Representing Motion in Language Comprehension: Lessons From Neuroimaging

Abstract

A central issue in understanding how language links the mental and the real world is the nature of the mental representations entertained during language processing. Are these mental representations closely linked to the perceptual experiences from which they were formed or are they somewhat removed from them? This review addresses this question by examining studies that have investigated motion verbs and sentences using functional magnetic resonance imaging. These studies tested whether language processing elicits modality-specific brain regions responsive to motion perception. Although the results of these studies are not definite due to the different tasks and analysis techniques utilized, they so far suggest that modality-specific brain regions processing visual motion are not automatically or habitually engaged in language processing. The occasional engagement of visual areas in language processing appears to result from tasks requiring integration of visual and linguistic information or attention to motion-specific features such as direction. The evidence reviewed therefore suggests that although perceptual representations may be flexibly engaged as a function of tasks and contexts, language comprehension in the absence of visual contexts habitually engages experience-based representations of motion events that are one-step removed from visual experiences, even in situations in which imagery is encouraged.