) is traditionally implicated in voluntary movement control. In order to test the hypothesis that there is a functional topography of M1 activation in studies where it has been implicated in higher cognitive tasks we performed activation-likelihood-estimation (ALE) meta-analyses of functional neuroimaging experiments reporting M1 activation in relation to six cognitive functional categories for which there was a sufficient number of studies to include, namely motor imagery, working memory, mental rotation, social/emotion/empathy, language, and auditory processing. The six categories activated different sub-sectors of M1, either bilaterally or lateralized to one hemisphere. Notably, the activations found in the M1 of the left or right hemisphere detected in our study were unlikely due to button presses. In fact, all contrasts were selected in order to eliminate M1 activation due to activity related to the finger button press. In addition, we identified the M1 sub-region of Area 4a commonly activated by 4/6 categories, namely motor imagery and working memory, emotion/empathy, and language. Overall, our findings lend support to the idea that there is a functional topography of M1 activation in studies where it has been found activated in higher cognitive tasks and that the left Area 4a can be involved in a number of cognitive processes, likely as a product of implicit mental simulation processing.
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Tomasino B, Gremese M. Effects of Stimulus Type and Strategy on Mental Rotation Network: An Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis. Front Hum Neurosci 2016; 9:693. [PMID: 26779003 PMCID: PMC4704562 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2015] [Accepted: 12/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
We can predict how an object would look like if we were to see it from different viewpoints. The brain network governing mental rotation (MR) has been studied using a variety of stimuli and tasks instructions. By using activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis we tested whether different MR networks can be modulated by the type of stimulus (body vs. non-body parts) or by the type of tasks instructions (motor imagery-based vs. non-motor imagery-based MR instructions). Testing for the bodily and non-bodily stimulus axis revealed a bilateral sensorimotor activation for bodily-related as compared to non-bodily-related stimuli and a posterior right lateralized activation for non-bodily-related as compared to bodily-related stimuli. A top-down modulation of the network was exerted by the MR tasks instructions with a bilateral (preferentially sensorimotor left) network for motor imagery- vs. non-motor imagery-based MR instructions and the latter activating a preferentially posterior right occipito-temporal-parietal network. The present quantitative meta-analysis summarizes and amends previous descriptions of the brain network related to MR and shows how it is modulated by top-down and bottom-up experimental factors.
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Osiurak F, Bergot M, Chainay H. Visual objects speak louder than words: motor planning and weight in tool use and object transport. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2015; 162:76-80. [PMID: 26545139 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2015.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2014] [Revised: 06/03/2015] [Accepted: 10/26/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
For theories of embodied cognition, reading a word activates sensorimotor representations in a similar manner to seeing the physical object the word represents. Thus, reading words representing objects of different sizes interfere with motor planning, inducing changes in grip aperture. An outstanding issue is whether word reading can also evoke sensorimotor information about the weight of objects. This issue was addressed in two experiments wherein participants have first to read the name of an object (Experiment 1)/observe the object (Experiment 2) and then to transport versus use bottles of water. The objects presented as primes were either lighter or heavier than the bottles to be grasped. Results indicated that the main parameters of motor planning recorded (initiation times and finger contact points) were not affected by the presentation of words as primes (Experiment 1). By contrast, the presentation of visual objects as primes induced significant changes in these parameters (Experiment 2). Participants changed their way of grasping the bottles, particularly in the use condition. Taken together, these results suggest that the activation of concepts does not automatically evoke sensorimotor representations about the weight of objects, but visual objects do.
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Affiliation(s)
- François Osiurak
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs (EA 3082), Université de Lyon, France; Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France.
| | - Morgane Bergot
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs (EA 3082), Université de Lyon, France
| | - Hanna Chainay
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs (EA 3082), Université de Lyon, France
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24
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Tomasino B, Canderan C, Marin D, Maieron M, Gremese M, D'Agostini S, Fabbro F, Skrap M. Identifying environmental sounds: a multimodal mapping study. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:567. [PMID: 26539096 PMCID: PMC4612670 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2015] [Accepted: 09/28/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Our environment is full of auditory events such as warnings or hazards, and their correct recognition is essential. We explored environmental sounds (ES) recognition in a series of studies. In study 1 we performed an Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis of neuroimaging experiments addressing ES processing to delineate the network of areas consistently involved in ES processing. Areas consistently activated in the ALE meta-analysis were the STG/MTG, insula/rolandic operculum, parahippocampal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus bilaterally. Some of these areas truly reflect ES processing, whereas others are related to design choices, e.g., type of task, type of control condition, type of stimulus. In study 2 we report on 7 neurosurgical patients with lesions involving the areas which were found to be activated by the ALE meta-analysis. We tested their ES recognition abilities and found an impairment of ES recognition. These results indicate that deficits of ES recognition do not exclusively reflect lesions to the right or to the left hemisphere but both hemispheres are involved. The most frequently lesioned area is the hippocampus/insula/STG. We made sure that any impairment in ES recognition would not be related to language problems, but reflect impaired ES processing. In study 3 we carried out an fMRI study on patients (vs. healthy controls) to investigate how the areas involved in ES might be functionally deregulated because of a lesion. The fMRI evidenced that controls activated the right IFG, the STG bilaterally and the left insula. We applied a multimodal mapping approach and found that, although the meta-analysis showed that part of the left and right STG/MTG activation during ES processing might in part be related to design choices, this area was one of the most frequently lesioned areas in our patients, thus highlighting its causal role in ES processing. We found that the ROIs we drew on the two clusters of activation found in the left and in the right STG overlapped with the lesions of at least 4 out of the 7 patients' lesions, indicating that the lack of STG activation found for patients is related to brain damage and is crucial for explaining the ES deficit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Tomasino
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico “E. Medea”, Polo Regionale del Friuli Venezia GiuliaUdine, Italy
| | - Cinzia Canderan
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico “E. Medea”, Polo Regionale del Friuli Venezia GiuliaUdine, Italy
| | - Dario Marin
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico “E. Medea”, Polo Regionale del Friuli Venezia GiuliaUdine, Italy
| | - Marta Maieron
- Fisica Medica A.O.S. Maria della MisericordiaUdine, Italy
| | - Michele Gremese
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico “E. Medea”, Polo Regionale del Friuli Venezia GiuliaUdine, Italy
| | - Serena D'Agostini
- Unità Operativa di Neuroradiologia, A.O.S. Maria della MisericordiaUdine, Italy
| | - Franco Fabbro
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico “E. Medea”, Polo Regionale del Friuli Venezia GiuliaUdine, Italy
| | - Miran Skrap
- Unità Operativa di Neurochirurgia, A.O.S. Maria della MisericordiaUdine, Italy
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Murdaugh DL, Maximo JO, Kana RK. Changes in intrinsic connectivity of the brain's reading network following intervention in children with autism. Hum Brain Mapp 2015; 36:2965-79. [PMID: 26058572 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22821] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2014] [Revised: 03/30/2015] [Accepted: 04/06/2015] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
While task-based neuroimaging studies have identified alterations in neural circuitry underlying language processing in children with autism spectrum disorders [ASD], resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging [rsfMRI] is a promising alternative to the constraints posed by task-based fMRI. This study used rsfMRI, in a longitudinal design, to study the impact of a reading intervention on connectivity of the brain regions involved in reading comprehension in children with ASD. Functional connectivity was examined using group independent component analysis (GICA) and seed-based correlation analysis of Broca's and Wernicke's areas, in three groups of participants: an experimental group of ASD children (ASD-EXP), a wait list control group of ASD children (ASD-WLC), and a group of typically developing (TD) control children. Both GICA and seed-based analyses revealed stronger functional connectivity of Broca's and Wernicke's areas in the ASD-EXP group postintervention. Additionally, improvement in reading comprehension in the ASD-EXP group was correlated with greater connectivity in both Broca's and Wernicke's area in the GICA identified reading network component. In addition, increased connectivity between the Broca's area and right postcentral and right STG, and the Wernicke's area and LIFG, were also correlated with greater improvement in reading comprehension. Overall, this study revealed widespread changes in functional connectivity of the brain's reading network as a result of intervention in children with ASD. These novel findings provide valuable insights into the neuroplasticity of brain areas underlying reading and the impact of intensive intervention in modifying them in children with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donna L Murdaugh
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
| | - Jose O Maximo
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
| | - Rajesh K Kana
- Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
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26
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Murdaugh DL, Deshpande HD, Kana RK. The Impact of Reading Intervention on Brain Responses Underlying Language in Children With Autism. Autism Res 2015; 9:141-54. [DOI: 10.1002/aur.1503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2015] [Accepted: 05/02/2015] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Donna L. Murdaugh
- Department of Psychology; University of Alabama at Birmingham; Birmingham Alabama
| | | | - Rajesh K. Kana
- Department of Psychology; University of Alabama at Birmingham; Birmingham Alabama
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27
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Desai RH, Herter T, Riccardi N, Rorden C, Fridriksson J. Concepts within reach: Action performance predicts action language processing in stroke. Neuropsychologia 2015; 71:217-24. [PMID: 25858602 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.04.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2015] [Revised: 04/02/2015] [Accepted: 04/04/2015] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The relationship between the brain's conceptual or semantic and sensory-motor systems remains controversial. Here, we tested manual and conceptual abilities of 41 chronic stroke patients in order to examine their relationship. Manual abilities were assed through a reaching task using an exoskeleton robot. Semantic abilities were assessed with implicit as well as explicit semantic tasks, for both verbs and nouns. The results show that that the degree of selective impairment for action word processing was predicted by the degree of impairment in reaching performance. Moreover, the implicit semantic measures showed a correlation with a global reaching parameter, while the explicit semantic similarity judgment task predicted performance in action initiation. These results suggest that action concepts are dynamically grounded through motoric simulations, and that more details are simulated for more explicit semantic tasks. This is evidence for a close and causal relationship between sensory-motor and conceptual systems of the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rutvik H Desai
- University of South Carolina, United States; Institute for Mind and Brain, United States.
| | - Troy Herter
- University of South Carolina, United States; Institute for Mind and Brain, United States
| | | | - Chris Rorden
- University of South Carolina, United States; Institute for Mind and Brain, United States
| | - Julius Fridriksson
- University of South Carolina, United States; Institute for Mind and Brain, United States
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28
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Influences of motor contexts on the semantic processing of action-related language. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2015; 14:912-22. [PMID: 24492995 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-014-0258-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The contribution of the sensory-motor system to the semantic processing of language stimuli is still controversial. To address the issue, the present article focuses on the impact of motor contexts (i.e., comprehenders' motor behaviors, motor-training experiences, and motor expertise) on the semantic processing of action-related language and reviews the relevant behavioral and neuroimaging findings. The existing evidence shows that although motor contexts can influence the semantic processing of action-related concepts, the mechanism of the contextual influences is still far from clear. Future investigations will be needed to clarify (1) whether motor contexts only modulate activity in motor regions, (2) whether the contextual influences are specific to the semantic features of language stimuli, and (3) what factors can determine the facilitatory or inhibitory contextual influences on the semantic processing of action-related language.
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Davey J, Rueschemeyer SA, Costigan A, Murphy N, Krieger-Redwood K, Hallam G, Jefferies E. Shared neural processes support semantic control and action understanding. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2015; 142:24-35. [PMID: 25658631 PMCID: PMC4346273 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2015.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2014] [Revised: 11/11/2014] [Accepted: 01/03/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Executive-semantic control and action understanding appear to recruit overlapping brain regions but existing evidence from neuroimaging meta-analyses and neuropsychology lacks spatial precision; we therefore manipulated difficulty and feature type (visual vs. action) in a single fMRI study. Harder judgements recruited an executive-semantic network encompassing medial and inferior frontal regions (including LIFG) and posterior temporal cortex (including pMTG). These regions partially overlapped with brain areas involved in action but not visual judgements. In LIFG, the peak responses to action and difficulty were spatially identical across participants, while these responses were overlapping yet spatially distinct in posterior temporal cortex. We propose that the co-activation of LIFG and pMTG allows the flexible retrieval of semantic information, appropriate to the current context; this might be necessary both for semantic control and understanding actions. Feature selection in difficult trials also recruited ventral occipital-temporal areas, not implicated in action understanding.
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Affiliation(s)
- James Davey
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
| | | | - Alison Costigan
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
| | - Nik Murphy
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
| | | | - Glyn Hallam
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
| | - Elizabeth Jefferies
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK.
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30
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Routhier S, Bier N, Macoir J. The contrast between cueing and/or observation in therapy for verb retrieval in post-stroke aphasia. JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2015; 54:43-55. [PMID: 25638465 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2015.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2014] [Revised: 12/30/2014] [Accepted: 01/06/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Studies measuring treatment efficacy for post-stroke verb anomia are scarce. These studies mainly assessed the efficacy of three strategies: semantic, phonological and sensorimotor. Following these previous treatments, the performance of most participants improved on treated verbs, while improvement on untreated stimuli and tasks was inconsistent. AIMS This study aimed to measure the effectiveness of a semantic-phonological strategy and a sensorimotor strategy for verb anomia in post-stroke aphasia. METHODS A multiple baseline single-subject experimental study was conducted with two participants (9-37 years post-stroke). Four phases were completed: (1) background assessment, (2) baselines, (3) therapy, and (4) follow-up. Three equivalent lists of verbs were created for each participant and two of them were trained with a different strategy: action observation+semantic-phonological cues, action observation alone. The stimuli of the third list (control list) were not treated. RESULTS The semantic-phonological cueing strategy led to a significant improvement. No improvement was observed after action observation. No generalization to untreated verbs was found. CONCLUSIONS Verb naming can be enhanced by semantic/phonological cueing. In addition, other studies (clinical, neuroimaging, etc.) are needed to document the effect of action observation for the treatment of verb anomia. LEARNING OUTCOMES The reader will be able to (1) describe semantic-phonological therapies used in post-stroke verb anomia, (2) describe sensorimotor therapies used in post-stroke verb anomia, and (3) identify factors contributing to the efficacy of therapies to improve action naming in aphasia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sonia Routhier
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, 2601, de la Canardière, Québec, Québec, Canada G1J 2G3; Université Laval, Pavillon Ferdinand-Vandry, bureau 4295, 1050, avenue de la Médecine, Québec, Québec, Canada G1V 0A6.
| | - Nathalie Bier
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en Gériatrie de Montréal, 4545 chemin Queen-Mary, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3W 1W5.
| | - Joël Macoir
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, 2601, de la Canardière, Québec, Québec, Canada G1J 2G3; Université Laval, Pavillon Ferdinand-Vandry, bureau 4295, 1050, avenue de la Médecine, Québec, Québec, Canada G1V 0A6.
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31
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Involvement of the Motor System in Comprehension of Non-Literal Action Language: A Meta-Analysis Study. Brain Topogr 2015; 29:94-107. [DOI: 10.1007/s10548-015-0427-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2013] [Accepted: 02/05/2015] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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32
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Are the motor features of verb meanings represented in the precentral motor cortices? Yes, but within the context of a flexible, multilevel architecture for conceptual knowledge. Psychon Bull Rev 2015; 22:1068-75. [DOI: 10.3758/s13423-014-0784-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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33
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Lebois LAM, Wilson-Mendenhall CD, Barsalou LW. Are Automatic Conceptual Cores the Gold Standard of Semantic Processing? The Context-Dependence of Spatial Meaning in Grounded Congruency Effects. Cogn Sci 2014; 39:1764-801. [DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 109] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2013] [Revised: 02/07/2014] [Accepted: 02/24/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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34
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Kemmerer D. Word classes in the brain: Implications of linguistic typology for cognitive neuroscience. Cortex 2014; 58:27-51. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2014.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2014] [Revised: 05/02/2014] [Accepted: 05/12/2014] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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Dalla Volta R, Fabbri-Destro M, Gentilucci M, Avanzini P. Spatiotemporal dynamics during processing of abstract and concrete verbs: An ERP study. Neuropsychologia 2014; 61:163-74. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.06.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2013] [Revised: 06/13/2014] [Accepted: 06/13/2014] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Aravena P, Courson M, Frak V, Cheylus A, Paulignan Y, Deprez V, Nazir TA. Action relevance in linguistic context drives word-induced motor activity. Front Hum Neurosci 2014; 8:163. [PMID: 24744714 PMCID: PMC3978346 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2013] [Accepted: 03/04/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Many neurocognitive studies on the role of motor structures in action-language processing have implicitly adopted a “dictionary-like” framework within which lexical meaning is constructed on the basis of an invariant set of semantic features. The debate has thus been centered on the question of whether motor activation is an integral part of the lexical semantics (embodied theories) or the result of a post-lexical construction of a situation model (disembodied theories). However, research in psycholinguistics show that lexical semantic processing and context-dependent meaning construction are narrowly integrated. An understanding of the role of motor structures in action-language processing might thus be better achieved by focusing on the linguistic contexts under which such structures are recruited. Here, we therefore analyzed online modulations of grip force while subjects listened to target words embedded in different linguistic contexts. When the target word was a hand action verb and when the sentence focused on that action (John signs the contract) an early increase of grip force was observed. No comparable increase was detected when the same word occurred in a context that shifted the focus toward the agent's mental state (John wants to sign the contract). There mere presence of an action word is thus not sufficient to trigger motor activation. Moreover, when the linguistic context set up a strong expectation for a hand action, a grip force increase was observed even when the tested word was a pseudo-verb. The presence of a known action word is thus not required to trigger motor activation. Importantly, however, the same linguistic contexts that sufficed to trigger motor activation with pseudo-verbs failed to trigger motor activation when the target words were verbs with no motor action reference. Context is thus not by itself sufficient to supersede an “incompatible” word meaning. We argue that motor structure activation is part of a dynamic process that integrates the lexical meaning potential of a term and the context in the online construction of a situation model, which is a crucial process for fluent and efficient online language comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pia Aravena
- L2C2 Institut des Sciences Cognitives - Marc Jeannerod, CNRS/UCBL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon1 Bron, France
| | - Mélody Courson
- L2C2 Institut des Sciences Cognitives - Marc Jeannerod, CNRS/UCBL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon1 Bron, France
| | - Victor Frak
- Département de Kinanthropologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université du Québec à Montréal Montréal, Canada
| | - Anne Cheylus
- L2C2 Institut des Sciences Cognitives - Marc Jeannerod, CNRS/UCBL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon1 Bron, France
| | - Yves Paulignan
- L2C2 Institut des Sciences Cognitives - Marc Jeannerod, CNRS/UCBL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon1 Bron, France
| | - Viviane Deprez
- L2C2 Institut des Sciences Cognitives - Marc Jeannerod, CNRS/UCBL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon1 Bron, France
| | - Tatjana A Nazir
- L2C2 Institut des Sciences Cognitives - Marc Jeannerod, CNRS/UCBL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon1 Bron, France
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Rueschemeyer SA, Ekman M, van Ackeren M, Kilner J. Observing, performing, and understanding actions: revisiting the role of cortical motor areas in processing of action words. J Cogn Neurosci 2014; 26:1644-53. [PMID: 24456389 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Language content and action/perception have been shown to activate common brain areas in previous neuroimaging studies. However, it is unclear whether overlapping cortical activation reflects a common neural source or adjacent, but distinct, sources. We address this issue by using multivoxel pattern analysis on fMRI data. Specifically, participants were instructed to engage in five tasks: (1) execute hand actions (AE), (2) observe hand actions (AO), (3) observe nonbiological motion (MO), (4) read action verbs, and (5) read nonaction verbs. A classifier was trained to distinguish between data collected from neural motor areas during (1) AE versus MO and (2) AO versus MO. These two algorithms were then used to test for a distinction between data collected during the reading of action versus nonaction verbs. The results show that the algorithm trained to distinguish between AE and MO distinguishes between word categories using signal recorded from the left parietal cortex and pre-SMA, but not from ventrolateral premotor cortex. In contrast, the algorithm trained to distinguish between AO and MO discriminates between word categories using the activity pattern in the left premotor and left parietal cortex. This shows that the sensitivity of premotor areas to language content is more similar to the process of observing others acting than to acting oneself. Furthermore, those parts of the brain that show comparable neural pattern for action execution and action word comprehension are high-level integrative motor areas rather than low-level motor areas.
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Tomasino B, Rumiati RI. Introducing the special topic "The when and why of sensorimotor processes in conceptual knowledge and abstract concepts". Front Hum Neurosci 2013; 7:498. [PMID: 23986682 PMCID: PMC3752440 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2013] [Accepted: 08/05/2013] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Tomasino
- I.R.C.C.S. "E. Medea", Polo Friuli Venezia Giulia San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy
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Gardner MR, Brazier M, Edmonds CJ, Gronholm PC. Strategy modulates spatial perspective-taking: evidence for dissociable disembodied and embodied routes. Front Hum Neurosci 2013; 7:457. [PMID: 23964229 PMCID: PMC3741463 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00457] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2013] [Accepted: 07/22/2013] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research provides evidence for a dissociable embodied route to spatial perspective-taking that is under strategic control. The present experiment investigated further the influence of strategy on spatial perspective-taking by assessing whether participants may also elect to employ a separable “disembodied” route loading on inhibitory control mechanisms. Participants (N = 92) undertook both the “own body transformation” (OBT) perspective-taking task, requiring speeded spatial judgments made from the perspective of an observed figure, and a control task measuring ability to inhibit spatially compatible responses in the absence of a figure. Perspective-taking performance was found to be related to performance on the response inhibition control task, in that participants who tended to take longer to adopt a new perspective also tended to show a greater elevation in response times when inhibiting spatially compatible responses. This relationship was restricted to those participants reporting that they adopted the perspective of another by reversing left and right whenever confronted with a front-view figure; it was absent in those participants who reported perspective-taking by mentally transforming their spatial orientation to align with that of the figure. Combined with previously published results, these findings complete a double dissociation between embodied and disembodied routes to spatial perspective-taking, implying that spatial perspective-taking is subject to modulation by strategy, and suggesting that embodied routes to perspective-taking may place minimal demands on domain general executive functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark R Gardner
- 1Department of Psychology, University of Westminster London, UK
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Lynott D, Connell L, Holler J. The role of body and environment in cognition. Front Psychol 2013; 4:465. [PMID: 23885249 PMCID: PMC3717477 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2013] [Accepted: 07/03/2013] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Dermot Lynott
- Embodied Cognition Lab, Decision and Cognitive Sciences Research Centre, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester Manchester, UK
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Maieron M, Marin D, Fabbro F, Skrap M. Seeking a bridge between language and motor cortices: a PPI study. Front Hum Neurosci 2013; 7:249. [PMID: 23761753 PMCID: PMC3675382 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2012] [Accepted: 05/20/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The relation between the sensorimotor cortex and the language network has been widely discussed but still remains controversial. Two independent theories compete to explain how this area is involved during action-related verbs processing. The embodied view assumes that action word representations activate sensorimotor representations which are accessed when an action word is processed or when an action is observed. The abstract hypothesis states that the mental representations of words are abstract and independent of the objects' sensorimotor properties they refer to. We combined neuropsychological and fMRI-PPI connectivity data, to address action-related verbs processing in neurosurgical patients with lesions involving (N = 5) or sparing (N = 5) the primary motor cortex and healthy controls (N = 12). A lack of significant changes in the functional coupling between the left M1 cortex and functional nodes of the linguistic network during the verb generation task was found for all the groups. In addition, we found that the ability to perform an action verb naming task was not related to a damaged M1. These data showed that there was not a task-specific functional interaction active between M1 and the inferior frontal gyrus. We will discuss how these findings indicate that action words do not automatically activate the M1 cortex; we suggest rather that its enrolment could be related to other not strictly linguistic processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Maieron
- Fisica Medica, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Santa Maria Della MisericordiaUdine, Italy
| | - Dario Marin
- IRCCS “E. Medea”San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy
| | - Franco Fabbro
- IRCCS “E. Medea”San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy
- Dipartimento di Scienze Umane, Università degli Studi di UdineUdine, Italy
| | - Miran Skrap
- Unità Operativa di Neurochirurgia, AOUD Santa Maria della MisericordiaUdine, Italy
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Kemmerer D, Miller L, MacPherson MK, Huber J, Tranel D. An investigation of semantic similarity judgments about action and non-action verbs in Parkinson's disease: implications for the Embodied Cognition Framework. Front Hum Neurosci 2013; 7:146. [PMID: 23616759 PMCID: PMC3629304 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2012] [Accepted: 04/03/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The Embodied Cognition Framework maintains that understanding actions requires motor simulations subserved in part by premotor and primary motor regions. This hypothesis predicts that disturbances to these regions should impair comprehension of action verbs but not non-action verbs. We evaluated the performances of 10 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and 10 normal comparison (NC) participants on a semantic similarity judgment task (SSJT) that included four classes of action verbs and two classes of non-action verbs. The patients were tested both ON and OFF medication. The most salient results involved the accuracies and reaction times (RTs) for the action verbs taken as a whole and the non-action verbs taken as a whole. With respect to accuracies, the patients did not perform significantly worse than the NC participants for either the action verbs or the non-action verbs, regardless of whether they were ON or OFF their medication. And with respect to RTs, although the patients' responses were significantly slower than those of the NC participants for the action verbs, comparable processing delays were also observed for the non-action verbs; moreover, there was again no notable influence of medication. The major dissociation was therefore not between action and non-action verbs, but rather between accuracies (relatively intact) and RTs (relatively delayed). Overall, the data suggest that semantic similarity judgments for both action and non-action verbs are correct but slow in individuals with PD. These results provide new insights about language processing in PD, and they raise important questions about the explanatory scope of the Embodied Cognition Framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Kemmerer
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette, IN, USA
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette, IN, USA
- Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neurology, University of IowaIowa city, IA, USA
| | - Luke Miller
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of CaliforniaSan Diego, CA, USA
| | - Megan K. MacPherson
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Jessica Huber
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Daniel Tranel
- Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neurology, University of IowaIowa city, IA, USA
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