Action Verbs Flashcards
How does the Grounded Cognition Model explain the meanings of action verbs?
- concepts are anchored in modality-specific systems
- understanding word meaning involves activating high level perceptual and motor representations
Name the 7 manners of motion verbs
- rapid motion (rush)
- leisurely motion (amble)
- furtive motion (sneak)
- smooth motion (glide)
- awkward motion (limp)
- manners of walking (strut)
- manner of jumping (hop)
Biological motion is represented bilaterally in the __________
parietal superior temporal sulcus (pSTS)
true or false: babies can tell the difference between biological and mechanical motion?
True
Several PET and fMRI studies suggest that the ___________________ with pSTS and pMTG may represent the visual motion features of verb meanings
left posterolateral temporal cortex (PLTC)
What were the results of the Kemmerer et al (2012) study in which they compared lesions to task probing action concepts verbally and with pictures
damage to the left PLTC and underlying white matter was significantly associated with impaired vs. unimpaired performance on 5 of 6 of these tasks
What are two potential challenges of the function of the left PLTC from Bedny et al?
- the left PLTC seems to respond more to verbs than nouns, regardless of the amount of motion that is associated with the words
- results also seen for congenitally blind people
Taking into considerations the challenges of the left PLTC what is the overall conclusion of the PLTC
perhaps the left PLTC is innately predisposed to represent several
components of verb meaning, including visual motion patterns and more abstract types of information (e.g., agent, patient).
What is the motor homunculus of the human brain?
Different areas of the body associated with different parts of the brain through somatotopic mapping. Larger areas in the brain for the hands, feet and face
What is the motor homunculus of the human brain?
Different areas of the body associated with different parts of the brain through somatotopic mapping. Larger areas in the brain for the hands, feet and face
Motor related _____ and ______ areas contribute to the execution, observation and imagination of actions
frontal, parietal
What is Pulvermullers Semantic Somatotopy Hypothesis?
The motor features of action verbs represented, in part, in somatotopically mapped frontal areas
Evidence from an fMRI study (Willems et al) found that during a LD task, the premotor cortex responded to manual action verbs in asymmetrical ways for right-handers and left-handers. Greater LH engagement for right handed people, and greater RH engagement for left handers.
What are the conclusions from these results?
when people understand verbs, they automatically simulate the way they themselves usually perform the designated types of actions, as opposed to the way they usually see others perform them
What are the challenges to the Semantic Somatotopy Hypothesis (and the broader Grounded Cognition Model)
- some brain damaged patents are impaired at imitating actions, but can nevertheless understand the associated verbs
- normal people can at least partially understand descriptions of actions they can’t perform (pole-vaulting)
- Motor stimulations may not always be necessary to comprehend linguistic descriptions of actions
What is an alternative theoretical framework to the Semantic Somatotopy Hypothesis?
The Fault Tolerant Theory of Conceptual Representation
