Brain basis of communicative actions in language.
Although language is a key tool for communication in social interaction, most studies in the neuroscience of language have focused on language structures such as words and sentences. Here, the neural correlates of speech acts, that is, the actions performed by using language, were investigated with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants were shown videos, in which the same critical utterances were used in different communicative contexts, to Name objects, or to Request them from communication partners. Understanding of critical utterances as Requests was accompanied by activation in bilateral premotor, left inferior frontal and temporo-parietal cortical areas known to support action-related and social interactive knowledge. Naming, however, activated the left angular gyrus implicated in linking information about word forms and related reference objects mentioned in critical utterances. These findings show that understanding of utterances as different communicative actions is reflected in distinct brain activation patterns, and thus suggest different neural substrates for different speech act types.
Medical Research Council, Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK; Department of Psychiatric Neuroimaging, Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School, 02129, Charlestown, MA, USA. Electronic address: negorova2@mgh.harvard.edu.
Natalia
N
Egorova
Centre of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), Aarhus University, Denmark; Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, 109316, Russia.
Yury
Y
Shtyrov
Brain Language Laboratory, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10099 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: Friedemann.pulvermuller@fu-berlin.de.
Friedemann
F
Pulvermüller
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003142:Communication; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
Communicative action; Mirror neuron system; Pragmatics; Social interaction; Theory of mind