title: Is motor knowledge part and parcel of the concepts of manipulable artifacts? Clues from a case of upper limb aplasia.
abstract: The sensory-motor theory of conceptual representations assumes that motor knowledge of how an artifact is manipulated is constitutive of its conceptual representation. Accordingly, if we assume that the richer the conceptual representation of an object is, the easier that object is identified, manipulable artifacts that are associated with motor knowledge should be identified more accurately and/or faster than manipulable artifacts that are not (everything else being equal). In this study, we tested this prediction by investigating the identification of manipulable artifacts in an individual, DC, who was totally deprived of hand motor experience due to upper limb aplasia. This condition prevents him from interacting with most manipulable artifacts, for which he thus has no motor knowledge at all. However, he had motor knowledge for some of them, which he routinely uses with his feet. We contrasted DC's performance in a timed picture naming task for manipulable artifacts for which he had motor knowledge versus those for which he had no motor knowledge. No detectable advantage on DC's naming performance was found for artifacts for which he had motor knowledge compared to those for which he did not. This finding suggests that motor knowledge is not part of the concepts of manipulable artifacts.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychological Sciences and Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Place du Cardinal Mercier 10, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS, Belgium.
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vannuscorps
authors.affiliation: Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS, Belgium; Department of Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Andres
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychological Sciences and Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Place du Cardinal Mercier 10, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS, Belgium. Electronic address: agnesa.pillon@uclouvain.be.
authors.forename: Agnesa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pillon
mesh_terms: D003210:Concept Formation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D038062:Upper Extremity Deformities, Congenital / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Concept; Embodied cognition; Limb aplasia; Manipulability; Motor knowledge; Object knowledge; Semantics