Brain Signatures of Embodied Semantics and Language: A Consensus Paper

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Contributors

  • Laura Bechtold - , Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (Author)
  • Samuel H. Cosper - , Chair of Lifespan Developmental Neuroscience (Author)
  • Anastasia Malyshevskaya - , Higher School of Economics, University of Potsdam (Author)
  • Maria Montefinese - , IRCCS Fondazione Ospedale San Camillo - Venezia (Author)
  • Piermatteo Morucci - , Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (Author)
  • Valentina Niccolai - , Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (Author)
  • Claudia Repetto - , Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (Author)
  • Ana Zappa - , Laboratoire Parole et Langage (Author)
  • Yury Shtyrov - , Higher School of Economics, Aarhus University (Author)

Abstract

According to embodied theories (including embodied, embedded, extended, enacted, situated, and grounded approaches to cognition), language representation is intrinsically linked to our interactions with the world around us, which is reflected in specific brain signatures during language processing and learning. Moving on from the original rivalry of embodied vs. amodal theories, this consensus paper addresses a series of carefully selected questions that aim at determining when and how rather than whether motor and perceptual processes are involved in language processes. We cover a wide range of research areas, from the neurophysiological signatures of embodied semantics, e.g., event-related potentials and fields as well as neural oscillations, to semantic processing and semantic priming effects on concrete and abstract words, to first and second language learning and, finally, the use of virtual reality for examining embodied semantics. Our common aim is to better understand the role of motor and perceptual processes in language representation as indexed by language comprehension and learning. We come to the consensus that, based on seminal research conducted in the field, future directions now call for enhancing the external validity of findings by acknowledging the multimodality, multidimensionality, flexibility and idiosyncrasy of embodied and situated language and semantic processes.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number237
JournalJournal of Cognition
Volume6
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 2023
Peer-reviewedYes

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • EEG, embodied cognition, language learning, priming, semantic processing, virtual reality

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