Motor-system dynamics during naturalistic reading of action narratives in first and second language

Abstract

Do embodied semantic systems play different roles depending on when and how well a given language was learned? Emergent evidence suggests that this is the case for isolated, decontextualized stimuli, but no study has addressed the issue considering naturalistic narratives. Seeking to bridge this gap, we assessed motor-system dynamics in 26 Spanish-English bilinguals as they engaged in free, unconstrained reading of naturalistic action texts (ATs, highlighting the characters’ movements) and neutral texts (NTs, featuring low motility) in their first and second language (L1, L2). To explore functional connectivity spread over each reading session, we recorded ongoing high-density electroencephalographic signals and subjected them to functional connectivity analysis via a spatial clustering approach. Results showed that, in L1, AT (relative to NT) reading involved increased connectivity between left and right central electrodes consistently implicated in action-related processes, as well as distinct source-level modulations in motor regions. In L2, despite null group-level effects, enhanced motor-related connectivity during AT reading correlated positively with L2 proficiency and negatively with age of L2 learning. Taken together, these findings suggest that action simulations during unconstrained narrative reading involve neural couplings between motor-sensitive mechanisms, in proportion to how consolidated a language is. More generally, such evidence addresses recent calls to test the ecological validity of motor-resonance effects while offering new insights on their relation with experiential variables.

Neural Processing of Narratives: From Individual Processing to Viral Propagation

“…Overall, collecting behavioral self-reports on how narratives are experienced to guide the neuroimaging analysis via for example representational similarity analyses helps pinpoint specific narrative-related effects when using complex naturalistic stimuli such as auditory narratives or film clips (Nummenmaa et al, 2014a ; Jääskeläinen et al, 2016 ). This is especially important given there are factors, such as the language proficiency of the subjects, that can modulate the effects of the narrative especially in multi-lingual environments (Birba et al, 2020 ).…”

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

“…Tian et al (2020) reported larger activation in motor areas for L2 when reading phrases with different abstraction levels. In their recently published EEG study, Birba et al (2020) investigated L1 and L2 embodiment in action and non-action-laden narratives, and, despite showing motor-related connectivity in L2, they could not show differential activation between the two types of texts in L2. Overall, the first conclusions rising from this new emerging topic of research point toward the embodiment of a late acquired L2 as another aspect of action-language interaction deserving to be better delineated in its nuances (see the importance of framing embodiment research in terms of gradation in Kemmerer, 2015;Hauk & Tschentscher, 2013;Chatterjee, 2010) and mechanisms.…”

Time to Face Language: Embodied Mechanisms Underpin the Inception of Face-Related Meanings in the Human Brain

“…2020 ) and embodied ( van Elk et al. 2010 ; Vukovic and Shtyrov 2014 ; Birba et al . 2020 ) effects, while overlapping with the band that mainly drives N170 face effects (5–15 Hz) ( Rousselet et al.…”

“…To examine when face-related and multimodal regions exhibited maximal levels of information exchange, we examined EEG connectivity in the early and late windows considering all electrodes across the scalp. As shown in previous embodied research ( Birba et al. 2020 ), this approach offers a full coverage of all possible connections across the scalp, thus avoiding a-priori ROI selection and creating stringent conditions for hypothesis testing.…”