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A piece of the action: modulation of sensory-motor regions by action idioms and metaphors.


ABSTRACT: The idea that the conceptual system draws on sensory and motor systems has received considerable experimental support in recent years. Whether the tight coupling between sensory-motor and conceptual systems is modulated by factors such as context or task demands is a matter of controversy. Here, we tested the context sensitivity of this coupling by using action verbs in three different types of sentences in an fMRI study: literal action, apt but non-idiomatic action metaphors, and action idioms. Abstract sentences served as a baseline. The result showed involvement of sensory-motor areas for literal and metaphoric action sentences, but not for idiomatic ones. A trend of increasing sensory-motor activation from abstract to idiomatic to metaphoric to literal sentences was seen. These results support a gradual abstraction process whereby the reliance on sensory-motor systems is reduced as the abstractness of meaning as well as conventionalization is increased, highlighting the context sensitive nature of semantic processing.

SUBMITTER: Desai RH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3819432 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A piece of the action: modulation of sensory-motor regions by action idioms and metaphors.

Desai Rutvik H RH   Conant Lisa L LL   Binder Jeffrey R JR   Park Haeil H   Seidenberg Mark S MS  

NeuroImage 20130724


The idea that the conceptual system draws on sensory and motor systems has received considerable experimental support in recent years. Whether the tight coupling between sensory-motor and conceptual systems is modulated by factors such as context or task demands is a matter of controversy. Here, we tested the context sensitivity of this coupling by using action verbs in three different types of sentences in an fMRI study: literal action, apt but non-idiomatic action metaphors, and action idioms.  ...[more]

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