Biomedical subjects

Anna M Borghi

Publications and source records attributed to Anna M Borghi.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Sentence comprehension and action: effector specific modulation of the motor system.

The purpose of the paper is to study whether sentence comprehension modulates the motor system. Participants were presented with 24 pairs of nouns and verbs that could be referred to hand and mouth actions (e.g., to unwrap vs. to suck the sweet), in the first block, or, in the second block, to 24 hand and foot actions (e.g., to throw vs. kick the ball). An equal number of non-sensible pairs were presented. Participants' task consisted of deciding whether the combination made sense or not: 20 participants responded by saying yes loudly into a microphone, 20 by pressing a pedal. Results support embodied theories of language comprehension, as they suggest that sentence processing activates an action simulation. This simulation is quite detailed, as it is sensitive to the effector involved. Namely, it leads to a facilitation in responses to 'mouth sentences' and 'foot sentences' compared to 'hand sentences' in case of congruency between the effectors - mouth and foot - involved in the motor response and in the sentence.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Are visual stimuli sufficient to evoke motor information? Studies with hand primes.

In two experiments we assessed whether seeing objects automatically activates information regarding how to manipulate them. In Experiment 1 participants categorized photographs of objects that could be manipulated either with a power or a precision grip into artefacts or natural kinds. Target-objects were preceded by primes consisting of photographs of hands in grasping postures (precision or power grip). Experiment 2 involved a preliminary motor training phase in which each visual prime was associated with the actual motor action. In both experiments, natural kinds graspable with a power grip produced the fastest responses. In Experiment 2 we also found a congruency effect between the prime and the kind of grip required by the object (precision, power). Results suggest that visual stimuli automatically activate motor information. Specific motor programs are, however, activated only if motor training is performed before the categorization task. Implications of the results for the understanding of the organization of conceptual and motor information in the brain are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Conceptual information on objects' locations.

According to traditional views, basic and subordinate concepts elicit perceptual information, superordinate concepts abstract information. Two experiments showed that also superordinate concepts activate perceptual and contextual information. In Experiment 1 participants evaluated the adequacy of Scene- and Object-like locations ascribed to basic and superordinate concepts. Superordinate concepts were judged faster when paired with Scene-like locations, where many exemplars can coexist, than with Object-like locations. The results were replicated and extended in the second experiment with a location production task. Theoretical accounts for the results are discussed.

Attention↗

PubMed2004

Object concepts and action: extracting affordances from objects parts.

Two experiments with a part-generation task show that rated salience and production order of parts in artifacts are first predicted by their relevance for canonical actions, but also that they vary, depending on the current situation. In three further experiments participants read sentences describing actions (e.g., 'The woman shares the orange') followed by objects' parts from which it was easy or not to extract affordances (e.g., 'slice' vs. 'pulp'). They had to perform a part verification task or to evaluate whether or not the combination made sense. Parts from which it was easy to derive affordances were processed earlier and the combination was evaluated as the one which made more sense. Overall, results support the view that sensory-motor simulations underlie conceptualization and that concepts are action-based.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Putting words in perspective.

In this article, we explore the nature of the conceptual knowledge retrieved when people use words to think about objects. If conceptual knowledge is used to simulate and guide action in the world, then how one can interact with an object should be reflected in the speed of retrieval and the content that is retrieved. This prediction was tested in three experiments in which a part verification procedure was used. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that speed of part verification varied with the perspective imposed on the object by the language used to name the object (e.g., "You are driving a car" or "You are fueling a car"). In Experiment 3, parts were chosen so that actions directed toward them (on the real object) require movement upward (e.g., the roof of a car) or downward (e.g., the wheels of a car). Orthogonally, responding "yes" required an upward or a downward movement to a response button. Responding in a direction incompatible with the part's location (e.g., responding downward to verify that a car has a roof) was slow relative to responding in a direction compatible with the part's location. These results provide a strong link between concept knowledge and situated action.

Cognition↗