6533b859fe1ef96bd12b79b9
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Fluent Speakers of a Second Language Process Graspable Nouns Expressed in L2 Like in Their Native Language
Giovanni BuccinoBarbara F. M. MarinoMarco MezzadriChiara Bulgarellisubject
nounsPsychology (all)First languagelcsh:BF1-990Stimulus (physiology)050105 experimental psychologyobjects03 medical and health sciences0302 clinical medicinesecond languageObjectNounMotor systemPsychology0501 psychology and cognitive sciencessemanticsGeneral PsychologyOriginal ResearchCommunicationbusiness.industry05 social sciencesLinguisticslcsh:PsychologyEnglish as a second languageSecond languageembodied cognitionEmbodied cognitionNounbusinessPsychologySemantic030217 neurology & neurosurgerydescription
According to embodied cognition, language processing relies on the same neural structures involved when individuals experience the content of language material. If so, processing nouns expressing a motor content presented in a second language should modulate the motor system as if presented in the mother tongue. We tested this hypothesis using a go-no go paradigm. Stimuli included English nouns and pictures depicting either graspable or non-graspable objects. Pseudo-words and scrambled images served as controls. Italian participants, fluent speakers of English as a second language, had to respond when the stimulus was sensitive and refrain from responding when it was not. As foreseen by embodiment, motor responses were selectively modulated by graspable items (images or nouns) as in a previous experiment where nouns in the same category were presented in the native language.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-08-03 | Frontiers in Psychology |