Fluent Speakers of a Second Language Process Graspable Nouns Expressed in L2 Like in Their Native Language.

Giovanni Buccino,Chiara Bulgarelli,Barbara F Marino,Marco Mezzadri

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01306

Giovanni Buccino, Chiara Bulgarelli + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01306

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Abstract

According to embodied cognition, language processing relies on the same neural structures involved when individuals experience the content of language material. If so, processing nouns expressing a motor content presented in a second language should modulate the motor system as if presented in the mother tongue. We tested this hypothesis using a go-no go paradigm. Stimuli included English nouns and pictures depicting either graspable or non-graspable objects. Pseudo-words and scrambled images served as controls. Italian participants, fluent speakers of English as a second language, had to respond when the stimulus was sensitive and refrain from responding when it was not. As foreseen by embodiment, motor responses were selectively modulated by graspable items (images or nouns) as in a previous experiment where nouns in the same category were presented in the native language.

Highlights

Embodied cognition maintains that language processing involves the recruitment of the same sensory, motor, and even emotional neural substrates recruited when one executes, perceives or feels the content of language material (Glenberg, 1997; Barsalou, 1999; Pulvermüller, 2001; Gallese and Lakoff, 2005; Zwaan and Taylor, 2006; Jirak et al, 2010; Buccino et al, 2016)
As for nouns, several studies showed a modulation of the motor system activity depending on the intrinsic features of objects expressed by nouns (Glover et al, 2004; Tucker and Ellis, 2004; Lindemann et al, 2006; Myung et al, 2006; Bub et al, 2008; Cattaneo et al, 2010; Gough et al, 2012, 2013)
Median values of remaining Response times (RTs) were calculated for each combination of Object Graspability and Stimulus Type

Summary

Introduction

Embodied cognition maintains that language processing involves the recruitment of the same sensory, motor, and even emotional neural substrates recruited when one executes, perceives or feels the content of language material (Glenberg, 1997; Barsalou, 1999; Pulvermüller, 2001; Gallese and Lakoff, 2005; Zwaan and Taylor, 2006; Jirak et al, 2010; Buccino et al, 2016). Observing objects and manipulating them recruit a sensorimotor circuit, including premotor and parietal areas (Jeannerod et al, 1995; Binkofski et al, 1999; Chao and Martin, 2000; Grezes et al, 2003a,b). This circuit on one side codes for the intrinsic features of objects that make them appropriate for manual action; on the other it selects and implements the most appropriate actions to manipulate those objects. Two recent studies (Marino et al, 2014; Zhang et al, 2016) showed a similar modulation of the motor system during the processing

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