Manual action verbs modulate the grip force of each hand in unimanual or symmetrical bimanual tasks

Abstract

Manual action verbs modulate the right-hand grip force in right-handed subjects. However, to our knowledge, no studies demonstrate the ability to accomplish this modulation during bimanual tasks nor describe their effect on left-hand behavior in unimanual and bimanual tasks. Using load cells and word playlists, we evaluated the occurrence of grip force modulation by manual action verbs in unimanual and symmetrical bimanual tasks across the three auditory processing phases. We found a significant grip force increase for all conditions compared to baseline, indicating the occurrence of modulation. When compared to each other, the grip force variation from baseline for the three phases of both hands in the symmetrical bimanual task was not different from the right-hand in the unimanual task. The left-hand grip force showed a lower amplitude for auditory phases 1 and 2 when compared to the other conditions. The right-hand grip force modulation became significant from baseline at 220 ms after the word onset in the unimanual task. This moment occurred earlier for both hands in bimanual task (160 ms for the right-hand and 180 for the left-hand). It occurred later for the left-hand in unimanual task (320 ms). We discuss the hypothesis that Broca’s area and Broca’s homologue area likely control the left-hand modulation in a unilateral or a bilateral fashion. These results provide new evidence for understanding the linguistic function processing in both hemispheres.

Assessing Language-Induced Motor Activity through Event Related Potentials and the Grip Force Sensor, an Exploratory Study

“…An additional asset of this exploratory piece is the confirmation of the previously reported results in terms of grip force enhancement between 250-400 ms after listening to action words for both hands, but more importantly for the right (dominant) hand (Da Silva, Labrecque, Caromano, Higgins, & Frak, 2018). An interesting and somehow controversial finding was that non-action words also induced a modulation of the grip force that happened to be significant compared to the baseline.…”

“…A recently published meta-analysis gathered the evidence for the implication of M1 in different cognitive functions (Tomasino & Gremese, 2016). In our experiment, the working memory processes needed to accomplish the task (to keep in mind the number of times a target word appears) could underlie the activation of M1 and the augmentation in the grip force for the target non-action words (Da Silva et al, 2018).…”

The role of the motor system in action understanding and communication: Evidence from human infants and non‐human primates

“…The body of research examining a link between the motor system and processing of spoken language is also limited and has mostly focused on processing of action related words or phrases (see Fischer & Zwaan, for a review). Using behavioral measures of motor activity (e.g., grip force and posture changes), listening to action‐related verbs in sentences induces motor activity (da Silva, Labrecque, Caromano, Higgins, & Frak, ; Shiller et al, ), and however, this may be modulated by semantic context (Aravena et al, ). Studies using fMRI, TMS, MEG, and the EEG mu rhythm have found activation of the motor system when adults process (hear or read) verbs or phrases about actions (Di Cesare, Errante, Marchi, & Cuccio, ; Egorova, Shtyrov, & Pulvermüller, ; Hauk, Johnsurde, & Pulvermüller, ; Moreno et al, ; Moreno, de Vega, & León, ) or while decoding degraded speech sounds (d'Ausilio, Bufalari, Salmas, & Fadiga, ).…”

Examining Whether Semantic Cues Can Affect Felt Heaviness When Lifting Novel Objects

“…Through largely-implicit processes, these initial sensorimotor predictions are rapidly refined over the course of a few interactions, and fingertip forces start reflecting the actual, rather than expected mass of the objects (Flanagan and Beltzner, 2000;Grandy and Westwood, 2006). Although no study has examined whether semantic cues drive sensorimotor prediction, it has been shown that the content of words spoken to participants while they are holding object can modulate their fingertip forces, such that individuals will tend to squeeze the handle of a force transducer slightly tighter upon hearing a verb than they would upon hearing a noun (Frak et al, 2010;Silva et al, 2018). Given that labels on objects largely exist to warn potential lifters about the weight of the objects (e.g., the 'heavy luggage' label regularly attached to suitcases prior to air travel), it seems likely that an object labelled 'heavy' will be lifted with more Hypotheses 1.…”