TY - JOUR
T1 - Brain Signatures of Embodied Semantics and Language
T2 - A Consensus Paper
AU - Bechtold, Laura
AU - Cosper, Samuel H.
AU - Malyshevskaya, Anastasia
AU - Montefinese, Maria
AU - Morucci, Piermatteo
AU - Niccolai, Valentina
AU - Repetto, Claudia
AU - Zappa, Ana
AU - Shtyrov, Yury
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s).
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - EEG
KW - embodied cognition
KW - language learning
KW - priming
KW - semantic processing
KW - virtual reality
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85175990968&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5334/JOC.237
DO - 10.5334/JOC.237
M3 - Review
AN - SCOPUS:85175990968
SN - 2514-4820
VL - 6
JO - Journal of Cognition
JF - Journal of Cognition
IS - 1
M1 - 237
ER -