Abstract
Children’s fine motor skills (FMS) link to cognitive development, however, research on their involvement in language processing, also with adults, is scarce. Lexical items are processed differently depending on the degree of sensorimotor information inherent in the words’ meanings, such as whether these imply a body-object interaction (BOI) or a body-part association (i.e., hand, arm, mouth, foot). Accordingly, three studies examined whether lexical processing was affected by FMS, BOIness, and body-part associations in children (study 1, n = 77) and adults (study 2, n = 80; study 3, n = 71). Analyses showed a differential link between FMS and lexical processing as a function of age. Whereas response latencies indicated that children’s FMS were associated with “hand” words, adults’ FMS linked to the broader concept of BOI. Findings have implications for shared activation theories positing that FMS support lexical processing.
Highlights
Language development is perhaps the most anticipated event in the early years, providing the key to communication, cognitive development, and academic success (Catts et al, 2002)
Extending previous work (Maouene et al, 2008; Suggate and Stoeger, 2014, 2017; Heard et al, 2018), we examined the contribution of fine motor skills (FMS) for words associated with the body-parts “hand,” “arm,” “foot” and “mouth.” Our aims were to test whether (a) links between FMS and vocabulary depend on body-object interaction (BOI) rating, (b) body-part associations explain more variance than BOI, and (c) relations between BOI and FMS transfer to adult samples, as predicted by the shared-activation and nimble-hands, nimbleminds hypotheses
We did not find a significant link between participants FMS and reaction times to high BOI words, which is contrary to earlier studies (e.g., Suggate and Stoeger, 2014, 2017)
Summary
Language development is perhaps the most anticipated event in the early years, providing the key to communication, cognitive development, and academic success (Catts et al, 2002). Somewhat counter-intuitively, fine motor skills (FMS) have shown links to vocabulary development (e.g., Cameron et al, 2012; Suggate and Stoeger, 2014, 2017). Current understanding on embodied cognition posits that lexical representations contain sensorimotor information (e.g., Pexman, 2019). Little work has examined whether actual performance in the sensorimotor system, and therewith FMS, relates to lexical knowledge. Research as to why two seemingly unconnected constructs relate, namely FMS and vocabulary, is still sparse and inconclusive, requiring more study and theoretical development. We seek to replicate and extend previous work by examining the role that FMS (Suggate and Stoeger, 2014, 2017) play in lexical processing in both adults and children. We seek to test for unique roles attributable to sensorimotor information, via the extent to which words invoke body-object interactions (Siakaluk et al, 2008a,b) and body-part associations (James and Maouene, 2009)
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