Abstract
BackgroundStudies demonstrating the involvement of motor brain structures in language processing typically focus on time windows beyond the latencies of lexical-semantic access. Consequently, such studies remain inconclusive regarding whether motor brain structures are recruited directly in language processing or through post-linguistic conceptual imagery. In the present study, we introduce a grip-force sensor that allows online measurements of language-induced motor activity during sentence listening. We use this tool to investigate whether language-induced motor activity remains constant or is modulated in negative, as opposed to affirmative, linguistic contexts.Methodology/Principal FindingsParticipants listened to spoken action target words in either affirmative or negative sentences while holding a sensor in a precision grip. The participants were asked to count the sentences containing the name of a country to ensure attention. The grip force signal was recorded continuously. The action words elicited an automatic and significant enhancement of the grip force starting at approximately 300 ms after target word onset in affirmative sentences; however, no comparable grip force modulation was observed when these action words occurred in negative contexts.Conclusions/SignificanceOur findings demonstrate that this simple experimental paradigm can be used to study the online crosstalk between language and the motor systems in an ecological and economical manner. Our data further confirm that the motor brain structures that can be called upon during action word processing are not mandatorily involved; the crosstalk is asymmetrically governed by the linguistic context and not vice versa.
Highlights
Examined by linguists and philosophers, the mental representation of the lexical meaning is being explored by neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists, generating a large body of sometimes conflicting experimental results and debates
The neural crosstalk between language and sensorimotor systems remains poorly understood, in part because most neuroimaging and behavioral studies do not allow the determination of whether motor involvement could be an epiphenomenal, post-comprehension process or whether such involvement must be understood as an intrinsic part of the lexical meaning
Given that on the one hand, fMRI measurements of hemodynamic responses provide poor temporal resolution, and on the other hand, behavioral reaction times (RTs) are measured only after linguistic stimulus presentation, such experimental measures cannot determine whether language-induced sensorimotor activity is a cause or a consequence of lexical-semantic processing
Summary
Examined by linguists and philosophers, the mental representation of the lexical meaning is being explored by neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists, generating a large body of sometimes conflicting experimental results and debates (see, for example, [1],[2],[3],[4],[5],[6]) In this context, studies have focused on localizing the neural correlates of word comprehension in the brain ([7],[8],[9]; for a review, see [10]). Studies demonstrating the involvement of motor brain structures in language processing typically focus on time windows beyond the latencies of lexical-semantic access Such studies remain inconclusive regarding whether motor brain structures are recruited directly in language processing or through post-linguistic conceptual imagery. We use this tool to investigate whether language-induced motor activity remains constant or is modulated in negative, as opposed to affirmative, linguistic contexts
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