title: A piece of the action: modulation of sensory-motor regions by action idioms and metaphors.
abstract: The idea that the conceptual system draws on sensory and motor systems has received considerable experimental support in recent years. Whether the tight coupling between sensory-motor and conceptual systems is modulated by factors such as context or task demands is a matter of controversy. Here, we tested the context sensitivity of this coupling by using action verbs in three different types of sentences in an fMRI study: literal action, apt but non-idiomatic action metaphors, and action idioms. Abstract sentences served as a baseline. The result showed involvement of sensory-motor areas for literal and metaphoric action sentences, but not for idiomatic ones. A trend of increasing sensory-motor activation from abstract to idiomatic to metaphoric to literal sentences was seen. These results support a gradual abstraction process whereby the reliance on sensory-motor systems is reduced as the abstractness of meaning as well as conventionalization is increased, highlighting the context sensitive nature of semantic processing.
authors.affiliation: Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA. Electronic address: rutvik@sc.edu.
authors.forename: Rutvik H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Desai
authors.forename: Lisa L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Conant
authors.forename: Jeffrey R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Binder
authors.forename: Haeil
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Mark S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Seidenberg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D019365:Metaphor; D011932:Reading; D012660:Semantics; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Action; Context sensitivity; Embodiment; Idiom; Metaphor; Semantics; fMRI
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