Grounding language in action
Open accessAbstract
We report a new phenomenon associated with language comprehension: the action-sentence compatibility effect (ACE). Participants judged whether sentences were sensible by making a response that required moving toward or away from their bodies. When a sentence implied action in one direction (e.g., "Close the drawer" implies action away from the body), the participants had difficulty making a sensibility judgment requiring a response in the opposite direction. The ACE was demonstrated for three sentences types: imperative sentences, sentences describing the transfer of concrete objects, and sentences describing the transfer of abstract entities, such as "Liz told you the story." These dataare inconsistent with theories of language comprehension in which meaning is represented as a set of relations among nodes. Instead, the data support an embodied theory of meaning that relates the meaning of sentences to human action.
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Neural representations of words consist of complex multimodal networks represented in sensory and motor brain areas in an experience-dependent way.
“Behavioral and neuroscientific studies suggest that the neural representations of words consist of complex multimodal networks represented in sensory and motor brain areas in an experience-dependent way [2,3].”
From Can grammatical morphemes be taught? Evidence of gestures influencing second language procedural learning in middle childhood (2023) · cites this paper as [2]
The paper’s Abstract says words are mapped to modal perceptual symbols based on brain states involved in perception, and Experiment 1 links sentence comprehension to simulated action. It does not establish that word representations are complex multimodal networks located in sensory and motor brain areas, or that those networks are experience-dependent. The indexed passages provide section labels but no page numbers. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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References 39 · Cited by 2,361
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- Authors
- Glenberg, A. M., & Kaschak, M. P.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Corresponding author
- Glenberg, Arthur M.
- Venue
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
- Published
- 2002-09
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 558-565
- ISSN
- 1069-9384 (ISSN-L)
- 1531-5320
- OpenAlex
- W2167293745
- Cited by
- 2,361
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 65 · 2025: 84 · 2024: 68 · 2023: 106 · 2022: 116 · 2021: 92 · 2020: 113 · 2019: 187 · 2018: 156 · 2017: 94 · 2016: 86 · 2015: 115 · 2014: 114 · 2013: 127 · 2012: 108
- FWCI
- 59.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Keywords
- language comprehension, embodied cognition, imperative sentences, object transfer, abstract objects, semantic representation
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Language, Reaction Time
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