title: Motion verb sentences activate left posterior middle temporal cortex despite static context.
abstract: The left posterior middle temporal region, anterior to V5/MT, has been shown to be responsive both to images with implied motion, to simulated motion, and to motion verbs. In this study, we investigated whether sentence context alters the response of the left posterior middle temporal region. 'Fictive motion' sentences are sentences in which an inanimate subject noun, semantically incapable of self movement, is coupled with a motion verb, yielding an apparent semantic contradiction (e.g. 'The path comes into the garden.'). However, this context yields no less activation in the left posterior middle temporal region than sentences in which the motion can be applied to the subject noun. We speculate that the left posterior middle temporal region activity in fictive motion sentences reflects the fact that the hearer applies motion to the depicted scenario by scanning it egocentrically.
authors.affiliation: Center for Semiotics, Aarhus University, Niels Juels Gade 84, 8200 Arhus N, Denmark. mikkel@pet.auh.dk
authors.forename: Mikkel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wallentin
authors.forename: Torben Ellegaard
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Lund
authors.forename: Svend
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ostergaard
authors.forename: Leif
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ostergaard
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roepstorff
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012660:Semantics; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*