The Semantics of Natural Objects and Tools in the Brain: A Combined Behavioural and MEG Study

Abstract

Current literature supports the notion that the recognition of objects, when visually presented, is sub-served by neural structures different from those responsible for the semantic processing of their nouns. However, embodiment foresees that processing observed objects and their verbal labels should share similar neural mechanisms. In a combined behavioural and MEG study, we compared the modulation of motor responses and cortical rhythms during the processing of graspable natural objects and tools, either verbally or pictorially presented. Our findings demonstrate that conveying meaning to an observed object or processing its noun similarly modulates both motor responses and cortical rhythms; moreover, natural graspable objects and tools affect in a different manner both behavioural and MEG results, independent of presentation modality. These findings provide experimental evidence that neural substrates responsible for conveying meaning to object overlap with those where the object is represented, thus supporting an embodied view of semantic processing.