title: A simple technique to study embodied language processes: the grip force sensor.
abstract: Research in cognitive neuroscience has shown that brain structures serving perceptual, emotional, and motor processes are also recruited during the understanding of language when it refers to emotion, perception, and action. However, the exact linguistic and extralinguistic conditions under which such language-induced activity in modality-specific cortex is triggered are not yet well understood. The purpose of this study is to introduce a simple experimental technique that allows for the online measure of language-induced activity in motor structures of the brain. This technique consists in the use of a grip force sensor that captures subtle grip force variations while participants listen to words and sentences. Since grip force reflects activity in motor brain structures, the continuous monitoring of force fluctuations provides a fine-grained estimation of motor activity across time. In other terms, this method allows for both localization of the source of language-induced activity to motor brain structures and high temporal resolution of the recorded data. To facilitate comparison of the data to be collected with this tool, we present two experiments that describe in detail the technical setup, the nature of the recorded data, and the analyses (including justification about the data filtering and artifact rejection) that we applied. We also discuss how the tool could be used in other domains of behavioral research.
authors.affiliation: 1L2C2 Institut des Sciences Cognitives-Marc Jeannerod, CNRS/UCBL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Bron, France. tatjana.nazir@isc.cnrs.fr.
authors.forename: Tatjana A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Nazir
authors.affiliation: 1L2C2 Institut des Sciences Cognitives-Marc Jeannerod, CNRS/UCBL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Lianna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hrycyk
authors.affiliation: 1L2C2 Institut des Sciences Cognitives-Marc Jeannerod, CNRS/UCBL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Quentin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Moreau
authors.affiliation: Département de Kinanthropologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Canada.
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Frak
authors.affiliation: 1L2C2 Institut des Sciences Cognitives-Marc Jeannerod, CNRS/UCBL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cheylus
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire URECA, UDL3, Université Lille Nord de France, Lille, France.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ott
authors.affiliation: Department Psychologie, Universität Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lindemann
authors.affiliation: Department Psychologie, Universität Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: 1L2C2 Institut des Sciences Cognitives-Marc Jeannerod, CNRS/UCBL, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Paulignan
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire URECA, UDL3, Université Lille Nord de France, Lille, France.
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Delevoye-Turrell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception; D003625:Data Collection / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005260:Female; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Embodiment; Grip-force sensor; Language; Motor system