Abstract
The semantic richness dimension referred to as body-object interaction (BOI) measures perceptions of the ease with which people can physically interact with words' referents. Previous studies have shown facilitated lexical and semantic processing for words rated high in BOI, e.g., belt, than for words rated low in BOI, e.g., sun. These BOI effects have been taken as evidence that embodied information is relevant to word recognition (Siakaluk et al., 2008a). However, to date there is no evidence linking BOI manipulations to differences in the utilization of perceptual or sensorimotor areas of the brain. The current study used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the neural correlates of BOI in a semantic categorization task (SCT). Sixteen healthy adults participated. Results showed that high BOI words were associated with activation in the left inferior parietal lobule (supramarginal gyrus, BA 40), a sensory association area involved in kinesthetic memory. These results provide evidence that the BOI dimension captures the relative availability of sensorimotor information, and that this contributes to semantic processing.
Highlights
Our ability to efficiently extract information from the world around us is a crucial component of human cognition
Responses to the high body-object interaction (BOI) words (M = 930 msec, SD = 154 msec) were significantly faster than responses to the low BOI words (M = 1083 msec, SD = 153 msec), and this BOI effect was significant by subjects and by items, t1(15) = 6.62, p < 0.001; t2(60) = 4.66, p < 0.001
The present study was designed to investigate the neural correlates of BOI effects in semantic categorization
Summary
Our ability to efficiently extract information from the world around us is a crucial component of human cognition. Using a LDT and a phonological lexical decision task (PLDT: “Does it sound like a real English word?”) with visually presented words, Siakaluk and colleagues found significant facilitation for words that were rated high in body-object interaction (BOI), a dimension which measures perceptions of the ease with which a human body can physically interact with a word’s referent (Siakaluk et al, 2008a; Tillotson et al, 2008). These effects were observed for a set of high BOI items that were matched with a set of low BOI items on numerous lexical.
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