Syntactic Constraints on Embodied Language Processing

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Vandeberg ◽  
Rolf A. Zwaan
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Embodied Language ◽  
Syntactic Constraints

scholarly journals The motor cortex wants the full story: The influence of sentence context on corticospinal excitability in action language processing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
W Dupont ◽  
F Lebon ◽  
C Papaxanthis ◽  
C Madden-Lombardi
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Context ◽  
Corticospinal Excitability ◽  
General Increase ◽  
Embodied Language ◽  
Action Language ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Motor Representations ◽  
Action Verbs

According to the embodied language framework, reading action verbs leads to a mental representation involving motor cortex activation. As sentence context has been shown to greatly influence the meaning of words, the present study aimed at better understanding its role in motor representations. We manipulated the presence of manual actions and sentence context. We hypothesized that context would serve to focus the representation of the described actions in the motor cortex, reflected in context-specific modulation of corticospinal excitability.Participants read manual action verbs and non-manual verbs, preceded by a full sentence (rich context) or not (minimal context). We assessed the level of corticospinal excitability by means of transcranial magnetic stimulation pulses delivered at rest or shortly after verb presentation. The coil was positioned over the cortical representation of right first dorsal interosseous (pointer finger).We observed a general increase of corticospinal excitability while reading both verb types 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 the context sharpens motor representations, activating the motor cortex when relevant and eliminating any residual motor activation when no action is present.

Embodied Language Processing

2014 ◽  
pp. 497-513
Author(s):  
Ben Goertzel ◽  
Cassio Pennachin ◽  
Nil Geisweiller
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Embodied Language

scholarly journals Flexibility in Embodied Language Processing: Context Effects in Lexical Access

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wessel O. van Dam ◽  
Inti A. Brazil ◽  
Harold Bekkering ◽  
Shirley-Ann Rueschemeyer
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Access ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Embodied Language

scholarly journals Investigation of Embodied Language Processing on Command-Swallow Performance in Healthy Participants

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Atsuko Kurosu ◽  
Sheila R. Pratt ◽  
Catherine Palmer ◽  
Susan Shaiman
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Muscle Activity ◽  
Pure Tone ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Verbal Command ◽  
Embodied Language ◽  
Adult Participants ◽  
Nonverbal Stimulus ◽  
Liquid Bolus ◽  
Suprahyoid Muscle

Purpose During videofluoroscopic examination of swallowing, patients commonly are instructed to hold a bolus in their mouth until they hear a verbal instruction to swallow, which usually consists of the word swallow and is commonly referred to as the command swallow condition. The language-induced motor facilitation theory suggests that linguistic processes associated with the verbal command to swallow should facilitate the voluntary component of swallowing. As such, the purpose of the study was to examine the linguistic influences of the verbal command on swallowing. Method Twenty healthy young adult participants held a 5-ml liquid bolus in their mouth and swallowed the bolus after hearing one of five acoustic stimuli presented randomly: congruent action word ( swallow ), incongruent action word ( cough ), congruent pseudoword ( spallow ), incongruent pseudoword ( pough ), and nonverbal stimulus (1000-Hz pure tone). Suprahyoid muscle activity during swallowing was measured via surface electromyography (sEMG). Results The onset and peak sEMG latencies following the congruent action word swallow were shorter than latencies following the pure tone and pseudowords but were not different from the incongruent action word. The lack of difference between swallow and cough did not negate the positive impact of real words on timing. In contrast to expectations, sEMG activity duration and rise time were longer following the word swallow than the pure tone and pseudowords but were not different from cough . No differences were observed for peak suprahyoid muscle activity amplitude and fall times. Conclusions Language facilitation was observed in swallowing. The clinical utility of the information obtained in the study may depend on the purposes for using the command swallow and the type of patient being assessed. However, linguistic processing under the command swallow condition may alter swallow behaviors and suggests that linguistic inducement could be useful as a compensatory technique for patients with difficulty initiating oropharyngeal swallows.

Effects of Intentional Motor Actions on Embodied Language Processing

2010 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 260-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirley-Ann Rueschemeyer ◽  
Oliver Lindemann ◽  
Daan van Rooij ◽  
Wessel van Dam ◽  
Harold Bekkering
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Motor Task ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Response Latencies ◽  
Motor Priming ◽  
Embodied Language ◽  
Intentional Actions ◽  
Semantic Component ◽  
Motor Actions

Embodied theories of language processing suggest that this motor simulation is an automatic and necessary component of meaning representation. If this is the case, then language and action systems should be mutually dependent (i.e., motor activity should selectively modulate processing of words with an action-semantic component). In this paper, we investigate in two experiments whether evidence for mutual dependence can be found using a motor priming paradigm. Specifically, participants performed either an intentional or a passive motor task while processing words denoting manipulable and nonmanipulable objects. The performance rates (Experiment 1) and response latencies (Experiment 2) in a lexical-decision task reveal that participants performing an intentional action were positively affected in the processing of words denoting manipulable objects as compared to nonmanipulable objects. This was not the case if participants performed a secondary passive motor action (Experiment 1) or did not perform a secondary motor task (Experiment 2). The results go beyond previous research showing that language processes involve motor systems to demonstrate that the execution of motor actions has a selective effect on the semantic processing of words. We suggest that intentional actions activate specific parts of the neural motor system, which are also engaged for lexical-semantic processing of action-related words and discuss the beneficial versus inhibitory nature of this relationship. The results provide new insights into the embodiment of language and the bidirectionality of effects between language and action processing.

scholarly journals The effect of semantic brightness on pupil size: A replication with Dutch words

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastiaan Mathôt ◽  
Leevke Sundermann ◽  
Hedderik van Rijn
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Pupil Size ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Light Response ◽  
Motor Simulation ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Embodied Language ◽  
Pupil Constriction ◽  
Pupil Light Response ◽  
Key Questions

AbstractTheories of embodied language hold that word processing is automatically accompanied by sensory and motor simulations. For example, when you read the word ‘sun’, a sensory simulation of brightness as well as a motor simulation of pupil constriction would be automatically triggered. Consistent with this notion, Mathôt, Grainger, and Strijkers (2017) found that the eye’s pupil was slightly smaller after reading single words that were associated with brightness (e.g. ‘sun’) as compared to darkness (e.g. ‘night’); that is, the pupil light response was modulated by the semantic brightness of words. However, (other) key findings within the field of embodied language have proven difficult to replicate, and we therefore felt that it was crucial to replicate the effect of semantic brightness on pupil size. To this end, we conducted a close-but-non-identical replication of two key experiments from Mathôt, Grainger, and Strijkers (2017): one experiment with visually presented words, and one experiment with spoken words. Both experiments were successfully replicated. We propose that cognitive modulations of the pupil light response reflect activity in visual brain areas; therefore, the effect of semantic brightness on pupil size can be used as a marker for the involvement of visual brain areas in language processing, and thus to address a wide variety of key questions within psycholinguistics.

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