title: Spatiotemporal dynamics during processing of abstract and concrete verbs: an ERP study.
abstract: Different accounts have been proposed to explain the nature of concept representations. Embodied accounts claim a key involvement of sensory-motor systems during semantic processing while more traditional accounts posit that concepts are abstract mental entities independent of perceptual and motor brain systems. While the involvement of sensory-motor areas in concrete language processing is supported by a large number of studies, this involvement is far from being established when considering abstract language. The present study addressed abstract and concrete verb processing, by investigating the spatiotemporal dynamics of evoked responses by means of high density EEG while participants performed a semantic decision task. In addition, RTs to the same set of stimuli were collected. In both early and late time intervals, ERP scalp topography significantly differed according to word categories. Concrete verbs showed involvement of parieto-frontal networks for action, according to the implied body effector. In contrast, abstract verbs recruited mostly frontal regions outside the motor system, suggesting a non-motor semantic processing for this category. In addition, differently from what has been reported during action observation, the parietal recruitment related to concrete verbs presentation followed the frontal one. The present findings suggest that action word semantic is grounded in sensory-motor systems, provided a bodily effector is specified, while abstract concepts׳ representation cannot be easily explained by a motor embodiment.
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Magna Graecia University, Viale Europa, Loc. Germaneto, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy; Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: riccardo.dallavolta@unicz.it.
authors: Riccardo
authors: R
authors: Dalla Volta
authors: Brain Center for Social and Motor Cognition, IIT (Italian Institute of Technology), Parma, Italy.
authors: Maddalena
authors: M
authors: Fabbri-Destro
authors: Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, University of Parma, Parma, Italy; Brain Center for Social and Motor Cognition, IIT (Italian Institute of Technology), Parma, Italy; RTM (Rete Tecnologica Multidisciplinare), Italy.
authors: Maurizio
authors: M
authors: Gentilucci
authors: Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors: Pietro
authors: P
authors: Avanzini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D012660:Semantics; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
keywords: Abstract verbs; Concrete verbs; ERPs; Embodied theory; High density EEG