Spatiotemporal dynamics during processing of abstract and concrete verbs: An ERP study (original) (raw)
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Neural Correlates of Embodiment in Action Verb Meaning: Entrenched Versus Translated Forms
2014
The purpose of the present study is to test whether symbol grounding for action verbs occurs in entrenched native verb forms, and whether they transfer to novel verb forms that are acquired as explicit translations of existing verbs. The entrenched and novel verbs were referred to here as L1 verbs and L2 verbs respectively, and were used as analogs of meanings in first and second language learning. Symbolic grounding was investigated by observing behavioral data in lexical decision tasks, and scalp electrophysiological signals using 128-channel EEG data. The present study used different kinds of action verbs (e.g., verbs of foot movement, such as kick or jump, and verbs of hand movement, such as swipe or grab) and abstract verbs, such as learn or plan. Previous researchers have provided empirical evidence showing that when action verbs are accessed in reading, there is concomitant activation of primary motor and/or somatosensory cortex. The established relationships of action verbs in L1 and their sensorimotor groundings as a reference were used to determine successful transfer of groundings of L1 words to L2 words. By observing the responses to the L2 words that are acquired through symbolic manipulation without perceptual or bodily experiences and examining, it can be determined if they produce similar neural activations as in those found in L1 words, and we can test whether the symbol-grounding-transfer occurs in part or in whole, given this minimal learning context. The behavioral measure was a lexical decision task where the participants respond to meaningful words (foot-related verbs or hand-related verbs) with two kinds of response modalities (button press with a finger or foot pedal press with a foot). Although either facilitation (foot verb to foot movement and hand verb to hand movement) or interference (Foot verb to hand movement and hand verb to foot movement) effect of action verbs was expected, the results showed that the participants consistently responded faster to the L1 English verbs than to the L2 verbs and responded faster with finger-pressing button box than foot-pressing pedal. However, at the slowest response times condition, the condition of foot-pedal pressing to L2 words, the facilitation effect of Foot related verbs was observed. The response times of foot pedal pressing to L2 Foot-related verbs were significantly faster than both L2 Hand-related verbs (p=.003) and abstract verbs (p=.005) at the paired t-test. This result is consistent with the research hypothesis and provides partial evidence supporting the assumption that the Foot-related action verbs have close link with sensorimotor cortex associated with foot movement and reading those verbs will facilitate corresponding body movement. The three kinds of EEG data analysis methods were used in the current study: Event Related Potential (ERP) component analysis, EEG topographic analysis, and EEG source localization with low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA). The ERP components were used to examine the effect of language (L1 vs. L2) and lexicality (Word vs. Non-word) in terms of amplitudes and temporal points of ERP components. The EEG topographic analysis and EEG source localization with LORETA are methods for spatiotemporal analysis, which provide information on intracranial neural activations that are sources of scalp electric signals. When ERP components of the montaged electrodes placed on the central area of the scalp (vertex and neighboring 14 electrodes) were examined, the P3 component for L1 (at around 390~400ms) reached its peak earlier that that of L2 (495~505ms). Topographic analysis results that compared topographic maps created by different verb groups provided evidence that different configurations of the neuronal activations were created by the verb groups representing body movements of different body parts. In addition, by means of the source localization analysis with the LORETA, the differential neural activations at sensorimotor cortex were observed when the brain activations elicited by L1 Foot related and Hand related verbs were compared. At both temporal windows, early (126~134ms) and late (318~322ms), the regions of the sensorimotor cortex associated with Hand movement were activated significantly more by the Hand related verbs than Foot related verbs. In order to test Harnad's symbol grounding transfer hypothesis, the neural activations at the sensorimotor cortex elicited by L2 Foot verbs
Neurophysiological distinction of verb categories
NeuroReport, 2000
Neurophysiological brain responses to subcategories of action verbs were recorded using high resolution EEG. Starting 240 ms after word onset, topographies of event-related potentials distinguished between verbs referring to different action types. Current source density estimates revealed that verbs referring to actions executed with the legs (to kick) produced an activity focus close to the vertex, above motor areas involved in the programming of leg movements, whereas face-related verbs (to speak) produced a focus at left-lateral recordings, above perisylvian areas and the cortical representation of the face and articulators. This is evidence that brain mechanisms involved in word processing can differ even between ®ne-grained lexico-semantic subcategories and already within the ®rst quarter of a second after word onset. We offer an explanation of the data in neurobiological terms. Neuro-Report 11:2789±2793 & 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Psychological Research
Grounded cognition theories assume that conceptual processing depends on modality-specific brain systems in a context-dependent fashion. Although the relation of abstract concepts to modality-specific systems is less obvious than for concrete concepts, recent behavioral and neuroimaging studies indicated a foundation of abstract concepts in vision and action. However, due to their poor temporal resolution, neuroimaging studies cannot determine whether sensorimotor activity reflects rapid access to conceptual information or later conceptual processes. The present study therefore assessed the time course of abstract concept processing using event-related potentials (ERPs) and compared ERP responses to abstract concepts with a strong relation to vision or action. We tested whether possible ERP effects to abstract word categories would emerge in early or in later time windows and whether these effects would depend on the depth of the conceptual task. In Experiment 1, a shallow lexical d...
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2014
concepts are metaphorically linked to more experientially basic ones and recruit sensorimotor cortex for their comprehension. To test whether words associated with spatial attributes reactivate traces in sensorimotor cortex, we recorded EEG from the scalp of healthy adults as they read words while performing a concurrent task involving either upward-or downward-directed arm movements. ERPs were time-locked to words associated with vertical space-either literally (ascend, descend) or metaphorically (inspire, defeat)-as participants made vertical movements that were either congruent or incongruent with the words. Congruency effects emerged 200-300 ms after word onset for literal words, but not until after 500 ms post-onset for metaphorically related words. Results argue against a strong version of embodied metaphor theory, but support a role for sensorimotor simulation in concrete language.
Embodied Cognition: Is Activation of the Motor Cortex Essential for Understanding Action Verbs?
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
In 8 experiments using language processing tasks ranging from lexical decision to sensibility judgment, participants made hand or foot responses after reading hand-or foot-associated words such as action verbs. In general, response time (RT) tended to be faster when the hand-versus foot-associated word was compatible with the limb that was required to respond (e.g., hand response to a hand-associated word) than when it was incompatible (e.g., foot response to a hand-associated word). To see whether this compatibility effect reflects differential hand-versus foot-specific motor activation produced by the words, as suggested by some embodied theories of language understanding, we monitored 2 event-related potential (ERP) measures previously found to be sensitive to the activation of these limbs. As expected, the ERP results replicated previous findings that the monitored ERPs differ for hand versus foot movements. More importantly, the ERPs provided no evidence of any difference for hand-versus foot-associated words. Thus, the results weaken previous claims that the understanding of action verbs requires activation of the motor areas used to carry out the named action. Instead, they support claims that language-related compatibility effects on RT may arise prior to motor processes, which implies that such effects are not decisive evidence for embodied language understanding.
Event-related brain potentials evoked by verbs and nouns in a primed lexical decision task
Psychophysiology, 2001
We investigated whether verbs and nouns evoke comparable behavioral and N400 effects in a primed lexical decision task. Twenty-nine students were tested, 13 in a pilot study in which only response times and error rates were collected and 16 in a study in which ERPs were recorded from 124 scalp electrodes. Stimuli were noun-noun and verb-verb pairs with the targets bearing either a strong, a moderate, or no semantic association to the prime or being a pseudoword. Behavioral data revealed comparable priming effects for both word categories. These proved to be independent from the SOA~250 and 800 ms! and they followed the well-known pattern of decreasing response times and error rates with increasing relatedness between target and prime. ERPs revealed pronounced N400 effects for both word categories with a larger amplitude for noun than for verb pairs. A systematic analysis of topographic differences between noun-and verb-evoked ERPs and N400 effects, respectively, gave no convincing support to the hypothesis that the two word categories activate distinct neuronal networks.
How Action Context Modulates the Action-Language Relationship: A Topographic ERP Analysis
Brain Topography, 2019
The aim of the present study was to investigate how the context in which an action is presented could modulate the effect of action observation on language processing, an effect that is classically observed in the literature. To address this question, we recorded both behavioral (reaction times) and electrophysiological measures (event-related potentials) of participants performing a semantic decision task involving a verb describing an action that was congruent or incongruent with the action presented in a prime picture that had been observed. The prime picture presented an action performed in a usual or an unusual context. The results revealed different behavioral and topographical pattern responses according to the context in which an action is presented. Importantly, only in the usual context, the congruency between the prime picture and the verb stimulus facilitated the semantic processes, leading to shorter response times in this condition compared to the others. Moreover, the topographic analysis revealed that this facilitation was related to reduced processing times for the semantic access to the verb and for the motor preparation for the answer. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that the context of an action is crucial in the link between action and language.
Brain Activation During Conceptual Processing of Action and Sound Verbs
Advances in Cognitive Psychology, 2019
embodied cognition grounded cognition theory action-related concepts sound-related concepts language functional magnetic resonance imaging Grounded cognition approaches to conceptual representations postulate a close link between conceptual knowledge and the sensorimotor brain systems. The present fMRI study tested, whether a feature-specific representation of concepts, as previously demonstrated for nouns, can also be found for action-and sound-related verbs. Participants were presented with action-and soundrelated verbs along with pseudoverbs while performing a lexical decision task. Sound-related verbs activated auditory areas in the temporal cortex, whereas action-related verbs activated brain regions in the superior frontal gyrus and the cerebellum, albeit only at a more liberal threshold. This differential brain activation during conceptual verb processing partially overlapped with or was adjacent to brain regions activated during the functional localizers probing sound perception or action execution. Activity in brain areas involved in the processing of action information was parametrically modulated by ratings of action relevance. Comparisons of action-and sound-related verbs with pseudoverbs revealed activation for both verb categories in auditory and motor areas. In contrast to proposals of strong grounded cognition approaches, our study did not demonstrate a considerable overlap of activations for action-and sound-related verbs and for the corresponding functional localizer tasks. However, in line with weaker variants of grounded cognition theories, the differential activation pattern for action-and sound-related verbs was near corresponding sensorimotor brain regions depending on conceptual feature relevance. Possibly, action-sound coupling resulted in a mutual activation of the motor and the auditory system for both action-and sound-related verbs, thereby reducing the effect sizes for the differential contrasts.