Abstract
Seeing objects triggers activation of motor areas. The implications of this motor activation in tasks that do not require object-use is still a matter of debate in cognitive sciences. Here we test whether motor activation percolates into the linguistic system by exploring the effect of object manipulability in a speech production task. Italian native speakers name the set of photographs provided by Guérard, Lagacè and Brodeur (Beh Res Meth, 2015). Photographs varied on four motor dimensions concerning on how easily the represented objects can be grasped, moved, or pantomimed, and the number of actions that can be performed with them. The results show classical psycholinguistic phenomena such as the effect of age of acquisition and name agreement in naming latencies. Critically, linear mixed-effects models show an effect of three motor predictors over and above the psycholinguistic effects (replicating, in part, previous findings, Guérard et al., 2015). Further research is needed to address how, and at which level, the manipulability effect emerges in the course of word production.
Highlights
When presented with a picture of a ‘chair’ that we have never seen before, we have no difficulty in correctly naming the picture as “chair” in less than one second
Object manipulability refers to any motor dimension associated to an object that recruits the way we can interact with that object, such as for instance how an object can be grasped, or the action we perform when using that object
For each photograph we considered the level of familiarity and visual complexity ratings provided by Brodeur and colleagues (2010) and the four different manipulability ratings provided by Guerard and colleagues
Summary
When presented with a picture of a ‘chair’ that we have never seen before, we have no difficulty in correctly naming the picture as “chair” in less than one second. Lorenzoni et al: The Manipulability Effect in Object Naming evidence that motor simulation has a functional role in tool identification This conclusion is questioned by other recent studies reporting a manipulability effect even when no hand movement is performed and with a set of objects that do not contain a handle element but can be grasped. The reviewed evidence suggests that motor properties associated to the target object (what we called, object manipulability) might affect word production It is still unclear, to what extent manipulability either facilitates or interferes with naming latencies; and the role of hand movements for the emergence of the phenomenon. To what extent manipulability either facilitates or interferes with naming latencies; and the role of hand movements for the emergence of the phenomenon In this data report we aimed at replicating the object naming experiment conducted by Guerard and colleagues. We aim at assessing the reliability of the manipulability effect by testing it in a language never tested before, that is, Italian
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