ArticlePloS one2013
The motor system contributes to comprehension of abstract language.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed.
- Embodied Effects in Verb Processing and Learning: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Perceptual representations in L1 and L2 spatial and abstract language processing: applying an innovative sentence-diagram verification paradigm.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2024Article
- The role of perceptual and action effector strength of graphs and bases of mathematical metaphors in the metaphorical processing of mathematical concepts.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Activation in Motor and Language Areas Suggest a Compensatory Role of the Motor Cortex in Second Language Processing.Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2023Article
- Motor features of abstract verbs determine their representations in the motor system.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- The Neural Blending of Words and Movement: Event-Related Potential Signatures of Semantic and Action Processes during Motor-Language Coupling.Journal of cognitive neuroscience · 2021Article
- Embodiment Effect on the Comprehension of Mandarin Manual Action Language: An ERP Study.Journal of psycholinguistic research · 2019Article
- Do Textbooks Matter for Reading Comprehension? A Study in Flemish Primary Education.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Article
- A Peircean account of concepts: grounding abstraction in phylogeny through a comparative neuroscientific perspective.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2018Review
- Language as a disruptive technology: abstract concepts, embodiment and the flexible mind.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2018Review
- Placing Abstract Concepts in Space: Quantity, Time and Emotional Valence.Frontiers in psychology · 2018Article
- A test of the symbol interdependency hypothesis with both concrete and abstract stimuli.PloS one · 2018Article
- The Role of Motion Concepts in Understanding Non-Motion Concepts.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2017Article
- Ethical and Legal Concerns Associated With the Comprehension of Legal Language and Concepts.AJOB neuroscience · 2017Article
- Enacted Reading Comprehension: Using Bodily Movement to Aid the Comprehension of Abstract Text Content.PloS one · 2017Article
- Grounding Abstractness: Abstract Concepts and the Activation of the Mouth.Frontiers in psychology · 2016Article
- Embodied Action Improves Cognition in Children: Evidence from a Study Based on Piagetian Conservation Tasks.Frontiers in psychology · 2016Article
- Cortical dynamics and subcortical signatures of motor-language coupling in Parkinson's disease.Scientific reports · 2015Article
- Article
- Lost for emotion words: what motor and limbic brain activity reveals about autism and semantic theory.NeuroImage · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
If language comprehension requires a sensorimotor simulation, how can abstract language be comprehended? We show that preparation to respond in an upward or downward direction affects comprehension of the abstract quantifiers "more and more" and "less and less" as indexed by an N400-like component. Conversely, the semantic content of the sentence affects the motor potential measured immediately before the upward or downward action is initiated. We propose that this bidirectional link between motor system and language arises because the motor system implements forward models that predict the sensory consequences of actions. Because the same movement (e.g., raising the arm) can have multiple forward models for different contexts, the models can make different predictions depending on whether the arm is raised, for example, to place an object or raised as a threat. Thus, different linguistic contexts invoke different forward models, and the predictions constitute different understandings of the language.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.