A review of literature on the link between action observation and action language: advancing a shared semantic theory

Abstract

Understanding each other is a core concept of social cohesion and, consequently, has immense value in human society. Importantly, shared information leading to cohesion can come from two main sources: observed action and/or language (word) processing. In this paper, we propose a theoretical framework for the link between action observation and action verb processing. Based on the activation of common semantic representations of actions through semantic resonance, this model can account for the neurophysiological, behavioral and neuropsychological domains in the link between action observation and language.Semantic resonance is hypothesized to play a role beyond that of the mere observation of others and can benefit future studies trying to connect action production and language.

First and Second Language at Hand: A Chronometric Transcranial-Magnetic Stimulation Study on Semantic and Motor Resonance

“…When language comprehension influences action components, we generally refer to it as motor resonance, based on the observation that understanding an action-related stimulus activates the same neural substrates encoding the planning and execution of the corresponding action. On the other hand, when a motor component of an action modulates the lexico-semantic processing, we refer to it as semantic resonance (e.g., Bidet-Ildei, Beauprez, & Badets, 2020;Mollo, Pulvermüller, & Hauk, 2016;Rueschemeyer, Lindemann, van Elk, & Bekkering, 2009). An example of such semantic resonance, that is, actioninduced effects on word comprehension, can be found i n th e stu dy b y Lin dema nn et al .…”

The Link Between Action Verb Processing and Action Observation: A Developmental Study

“…We asked children in three age classes (5–6-, 7–8- and 9–11-year-olds) to perform a priming task, consisting of judging whether a human body was present in an image after listening to an action verb. The results showed a difference in response times between the congruent and incongruent trials among the 7- to 8-year-olds, suggesting that a link exists between action verb processing and action observation, as observed in adults (Bidet-Ildei, Beauprez, & Badets, 2020; Bidet-Ildei et al, 2011). We found, for the first time, that action verb processing can modify the subsequent visual judgment of static images representing actions in children.…”

“…Indeed, previous studies have used direct measures of the language-action link through fMRI (James & Maouene, 2009), EEG (Antognini & Daum, 2019) or eye movements (Gampe & Daum, 2014), whereas in the present study, the measure was indirect, with the language-action link being evaluated by a priming paradigm. Therefore, it is possible that our behavioral paradigm necessitates a supplementary step, perhaps a semantic resonance (see Bidet-Ildei, Beauprez, & Badets, 2020), which may implicate a stronger link between language and action. As no study has yet evaluated the development of the link between language and action, it is unclear whether the implication of motor areas during action verb processing increases with age; this topic is a promising one for future studies.…”

“…In the last decade, many studies have shown reciprocal links between action verb processing and action observation (see Bidet-Ildei, Beauprez, & Badets, 2020 for a review). To date, two main models have been proposed to explain this link: evolution theory (Rizzolatti, 2005) and associationism (Pulvermüller, 2005).…”

Mapping relational links between motor imagery, action observation, action-related language, and action execution

“…It was further predicted in the present study that actionrelated language will show some similarity to AO and action execution on at least one dimension. This prediction was based on the observation that previous research indicates that action-related words trigger activation of the motor system (Pulvermüller et al, 2005;Pulvermüller, 2005Pulvermüller, , 2018Jirak et al, 2010;Courson and Tremblay, 2020) and that AO or action execution prime action-related language processing (Beauprez et al, 2020;Bidet-Ildei et al, 2020). The findings relating to the configuration of the NMDS model indicate that this prediction is not supported, as action-related language shows medium to large dissimilarity with all action types across the three dimensions (see Table 4).…”