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Embodiment of sleep-related words: Evidence from event-related potentials.

ABSTRACT: Our thoughts can influence sleep, but the underlying mechanisms are unknown. According to the theory of "embodied cognition," the semantic content of cognitive processes is represented by multimodal networks in the brain, which include body-related functions. Such multimodal representations could offer a mechanism, which explains mutual influences between cognition and sleep. Here we tested whether sleep-related words are represented in multimodal networks by examining the effect of congruent versus incongruent body positions on word processing during wakefulness. We experimentally manipulated the body position of 66 subjects (19-40 years old) between standing upright and lying down. Sleep- and activity-related words were presented around the individual speech recognition threshold. Our results show that word processing was facilitated in congruent body positions (sleep words: lying down and activity words: standing upright) compared with incongruent body positions, as indicated by a reduced N400 in the congruent condition with the lowest volume. In addition, early sensory components of the ERP (N180 and P280) were enhanced, suggesting that words were also acoustically better understood in a congruent body position. However, the difference in ERPs did not translate to differences on a behavioral level. Our results support the prediction of embodied processing of sleep- and activity-related words. Body position potentially induces a pre-activation of multimodal networks, thereby enhancing access to the semantic concepts of words related to current body position. The link between semantic meaning and body-related function could be a key element in explaining the influences of cognitive processing on sleep.

SUBMITTER: Hulsemann MJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8365768 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The goal of the present study was to investigate the interaction between different senses of polysemous nouns (metonymies and metaphors) and different meanings of homonyms using the method of event-related potentials (ERPs) and a priming paradigm. Participants read two-word phrases containing ambiguous words and made a sensicality judgment. Phrases with polysemes highlighted their literal sense and were preceded by primes with either the same or different - metonymic or metaphorical - sense. Similarly, phrases with homonyms were primed by phrases with a consistent or inconsistent meaning of the noun. The results demonstrated that polysemous phrases with literal senses preceded by metonymic primes did not differ in ERP responses from the control condition with the same literal primes. In contrast, processing phrases with the literal sense preceded by metaphorical primes resulted in N400 and P600 effects that might reflect a very limited priming effect. The priming effect observed between metonymic and literal senses supports the idea that these senses share a single representation in the mental lexicon. In contrast, the effects observed for polysemes with metaphorical primes characterize lexical access to the word's target sense and competition between the two word senses. The processing of homonyms preceded by the prime with an inconsistent meaning, although it did not elicit an N400 effect, was accompanied by a P600 effect as compared to the control condition with a consistent meaning of the prime. We suppose that the absence of the N400 effect may result from inhibition of the target meaning by the inconsistent prime, whereas the P600 response might reflect processes of reanalysis, activation, and integration of the target meaning. Our results provide additional evidence for the difference in processing mechanisms between metonymies and metaphors that might have separate representations in the mental lexicon, although they are more related as compared to homonyms.

Project description:Purpose:This investigation was conducted to determine whether young children with autism spectrum disorders exhibited a canonical neural response to word stimuli and whether putative event-related potential (ERP) measures of word processing were correlated with a concurrent measure of receptive language. Additional exploratory analyses were used to examine whether the magnitude of the association between ERP measures of word processing and receptive language varied as a function of the number of word stimuli the participants reportedly understood. Method:Auditory ERPs were recorded in response to spoken words and nonwords presented with equal probability in 34 children aged 2-5 years with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder who were in the early stages of language acquisition. Average amplitudes and amplitude differences between word and nonword stimuli within 200-500 ms were examined at left temporal (T3) and parietal (P3) electrode clusters. Receptive vocabulary size and the number of experimental stimuli understood were concurrently measured using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories. Results:Across the entire participant group, word-nonword amplitude differences were diminished. The average word-nonword amplitude difference at T3 was related to receptive vocabulary only if 5 or more word stimuli were understood. Conclusions:If ERPs are to ever have clinical utility, their construct validity must be established by investigations that confirm their associations with predictably related constructs. These results contribute to accruing evidence, suggesting that a valid measure of auditory word processing can be derived from the left temporal response to words and nonwords. In addition, this measure can be useful even for participants who do not reportedly understand all of the words presented as experimental stimuli, though it will be important for researchers to track familiarity with word stimuli in future investigations. Supplemental Material:https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5614840.

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Embodiment of sleep-related words: Evidence from event-related potentials.

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