2008-04-10
Motor resonance and linguistic focus
Publication
Publication
The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology , Volume 61 - Issue 6 p. 896- 904
Previous studies have demonstrated that verbal descriptions of actions activate compatible motor responses (Glenberg & Kaschak, 2002; Zwaan & Taylor, 2006). The present study replicates previous findings showing that, within a sentence, such activation is localized on the verb that denotes the action. Moreover, motor resonance is found to yield to linguistic focus. If a postverbal adverb maintains focus on a matching action (“slowly” or “quickly”), motor resonance occurs, but if the adverb shifts the focus to the agent (e.g., “obediently” or “eagerly”), a cessation of motor resonance ensues. These findings are discussed within the context of theories of motor resonance, action understanding, mental simulation, and linguistic focus.
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| doi.org/10.1080/17470210701625519, hdl.handle.net/1765/12097 | |
| The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology | |
| Organisation | Department of Psychology |
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Taylor, L., & Zwaan, R. (2008). Motor resonance and linguistic focus. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61(6), 896–904. doi:10.1080/17470210701625519 |
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