title: Testing the embodied account of object naming: a concurrent motor task affects naming artifacts and animals.
abstract: Embodied theories of object representation propose that the same neural networks are involved in encoding and retrieving object knowledge. In the present study, we investigated whether motor programs play a causal role in the retrieval of object names. Participants performed an object-naming task while squeezing a sponge with either their right or left hand. The objects were artifacts (e.g. hammer) or animals (e.g. giraffe) and were presented in an orientation that favored a grasp or not. We hypothesized that, if activation of motor programs is necessary to retrieve object knowledge, then concurrent motor activity would interfere with naming manipulable artifacts but not non-manipulable animals. In Experiment 1, we observed naming interference for all objects oriented towards the occupied hand. In Experiment 2, we presented the objects in more 'canonical orientations'. Participants named all objects more quickly when they were oriented towards the occupied hand. Together, these interference/facilitation effects suggest that concurrent motor activity affects naming for both categories. These results also suggest that picture-plane orientation interacts with an attentional bias that is elicited by the objects and their relationship to the occupied hand. These results may be more parsimoniously accounted for by a domain-general attentional effect, constraining the embodied theory of object representations. We suggest that researchers should scrutinize attentional accounts of other embodied cognitive effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Life Sciences Center, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4J1, Canada. Electronic address: heathmatheson@dal.ca.
authors.forename: Heath E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Matheson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: White
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Life Sciences Center, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4J1, Canada.
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: McMullen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: 2320 Sensory Perception; 2323 Visual perception; 2330 Motor processes; Concurrent motor task; Embodied cognition; Object naming; Object recognition