title: Engagement of the left extrastriate body area during body-part metaphor comprehension.
abstract: Grounded cognition explanations of metaphor comprehension predict activation of sensorimotor cortices relevant to the metaphor's source domain. We tested this prediction for body-part metaphors using functional magnetic resonance imaging while participants heard sentences containing metaphorical or literal references to body parts, and comparable control sentences. Localizer scans identified body-part-specific motor, somatosensory and visual cortical regions. Both subject- and item-wise analyses showed that, relative to control sentences, metaphorical but not literal sentences evoked limb metaphor-specific activity in the left extrastriate body area (EBA), paralleling the EBA's known visual limb-selectivity. The EBA focus exhibited resting-state functional connectivity with ipsilateral semantic processing regions. In some of these regions, the strength of resting-state connectivity correlated with individual preference for verbal processing. Effective connectivity analyses showed that, during metaphor comprehension, activity in some semantic regions drove that in the EBA. These results provide converging evidence for grounding of metaphor processing in domain-specific sensorimotor cortical activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lacey
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Randall
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stilla
authors.affiliation: AU MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA; Department of Psychology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA; Alabama Advanced Imaging Consortium, Auburn University & University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Gopikrishna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Deshpande
authors.affiliation: AU MRI Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Sinan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Careese
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stephens
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McCormick
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA; Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kemmerer
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Rehabilitation R&D Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation, Atlanta VAMC, Decatur, GA, USA. Electronic address: krish.sathian@emory.edu.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sathian
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D005121:Extremities / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D018594:Human Body; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D019365:Metaphor; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D012660:Semantics; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Effective connectivity; Embodied cognition; Grounded cognition; Resting-state functional connectivity; Visual cortex; fMRI