Abstract Two experiments investigate the effects of language comprehension on affordances. Participants read a sentence composed by either an observation or an action verb (Look at/Grasp) followed by ...an object name. They had to decide whether the visual object following the sentence was the same as the one mentioned in the sentence. Objects graspable with either a precision or a power grip were presented in an orientation affording action (canonical) or not. Action sentences were faster than observation sentences, and power grip objects were faster than precision grip objects. Moreover, faster RTs were obtained when orientation afforded action. Results indicate that the simulation activated during language comprehension leads to the formation of a “motor prototype” of the object. This motor prototype encodes information on temporary/canonical and stable affordances (e.g., orientation, size), which can be possibly referred to different cognitive and neural systems (dorsal, ventral systems).
Mirror neurons, first described in the rostral part of monkey ventral premotor cortex (area F5), discharge both when the animal performs a goal-directed hand action and when it observes another ...individual performing the same or a similar action. More recently, in the same area mirror neurons responding to the observation of mouth actions have been also found. In humans, through an fMRI study, it has been shown that the observation of actions performed with the hand, the mouth and the foot leads to the activation of different sectors of Broca’s area and premotor cortex, according to the effector involved in the observed action, following a somatotopic pattern which resembles the classical motor cortex homunculus. These results strongly support the existence of an execution-observation matching system (mirror neuron system). It has been proposed that this system is involved in action recognition. Experimental evidence in favor of this hypothesis both in the monkey and humans are shortly reviewed.
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.
Embodiment theory proposes that neural systems for perception and action are also engaged during language comprehension. Previous neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies have only been able to ...demonstrate modulation of action systems during comprehension of concrete language. We provide neurophysiological evidence for modulation of motor system activity during the comprehension of both concrete and abstract language. In Experiment 1, when the described direction of object transfer or information transfer (e.g., away from the reader to another) matched the literal direction of a hand movement used to make a response, speed of responding was faster than when the two directions mismatched (an action-sentence compatibility effect). In Experiment 2, we used single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation to study changes in the corticospinal motor pathways to hand muscles while reading the same sentences. Relative to sentences that do not describe transfer, there is greater modulation of activity in the hand muscles when reading sentences describing transfer of both concrete objects and abstract information. These findings are discussed in relation to the human mirror neuron system.
There is experimental evidence that the brain systems involved in action execution also play a role in action observation and understanding. Recently, it has been suggested that the sensorimotor ...system is also involved in language processing. Supporting results are slower response times and weaker motor-related MEG Beta band power suppression in semantic decision tasks on single action verbs labels when the stimulus and the motor response involve the same effector. Attenuated power suppression indicates decreased cortical excitability and consequent decreased readiness to act. The embodied approach forwards that the simultaneous involvement of the sensorimotor system in the processing of the linguistic content and in the planning of the response determines this language-motor interference effect. Here, in a combined behavioral and MEG study we investigated to what extent the processing of actions visually presented (i.e., pictures of actions) and verbally described (i.e., verbs in written words) share common neural mechanisms. The findings demonstrated that, whether an action is experienced visually or verbally, its processing engages the sensorimotor system in a comparable way. These results provide further support to the embodied view of semantic processing, suggesting that this process is independent from the modality of presentation of the stimulus, including language.
Colour conveys specific information about the status/quality of an object; whereas its role in object recognition has been widely studied, little is known about its role in sensorimotor processes. We ...performed three experiments to assess whether colour influences the motor representation of graspable objects. In Experiment 1, we used a grasp compatibility task, in which participants categorized each object as natural or artifact, by performing reach-to-grasp movements. Response grasps could be compatible or incompatible with the ones normally used to manipulate the objects. Results showed faster reaction times for natural objects displayed in the correct colour compared with both opposite colour and correct colour artifact objects. In Experiment 2, to directly assess the effect of colour on object motor representation, we used an interference task in which an irrelevant object was shown while performing a pre-specified reach-to-grasp movement (i.e., verbal cues: small vs. large). Results highlighted a reversed compatibility effect when objects were shown in their correct colour, but only at the beginning of the movement (10 ms SOA). Finally, we run a third experiment using the same task as in Experiment 2. In this experiment, we compared the grasp compatibility effect driven by natural objects with the grasp compatibility effect driven by dangerous natural objects (e.g., cactus), which are objects that should not elicit a grasping program. The results of Experiment 3 confirm those of Experiment 2, highlighting also specific processes related to dangerous objects. Taken together, these results revealed that colour can be significant for the motor system, highlighting the close link between colour and shape, and also specific processes related to dangerous objects.
•We investigated two specific object characteristics, colour and dangerousness on grasp compatibility effects.•Both a reach-to-grasp compatibility task and a new interference task were used.•Results show that colour affects both object recognition and motor execution.•A reversed compatibility effect is found with correct colour objects, in the execution of the required movement.•Unnatural colour and dangerous objects do not activate grasping programs.
► Modulation of the motor system due to noun processing occurs within 150
ms. ► Tool nouns are a special class because they imply both manipulation and use. ► Graspable natural nouns lose effectivity ...in modulating the motor system with repetition.
While increasing evidence points to a critical role for the motor system in language processing, the focus of previous work has been on the linguistic category of verbs. Here we tested whether nouns are effective in modulating the motor system and further whether different kinds of nouns – those referring to artifacts or natural items, and items that are graspable or ungraspable – would differentially modulate the system. A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) study was carried out to compare modulation of the motor system when subjects read nouns referring to objects which are Artificial or Natural and which are Graspable or Ungraspable. TMS was applied to the primary motor cortex representation of the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle of the right hand at 150
ms after noun presentation. Analyses of Motor Evoked Potentials (MEPs) revealed that across the duration of the task, nouns referring to graspable artifacts (tools) were associated with significantly greater MEP areas. Analyses of the initial presentation of items revealed a main effect of graspability. The findings are in line with an embodied view of nouns, with MEP measures modulated according to whether nouns referred to natural objects or artifacts (tools), confirming tools as a special class of items in motor terms. Additionally our data support a difference for graspable versus non graspable objects, an effect which for natural objects is restricted to initial presentation of items.
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.
The mere observation of pictures or words referring to manipulable objects is sufficient to evoke their affordances since objects and their nouns elicit components of appropriate motor programs ...associated with object interaction. While nobody doubts that objects actually evoke motor information, the degree of automaticity of this activation has been recently disputed. Recent evidence has indeed revealed that affordances activation is flexibly modulated by the task and by the physical and social context. It is therefore crucial to understand whether these results challenge previous evidence showing that motor information is activated independently from the task. The context and the task can indeed act as an early or late filter. We will review recent data consistent with the notion that objects automatically elicit multiple affordances and that top-down processes select among them probably inhibiting motor information that is not consistent with behavior goals. We will therefore argue that automaticity and flexibility of affordances are not in conflict. We will also discuss how language can incorporate affordances showing similarities, but also differences, between the motor information elicited by vision and language. Finally we will show how the distinction between stable and variable affordances can accommodate all these effects.
It is often claimed that merely seeing a graspable object can elicit the implicit representation of a potential grasp. But can this representation affect the explicit execution of an actual grasp, ...and if so, how? In an open-loop paradigm, we instructed participants to grasp small, medium, or large test disks with the appropriate grip configuration (pincer, tripod, or pentapod). Before the presentation of these tests, we presented congruent or incongruent distractors. To assess interactions between implicit (putatively elicited by the distractors) and explicit (actually executed) sensorimotor processes, we measured preview reaction times (as an index of action preparation) and grasp kinematics (as an indicator of sensorimotor representations for motor control). Results indicate that action preparation is indeed affected by the presentation of preceding distractors. However, costs in action preparation were measured only when the first, implicit process was less precise than that of the actual grasp. We suggest that an interaction occurs at the level of sensorimotor processes through a mechanism which generalizes a precision parameter. We interpret these findings in relation to processes involved in real-time motor control and within the framework of theories of motor cognition.
•Participants grasped a target after seeing a graspable distractor.•Three stimulus sizes were associated with three precision grasp types.•Distractors modulated preview reaction times before grasping the test.•The pattern of effects supported generalization of precision in motor programming.
PDF
