If language comprehension requires a sensorimotor simulation, how can abstract language be comprehended? We show that preparation to respond in an upward or downward direction affects comprehension of the abstract quantifiers “more and more” and “less and less” as indexed by an N400-like component. Conversely, the semantic content of the sentence affects the motor potential measured immediately before the upward or downward action is initiated. We propose that this bidirectional link between motor system and language arises because the motor system implements forward models that predict the sensory consequences of actions. Because the same movement (e.g., raising the arm) can have multiple forward models for different contexts, the models can make different predictions depending on whether the arm is raised, for example, to place an object or raised as a threat. Thus, different linguistic contexts invoke different forward models, and the predictions constitute different understandings of the language.

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Abstract-Recent behavioral studies suggest that children with learning disabilities (LD) have difficulty in working memory (WM) updating. However, as behavioral performance represents the summed activity of multiple stages of processing, the temporal locus of the WM updating deficit remains unclear. Here, we used an event-related potential (ERP) paradigm to compare the temporal mechanisms of WM updating in 21 children with LD (aged between 10 and 12 years) and 21 agematched controls while they performed the running memory task. Behavioral results showed that children with LD attained significantly lower accuracy when the task required updating. ERPs revealed that the occipital early P1 component and parietal late positive complex (LPC) amplitudes were lower in children with LD compared to controls when the task required children to remember a new stimulus. The LPC (1000-1500) amplitude correlated with the performance of academic and updating behavior. These results provide a novel electrophysiological evidence that children with LD have a specific impairment in early visual attention processing and lately WM updating.

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