Sentence comprehension affects the dynamics of bimanual coordination: Implications for embodied cognition

Abstract

Recent work in embodied cognition has demonstrated that language comprehension involves the motor system (e.g., Glenberg & Kaschak, 2002). Such findings are often attributed to mechanisms involving simulations of linguistically described events (Barsalou, 1999; Fischer & Zwaan, 2008). We propose that research paradigms in which simulation is the central focus need to be augmented with paradigms that probe the organization of the motor system during language comprehension. The use of well-studied motor tasks may be appropriate to this endeavour. To this end, we present a study in which participants perform a bimanual rhythmic task (Kugler & Turvey, 1987) while judging the plausibility of sentences. We show that the dynamics of the bimanual task differ when participants judge sentences describing performable actions as opposed to sentences describing events that are not performable. We discuss the general implications of our results for accounts of embodied cognition.

Keywords:

• Embodied cognition
• Coordination dynamics
• Cognition and coordination

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Grants SBR–04–23036 and HD–01994. We thank Jim Magnuson, Paula Silva, and Michael Turvey for helpful comments on an earlier draft.

Notes

¹ In post hoc analysis of verb frequency, we found no differences between the inanimate and performable verbs, t(70) = 0.69, p = .489. This rules out dissimilar frequencies across conditions as a possible confounding variable. While we did not control for cloze probability, our sentences were deliberately constructed to be different along the dimension of performability and showed very high agreement among our norming participants regarding whether or not the described event could be performed.

² Analysis of response times revealed no difference among task conditions. However, this may be due to the very high variability in participants’ response times.