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Cited by 125Action Observation and SynchronizationNeurobiology of Language and BilingualismFree Will and Agency

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N400 ERPs for actions: building meaning in context

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Amoruso, Lucía, Gelormini, Carlos, Aboitiz, Francisco, Alvarez González, Miguel, Manes, Facundo, Cardona, Juan F., Ibanez, Agustín·2013·Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
DOI 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00057PMC PMC3586681
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Abstract

Converging neuroscientific evidence suggests the existence of close links between language and sensorimotor cognition. Accordingly, during the comprehension of meaningful actions, our brain would recruit semantic-related operations similar to those associated with the processing of language information. Consistent with this view, electrophysiological findings show that the N400 component, traditionally linked to the semantic processing of linguistic material, can also be elicited by action-related material. This review outlines recent data from N400 studies that examine the understanding of action events. We focus on three specific domains, including everyday action comprehension, co-speech gesture integration, and the semantics involved in motor planning and execution. Based on the reviewed findings, we suggest that both negativities (the N400 and the action-N400) reflect a common neurocognitive mechanism involved in the construction of meaning through the expectancies created by previous experiences and current contextual information. To shed light on how this process is instantiated in the brain, a testable contextual fronto-temporo-parietal model is proposed.

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Figures

Figure 1 Peak latencies of the N400 ERPs. Illustration showing the timing of the N400 ERPs reported in the reviewed studies. Each number corresponds to a study (please see Table 1 for information regarding the enumeration). Everyday action studies are indicated with a green square, speech and co-speech gestures studies with a pink circle and current motor events studies with a yellow diamond. Picture (A) corresponds to the N400 peaks reported in the left hemisphere and picture (B) corresponds to those reported in the right hemisphere.
Figure 1 Peak latencies of the N400 ERPs. Illustration showing the timing of the N400 ERPs reported in the reviewed studies. Each number corresponds to a study (please see Table 1 for information regarding the enumeration). Everyday action studies are indicated with a green square, speech and co-speech gestures studies with a pink circle and current motor events studies with a yellow diamond. Picture (A) corresponds to the N400 peaks reported in the left hemisphere and picture (B) corresponds to those reported in the right hemisphere.CC BY · PubMed Central
Figure 2 The examples of everyday actions stimuli and N400 ERPs. On the left side of the figure, frames taken from movie clips are shown. The first two illustrate context and the third one illustrates the congruous (e.g., a man uses an electric iron to press wrinkles from his pants) or the incongruous (e.g., a man uses a fork to iron his pants) final ending. On the right side of the figure, the waveforms of the ERPs time-locked to the incongruous final movie scenes are compared to ERPs time-locked to congruous final scenes at representative electrode sites. The data were taken from Sitnikova et al. (2003, 2008).
Figure 2 The examples of everyday actions stimuli and N400 ERPs. On the left side of the figure, frames taken from movie clips are shown. The first two illustrate context and the third one illustrates the congruous (e.g., a man uses an electric iron to press wrinkles from his pants) or the incongruous (e.g., a man uses a fork to iron his pants) final ending. On the right side of the figure, the waveforms of the ERPs time-locked to the incongruous final movie scenes are compared to ERPs time-locked to congruous final scenes at representative electrode sites. The data were taken from Sitnikova et al. (2003, 2008).CC BY · PubMed Central
Figure 3 The ERP waveforms for gestures embedded in complex contexts. The ERP responses time-locked to the onset of congruous and incongruous gestures paired with video segments of cartoons are shown. These data were taken from Wu and Coulson (2005). The arrows indicate congruency effects indexed by N450 and LPC modulations.
Figure 3 The ERP waveforms for gestures embedded in complex contexts. The ERP responses time-locked to the onset of congruous and incongruous gestures paired with video segments of cartoons are shown. These data were taken from Wu and Coulson (2005). The arrows indicate congruency effects indexed by N450 and LPC modulations.CC BY · PubMed Central
Figure 4 ECoG of action-sentence compatibility effect. (A) Example of ACE paradigm and stimuli. Both top corners shown participants hands position during the task (open at left and closed at right). In the center are two examples of the sentences according to the hand-shape of the action (open hand or closed hand sentences). The combined hand position used to depress the response button and the sentence content determines the type of category: compatible or incompatible. Final target verbs are underlined. (B) Motor and semantic areas producing an ACE. Normalized position of the electrodes showing a significant ACE (compatibility effect: incompatible minus compatible differences) at IFG, STG, and MTG (semantic-related areas, Blue circle) and the PM and M1 (motor-related areas, red circle). The time-probability charts show electrodes significant effects at N400 windows [M-N400 localized in premotor/motor (right side) and at temporal areas (left side)]. (C) Intracranial ERPs of Motor N400 (390–500 ms) and temporal N400 (250–700 ms) for compatible, incompatible and neutral categories. Modified with authorization from Cortex (Ibáñez et al., 2012a).
Figure 4 ECoG of action-sentence compatibility effect. (A) Example of ACE paradigm and stimuli. Both top corners shown participants hands position during the task (open at left and closed at right). In the center are two examples of the sentences according to the hand-shape of the action (open hand or closed hand sentences). The combined hand position used to depress the response button and the sentence content determines the type of category: compatible or incompatible. Final target verbs are underlined. (B) Motor and semantic areas producing an ACE. Normalized position of the electrodes showing a significant ACE (compatibility effect: incompatible minus compatible differences) at IFG, STG, and MTG (semantic-related areas, Blue circle) and the PM and M1 (motor-related areas, red circle). The time-probability charts show electrodes significant effects at N400 windows [M-N400 localized in premotor/motor (right side) and at temporal areas (left side)]. (C) Intracranial ERPs of Motor N400 (390–500 ms) and temporal N400 (250–700 ms) for compatible, incompatible and neutral categories. Modified with authorization from Cortex (Ibáñez et al., 2012a).CC BY · PubMed Central
Figure 5 N400 brain activations for words and actions. Lateral view of the left hemisphere showing the N400 neural sources for words (in blue) and for actions (in red). The figure was computed using the MRIcron software (Rorden and Brett, 2000) and the spherical regions of interest (ROIs) (5 mm) displayed in the picture were taken from the MEG, fMRI, ERP, and intracranial studies reviewed in this article (please see Halgren et al., 2002; Proverbio et al., 2010; Ibáñez et al., 2012a). Please note that overlapping activations (in pink) in frontal, temporal, and parietal areas are common to both N400s, while motor and premotor regions are activated only during the processing of action-related material.
Figure 5 N400 brain activations for words and actions. Lateral view of the left hemisphere showing the N400 neural sources for words (in blue) and for actions (in red). The figure was computed using the MRIcron software (Rorden and Brett, 2000) and the spherical regions of interest (ROIs) (5 mm) displayed in the picture were taken from the MEG, fMRI, ERP, and intracranial studies reviewed in this article (please see Halgren et al., 2002; Proverbio et al., 2010; Ibáñez et al., 2012a). Please note that overlapping activations (in pink) in frontal, temporal, and parietal areas are common to both N400s, while motor and premotor regions are activated only during the processing of action-related material.CC BY · PubMed Central

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Van Petten C. Kutas M. (1990). Interactions between sentence context and word frequency in event-related brain potentials. Mem. Cognit. 18, 380– 393 2381317

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Metadata

Authors
Amoruso, L., Gelormini, C., Aboitiz, F., Alvarez González, M., Manes, F., Cardona, J. F., & Ibanez, A.
Affiliations
  • Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (AR)
  • Instituto de Neurología Cognitiva (AR)
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2013
Volume
7
Pages
57-57
ISSN
1662-5161 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fnhum.2013.00057
PMC
PMC3586681
OpenAlex
W1970882908
Cited by
125
References
157
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 2
FWCI
15.01
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Americanae (AECID Library) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Americanae (AECID Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (HIR 10-001)
  • Fundación INECO
  • Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (1130920)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Free Will and Agency
Keywords
N400, action understanding, event understanding, co-speech gestures, motor planning, semantic processing, contextual expectations, meaning-making

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