Incorporating individual differences into a mechanistic embodied cognitive neuroscience.

The review article proposes that the embodied cognition framework can be applied to develop mechanistic explanations for cognitive neuroscience phenomena. In our commentary we argue that any mechanistic explanation of such phenomena must be able to account for individual differences in cognition that are an inevitable consequence of the varied brain-body-environment experiences that comprise embodied cognition. We propose that, while mechanistic accounts may be able to model individual differences, the definition of mechanistic models may limit their application to the study of individual differences.

The role of emotion in acquisition of verb meaning.

Children's earliest acquired words are often learned through sensorimotor experience, but it is less clear how children learn the meaning of concepts whose referents are less associated with sensorimotor experience. The Affective Embodiment Account postulates that children use emotional experience to learn more abstract word meanings. There is mixed evidence for this account; analyses using mega-study datasets suggest that negative or positively valenced abstract words are learned earlier than emotionally neutral abstract words, yet the relationship between sensorimotor experience and valence is inconsistent across different methods of operationalising sensorimotor experience.

Mapping semantic space: Exploring the higher-order structure of word meaning.

Multiple representation theories posit that concepts are represented via a combination of properties derived from sensorimotor, affective, and linguistic experiences. Recently, it has been proposed that information derived from social experience, or socialness, represents another key aspect of conceptual representation. How these various dimensions interact to form a coherent conceptual space has yet to be fully explored.

Socialness effects in lexical-semantic processing.

Contemporary theories of semantic representation posit that social experience is an important source of information for deriving meaning. However, there is a lack of behavioral evidence in support of this proposal. The aim of the present work was to test whether words' degree of social relevance, or , influences lexical-semantic processing.

Unseen but influential associates: Properties of words' associates influence lexical and semantic processing.

In many models of lexical and semantic processing, it is assumed that single word processing is a function of the characteristics of the words presented and the distributional properties of the words' networks. Recent research suggests that semantic characteristics of a target word's associates may in fact influence target-word responses in lexical-semantic tasks. The present study extends that previous research to examine whether lexical and semantic properties of target-word associates are recruited during lexical and semantic decision tasks, and whether the type of associate information recruited varies as a function of task and concreteness of the target word.

Intracranial recordings reveal high-frequency activity in the human temporal-parietal cortex supporting non-literal language processing.

Objective: Non-literal expressions such as sarcasm, metaphor and simile refer to words and sentences that convey meanings or intentions that are different and more abstract than literal expressions. Neuroimaging studies have shown activations in a variety of frontal, parietal and temporal brain regions implicated in non-literal language processing. However, neurophysiological correlates of these brain areas underlying non-literal processing remain underexplored.

The maluma/takete effect is late: No longitudinal evidence for shape sound symbolism in the first year.

The maluma/takete effect refers to an association between certain language sounds (e.g., /m/ and /o/) and round shapes, and other language sounds (e.

The Development of Abstract Word Meanings.

Extensive research has shown that children's early words are learned through sensorimotor experience. Thus, early-acquired words tend to have more concrete meanings. Abstract word meanings tend to be learned later but less is known about their acquisition.

Meaning in hand: Investigating shared mechanisms of motor imagery and sensorimotor simulation in language processing.

There is substantial evidence to support grounded theories of semantic representation, however the mechanisms of simulation in most theories are underspecified. In the present study, we used an individual differences approach to test whether motor imagery may share some mechanisms with sensorimotor simulations engaged during semantic processing. We quantified individual differences in motor imagery ability via implicit imagery tasks and explicit imagery questionnaires and tested their relationship to sensorimotor effects in syntactic classification tasks.

Children's processing of written irony: An eye-tracking study.

Ironic language is challenging for many people to understand, and particularly for children. Comprehending irony is considered a major milestone in children's development, as it requires inferring the intentions of the person who is being ironic. However, the theories of irony comprehension generally do not address developmental changes, and there are limited data on children's processing of verbal irony.

Context matters: How do task demands modulate the recruitment of sensorimotor information during language processing?

Many theories of semantic representation propose that simulations of sensorimotor experience contribute to language processing. This can be seen in the body-object interaction effect (BOI; how easily the human body can interact with a word's referent). Words with high BOI ratings (e.

Social semantics: the organization and grounding of abstract concepts.

concepts, like and , are central features of our daily lives. Traditionally, abstract concepts are distinguished from other concepts in that they cannot be directly experienced through the senses. As such, they pose a challenge for strongly embodied models of semantic representation that assume a central role for sensorimotor information.

Hand and Foot Selection in Mental Body Rotations Involves Motor-Cognitive Interactions.

Action imagery involves the mental representation of an action without overt execution, and can contribute to perspective taking, such as that required for left-right judgments in mental body rotation tasks. It has been shown that perspective (back view, front view), rotational angle (head-up, head-down), and abstractness (abstract, realistic) of the stimulus material influences speed and correctness of the judgement. The present studies investigated whether left-right judgements are more difficult on legs than on arms and whether the type of limb interacts with the other factors.

Sarcasm use in Turkish: The roles of personality, age, gender, and self-esteem.

This study examined how self-reported sarcasm use is related to individual differences in non-Western adults. A sample of 329 Turkish speakers of high socioeconomic status completed an online survey including measures of self-reported sarcasm use, personality traits, positive and negative affect, self-presentation styles, self-esteem, as well as age and gender. Participants who reported being more likely to use sarcasm in social situations had scores indicating that they were less agreeable, less conscientious, and less emotional stable (i.

Concreteness ratings for 62,000 English multiword expressions.

Concreteness describes the degree to which a word's meaning is understood through perception and action. Many studies use the Brysbaert et al. (2014) concreteness ratings to investigate language processing and text analysis.

Quantifying social semantics: An inclusive definition of socialness and ratings for 8388 English words.

It has been proposed that social experience plays an important role in the grounding of concepts, and socialness has been proffered as a fundamental organisational principle underpinning semantic representation in the human brain. However, the empirical support for these hypotheses is limited by inconsistencies in the way socialness has been defined and measured. To further advance theory, the field must establish a clearer working definition, and research efforts could be facilitated by the availability of an extensive set of socialness ratings for individual concepts.

Quantifying children's sensorimotor experience: Child body-object interaction ratings for 3359 English words.

Body-object interaction (BOI) ratings measure how easily the human body can physically interact with a word's referent. Previous research has found that words higher in BOI tend to be processed more quickly and accurately in tasks such as lexical decision, semantic decision, and syntactic classification, suggesting that sensorimotor information is an important aspect of lexical knowledge. However, limited research has examined the importance of sensorimotor information from a developmental perspective.

Is a boat bigger than a ship? Null results in the investigation of vowel sound symbolism on size judgements in real language.

Sound symbolism is the phenomenon by which certain kinds of phonemes are associated with perceptual and/or semantic properties. In this article, we explored (i.e.

Implications of the "Language as Situated" View for Written Iconicity.

In their review, Murgiano, Motamedi, and Vigliocco (2020) lay out a new perspective in which they argue that language should be understood as a situated phenomenon. This perspective has implications for the study of written language, which is fundamentally an un-situated phenomenon. We consider the implications of this perspective for iconicity as it appears in written language.

A Developmental Framework for Embodiment Research: The Next Step Toward Integrating Concepts and Methods.

Embodiment research is at a turning point. There is an increasing amount of data and studies investigating embodiment phenomena and their role in mental processing and functions from across a wide range of disciplines and theoretical schools within the life sciences. However, the integration of behavioral data with data from different biological levels is challenging for the involved research fields such as movement psychology, social and developmental neuroscience, computational psychosomatics, social and behavioral epigenetics, human-centered robotics, and many more.

Simulating semantics: Are individual differences in motor imagery related to sensorimotor effects in language processing?

In embodied theories of semantic representation, the processes and mechanisms of modal simulations that are engaged during semantic processing have tended to be underspecified. We investigated the possibility that motor imagery may be a mechanism of simulation, using an individual differences approach. In this preregistered study, we assessed motor imagery abilities (n = 161) with implicit and explicit measures and identified two latent factors.

An investigation of iconic language development in four datasets.

Iconic words imitate their meanings. Previous work has demonstrated that iconic words are more common in infants' early speech, and in adults' child-directed speech (e.g.

Development of Abstract Word Knowledge.

The development of children's word knowledge is an important testing ground for the embodied account of word meaning, which proposes that word meanings are grounded in sensorimotor systems. Acquisition of abstract words, in particular, is a noted challenge for strong accounts of embodiment. We examined acquisition of abstract word meanings, using data on development of vocabulary knowledge from early school to University ages.