Manual Action Verbs Research Articles

The embodied typist: Bimanual actions are modulated by words' implied motility and number of evoked limbs.

The planning and execution of manual actions can be influenced by concomitant processing of manual action verbs. However, this phenomenon manifests in varied ways throughout the literature, ranging from facilitation to interference effects. Suggestively, stimuli across studies vary randomly in two potentially relevant variables: verb motility and effector quantity (i.e., the amount of movement and the number of hands implied by the word, respectively). Here we examine the role of these factors during keyboard typing, a strategic bimanual task validated in previous works. Forty-one participants read and typed high and low motility items from four categories: bimanual, unimanual, and non-manual action verbs, as well as minimally motoric verbs. Motor planning and execution were captured by first-letter lag (the lapse between word presentation and first keystroke) and whole-word lag (the lapse between the first and last keystroke). We found that verb motility modulated action planning and execution, both stages being delayed by high (relative to low) motility verbs. Effector quantity also influenced both stages, which were facilitated by bimanual verbs relative to unimanual verbs and non-manual verbs (this effect being confined to high motility items during action execution). Accordingly, motor-language coupling effects seem sensitive to words' implied motility and number of evoked limbs. These findings refine our understanding of how semantics influences bodily movement.

Does the Motor Cortex Want the Full Story? The Influence of Sentence Context on Corticospinal Excitability in Action Language Processing

The reading of action verbs has been shown to activate motor areas, whereby sentence context may serve to either globally strengthen this activation or to selectively sharpen it. To investigate this issue, we manipulated the presence of manual actions and sentence context, assessing the level of corticospinal excitability by means of transcranial magnetic stimulation. We hypothesized that context would serve to sharpen the neural representation of the described actions in the motor cortex, reflected in context-specific modulation of corticospinal excitability.Participants silently read manual action verbs and non-manual verbs, preceded by a full sentence (rich context) or not (minimal context). Transcranial magnetic stimulation pulses were delivered at rest or shortly after verb presentation. The coil was positioned over the cortical representation of the right first dorsal interosseous (pointer finger).We observed a general increase of corticospinal excitability while reading both manual action and non-manual verbs in minimal context, whereas the modulation was action-specific in rich context: corticospinal excitability increased while reading manual verbs, but did not differ from baseline for non-manual verbs. These findings suggest that sentence context sharpens motor representations, activating the motor cortex when relevant and eliminating any residual motor activation when no action is present.

The Neural Blending of Words and Movement: Event-Related Potential Signatures of Semantic and Action Processes during Motor-Language Coupling.

Behavioral embodied research shows that words evoking limb-specific meanings can affect responses performed with the corresponding body part. However, no study has explored this phenomenon's neural dynamics under implicit processing conditions, let alone by disentangling its conceptual and motoric stages. Here, we examined whether the blending of hand actions and manual action verbs, relative to nonmanual action verbs and nonaction verbs, modulates electrophysiological markers of semantic integration (N400) and motor-related cortical potentials during a lexical decision task. Relative to both other categories, manual action verbs involved reduced posterior N400 amplitude and greater modulations of frontal motor-related cortical potentials. Such effects overlapped in a window of ∼380-440 msec after word presentation and ∼180 msec before response execution, revealing the possible time span in which both semantic and action-related stages reach maximal convergence. These results allow refining current models of motor-language coupling while affording new insights on embodied dynamics at large.

Action verbs drive motor activity in adolescents but not in children

In adults, grip force has reliably been used to investigate motor simulation evoked by linguistic action, suggesting that motor phenomena are linked to semantic action. The parietal and frontal lobes and their connexions are essential neural structures for pragmatic aspects of hand semantic action. In this perspective, the aim of the study was to determine the extent to which two groups of children and adolescents, classically characterized by degree of axonal myelination in fronto-parietal circuits, monitored the occurrence of nouns and manual action verbs presented auditorily while holding a grip force sensor. Differential effects of grip force were seen only in the adolescents when monitoring action verbs. Interestingly, weaker effects of grip force were modulated by noun targets only in the younger children, revealing that the ability to profit from a full semantic representation of verbs is not clearly established in the younger children. Grip force modulation was observed as early as 300 ms post target onset and peaked at the 500–750 ms window of observation for both groups. These group differences are in line with the motor simulation difficulties seen in younger children. The results may also indicate that degree of grip force in response to specific linguistic categories parallels the maturation of the parietal-frontal circuits, including the anterior intra-parietal area which plays a determining role in semantic aspects of hand action.

Grammatical Aspect and Mental Activation of Implied Instruments: A Mouse-Tracking Study in Persian.

Can grammatical cues affect the way people activate event knowledge? We used mouse tracking to study the effect of grammatical aspect on the mental activation of instruments in Persian. Verb aspect is defined as how an action or event is extended over time, whether it is perfective (complete) or imperfective (incomplete). We predicted that imperfective aspect would trigger the mental activation of event knowledge, thus making participants mistakenly believe that the instrument with which the action is normally performed was present in the sentence. We tested this hypothesis using manual action verbs. Fifty female participants read a simple active sentence in which an actor had done or was doing an action (e.g., Sara has sliced/is slicing the zucchinis) with an implied instrument (knife). Then, they were presented with a picture of the implied instrument and judged whether the instrument was mentioned in the sentence they just read by clicking on the PRESENT or ABSENT response option. We predicted that participants would be less efficient at clicking ABSENT in the imperfective condition. In line with this prediction, we found that the imperfective condition caused significant deviation to the incorrect response PRESENT. However, no significant time differences emerged. The results are consistent with embodied views of language comprehension.

How words ripple through bilingual hands: Motor-language coupling during L1 and L2 writing

The speed of our hand movements can be affected by concurrent processing of manual action verbs (MaVs). Whereas this phenomenon is well established for native languages (L1s), it remains underexplored in late foreign languages (L2s), especially during highly automatized tasks. Here we timed keystroke activity while Spanish-English bilinguals copied MaVs, non-manual action verbs, and non-action verbs in their L1 and L2. Motor planning and execution dynamics were indexed by first-letter lag (the time-lapse between word presentation and first keystroke) and whole-word lag (the time-lapse between first and last keystroke), respectively. Despite yielding no effects on motor planning, MaVs facilitated typing execution in L1 but delayed it in L2, irrespective of the subjects’ typing skills, age of L2 learning, and L2 competence. Therefore, motor-language coupling effects seem to be present in both languages though they can arise differently in each. These results extend language grounding models, illuminating the role of embodied mechanisms throughout life.

Hand-use norms for Dutch and English manual action verbs: Implicit measures from a pantomime task.

Many studies use manual action verbs to test whether people use neural systems for controlling manual actions to understand language about those actions. Yet, few of these studies empirically establish how people use their hands to perform the actions described by those verbs, relying instead on explicit self-report measures. Here, participants pantomimed the manual actions described by a large set of Dutch (N = 251) and English (N = 250) verbs, allowing us to approximate the extent to which people use each of their hands to perform these actions. After the pantomime task, participants also provided explicit ratings of each of these actions. The results from the pantomime task showed that most manual actions cannot be described accurately as either "unimanual" or "bimanual." With a few exceptions, unimanual action verbs do not describe actions that are performed with only one hand, and bimanual verbs do not describe actions that are performed by using both hands equally. Instead, individual actions vary continuously in the extent to which people use their non-dominant hand to perform them, and in the extent to which people consistently prefer one hand or the other to perform them. Finally, by comparing participants' implicit behavior to their explicit ratings, we found that participants' self-report showed only limited correspondence with their observed motor behavior. We provide all of our measures in both raw and summary format, offering researchers a precision tool for constructing stimulus sets for experiments on embodied cognition.

The Embodied Penman: Effector-Specific Motor-Language Integration During Handwriting.

Several studies have illuminated how processing manual action verbs (MaVs) affects the programming or execution of concurrent hand movements. Here, to circumvent key confounds in extant designs, we conducted the first assessment of motor-language integration during handwriting-a task in which linguistic and motoric processes are co-substantiated. Participants copied MaVs, non-manual action verbs, and non-action verbs as we collected measures of motor programming and motor execution. Programming latencies were similar across conditions, but execution was faster for MaVs than for the other categories, regardless of whether word meanings were accessed implicitly or explicitly. In line with the Hand-Action-Network Dynamic Language Embodiment (HANDLE) model, such findings suggest that effector-congruent verbs can prime manual movements even during highly automatized tasks in which motoric and verbal processes are naturally intertwined. Our paradigm opens new avenues for fine-grained explorations of embodied language processes.

Negation markers inhibit motor routines during typing of manual action verbs

We explored whether negation markers recruit inhibitory mechanisms during keyboard-based action-verb typing. In each trial, participants read two sentences: the first featured a context (There is a contract) and the second ended with a relevant verb which had to be immediately typed. Crucially, the verb could describe manual actions, non-manual actions or non-motor processes, with either affirmative (You do sign it) or negative (You don’t sign it) polarity. We assessed the impact of verb type and polarity on two typing dimensions: motor programming (lapse between target onset and first keystroke) and motor execution (lapse between first and last keystroke). Negation yielded no effect on motor planning, but it selectively delayed typing execution for manual-action verbs, irrespective of the subjects’ typing skills. This suggests that processing negations during comprehension of manual-action sentences recruits inhibitory mechanisms acting on same-effector movements. Our novel finding extends embodied models of language and effector-specific motor-language integration.

Manual action verbs modulate the grip force of each hand in unimanual or symmetrical bimanual tasks.

Manual action verbs modulate the right-hand grip force in right-handed subjects. However, to our knowledge, no studies demonstrate the ability to accomplish this modulation during bimanual tasks nor describe their effect on left-hand behavior in unimanual and bimanual tasks. Using load cells and word playlists, we evaluated the occurrence of grip force modulation by manual action verbs in unimanual and symmetrical bimanual tasks across the three auditory processing phases. We found a significant grip force increase for all conditions compared to baseline, indicating the occurrence of modulation. When compared to each other, the grip force variation from baseline for the three phases of both hands in the symmetrical bimanual task was not different from the right-hand in the unimanual task. The left-hand grip force showed a lower amplitude for auditory phases 1 and 2 when compared to the other conditions. The right-hand grip force modulation became significant from baseline at 220 ms after the word onset in the unimanual task. This moment occurred earlier for both hands in bimanual task (160 ms for the right-hand and 180 for the left-hand). It occurred later for the left-hand in unimanual task (320 ms). We discuss the hypothesis that Broca’s area and Broca’s homologue area likely control the left-hand modulation in a unilateral or a bilateral fashion. These results provide new evidence for understanding the linguistic function processing in both hemispheres.

Effect of Constrained Arm Posture on the Processing of Action Verbs.

Evidence is increasing that brain areas that are responsible for action planning and execution are activated during the information processing of action-related verbs (e.g., pick or kick). To obtain further evidence, we conducted three experiments to see if constraining arm posture, which could disturb the motor planning and imagery for that arm, would lead to delayed judgment of verbs referring to arm actions. In all experiments, native Japanese speakers judged as quickly as possible whether the presented object and the verb would be compatible (e.g., ball–throw) or not (e.g., ball–pour). Constrained arm posture was introduced to the task by asking participants to keep both hands behind their back. Two types of verbs were used: manual action verbs (i.e., verbs referring to actions performed on an object by a human hand) and non-manual action verbs. In contrast to our hypothesis that constrained arm posture would affect only the information processing of manual action verbs, the results showed delayed processing of both manual action and non-manual action verbs when the arm posture was constrained. The effect of constrained arm posture was observed even when participants responded with their voice, suggesting that the delayed judgment was not simply due to the difficulty of responding with the hand (i.e., basic motor interference). We discussed why, contrary to our hypothesis, constrained arm posture resulted in delayed CRTs regardless of the “manipulability” as symbolized by the verbs.

Hands typing what hands do: Action–semantic integration dynamics throughout written verb production

Processing action verbs, in general, and manual action verbs, in particular, involves activations in gross and hand-specific motor networks, respectively. While this is well established for receptive language processes, no study has explored action–semantic integration during written production. Moreover, little is known about how such crosstalk unfolds from motor planning to execution. Here we address both issues through our novel “action semantics in typing” paradigm, which allows to time keystroke operations during word typing. Specifically, we created a primed-verb-copying task involving manual action verbs, non-manual action verbs, and non-action verbs. Motor planning processes were indexed by first-letter lag (the lapse between target onset and first keystroke), whereas execution dynamics were assessed considering whole-word lag (the lapse between first and last keystroke). Each phase was differently delayed by action verbs. When these were processed for over one second, interference was strong and magnified by effector compatibility during programming, but weak and effector-blind during execution. Instead, when they were processed for less than 900ms, interference was reduced by effector compatibility during programming and it faded during execution. Finally, typing was facilitated by prime–target congruency, irrespective of the verbs’ motor content. Thus, action-verb semantics seems to extend beyond its embodied foundations, involving conceptual dynamics not tapped by classical reaction-time measures. These findings are compatible with non-radical models of language embodiment and with predictions of event coding theory.

Picturing meaning: an ERP study on the integration of left or right-handed first-person perspective pictures into a sentence context

ABSTRACTVerbal and pictorial information are often processed together. Therefore, knowing how and when information from these modalities is integrated is important. In this ERP study we investigated integration of pictorial information into a sentence context. Right-handed participants heard sentences containing manual action verbs (e.g. “You are slicing the tomato”), while seeing a picture of a manual action. Pictures matched or mismatched the sentence content and the participants’ handedness (i.e. pictures showed a left or right-handed perspective). Results showed a larger N400-amplitude for content-mismatching than for content-matching sentence-picture pairs. The N400-amplitude was not larger when the picture mismatched the participants’ handedness. However, participants responded faster to right than to left-handed perspective pictures. This study suggests that with a sentence context, pictures are integrated with verbal information, but mental simulations either do not play a role in this process or this role might be too small to be visualised in the N400.

Grip Force Is Part of the Semantic Representation of Manual Action Verbs

Motor actions and action verbs activate similar cortical brain regions. A functional interference can be taken as evidence that there is a parallel treatment of these two types of information and would argue for the biological grounding of language in action. A novel approach examining the relationship between language and grip force is presented. With eyes closed and arm extended, subjects listened to words relating (verbs) or not relating (nouns) to a manual action while holding a cylinder with an integrated force sensor. There was a change in grip force when subjects heard verbs that related to manual action. Grip force increased from about 100 ms following the verb presentation, peaked at 380 ms and fell abruptly after 400 ms, signalling a possible inhibition of the motor simulation evoked by these words. These observations reveal the intimate relationship that exists between language and grasp and show that it is possible to elucidate online new aspects of sensorimotor interaction.

Body-Specific Representations of Action Verbs

According to theories of embodied cognition, understanding a verb like throw involves unconsciously simulating the action of throwing, using areas of the brain that support motor planning. If understanding action words involves mentally simulating one’s own actions, then the neurocognitive representation of word meanings should differ for people with different kinds of bodies, who perform actions in systematically different ways. In a test of the body-specificity hypothesis, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare premotor activity correlated with action verb understanding in right- and left-handers. Right-handers preferentially activated the left premotor cortex during lexical decisions on manual-action verbs (compared with nonmanual-action verbs), whereas left-handers preferentially activated right premotor areas. This finding helps refine theories of embodied semantics, suggesting that implicit mental simulation during language processing is body specific: Right- and left-handers, who perform actions differently, use correspondingly different areas of the brain for representing action verb meanings.

Body-specific representations of action verbs: Neural evidence from right- and left-handers

According to theories of embodied cognition, understanding a verb like throw involves unconsciously simulating the action of throwing, using areas of the brain that support motor planning. If understanding action words involves mentally simulating one's own actions, then the neurocognitive representation of word meanings should differ for people with different kinds of bodies, who perform actions in systematically different ways. In a test of the body-specificity hypothesis, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare premotor activity correlated with action verb understanding in right- and left-handers. Right-handers preferentially activated the left premotor cortex during lexical decisions on manual-action verbs (compared with nonmanual-action verbs), whereas left-handers preferentially activated right premotor areas. This finding helps refine theories of embodied semantics, suggesting that implicit mental simulation during language processing is body specific: Right- and left-handers, who perform actions differently, use correspondingly different areas of the brain for representing action verb meanings.