Language and actions Introduction

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0.1. Language and actions

We all communicate through action and through language, but typically a neuro- linguistic perspective has assumed these processes as separate and tended to see verbal language as primary and based on abstract cognitive processes with nothing to share with the motor system. A recent shift in perspective has led to several studies investigating the role of the motor system during language processing. The basic idea is that a mechanism of motor resonance is active very early during language processing, so that this process effectively contributes to language understanding. But what remains of the experience of action after and before language? The experience of language is experience of action in the sense that you can have a linguistic experience of actions, even of actions which are not part of your motor repertoire. At least you know the structure, the syntax of motor acts or part of it, you know the form of the action to which you can attribute a different meaning if you are able to perform that action or not. In any case, there is always a sense for that action, which you can recognize and understand as meaningful. If language translates action organization, then it can be re-activated even if I am talking to you of an action you have never performed. In this perspective different aspects of action organization may have different effects on overt motor behaviour, as they differently influence our social relations. In this view, experience is not the external referent of language, but language actively translates our experiences of action, changing experience itself, for example introducing different points of view on it. This mutual translation between experience and language is then engaged in determining processes of motor resonance andor motor simulation not only during action observation but also during linguistic processing of actions. 9 Experience emerges at the intersection of different relations, depending on various aspects, which can be singularly embodied or even socially embodied, overcoming the limits of the single body-brain system. Action, each action, can be re-articulated through its configuration of points of view: from different perspectives, internal or external, action itself changes as an object of description. Consider the role of a mechanism of motor resonance during action and language comprehension, which is the argument of this thesis. In this case two “actions” are coupled and compared, at least one actually acted and another one just linguistically described. These two actions are coupled since they are supposed to share a common neural activity even if at different degrees so that the result is a direct coupling between execution and linguistic re-activation of an action see chapter 3. No form of mediation seems to be implied. But we have to consider that the same action can be re-articulated through specific configurations and points of view, so that the action emerges in a dynamical way. This is made possible also by the definition of limits internal-external, self-non self and of thresholds. Thanks to this process an action emerges and acquires meaning, as a specific configuration defined as the intersection of different networks of relations. Let‟s schematize this process as follow. First, we have an action performed and realized for example the action of grasping an object with a specific configuration: the hand approaches the object with a specific direction and movement parameterization, the object has given properties , the action is situated in a particular environment and so on. Subsequently, under a specific aspect, point of view and pertinence, this first configuration is re-defined by another set of relations, that is for example the set of relations which refer to the position of an external observer from a specific perspective. 10 The same configuration can be translated in a linguistic configuration, where specific aspects are selected while neglecting others. For instance, some linguistic devices pronouns, adverbs, verbs themselves act to translate the actual action: the hand approaching the object quickly or slowly, with a precision grip or a force grip, in a specific time, space, with a peculiar rhythm and trend. This allows the action to be translated in verbal language, in a sort of “action observation” of different order respect to the usual visual observation. The “linguistically observed” action acquires meaning as given of a specific direction sense and of a goal, that is a value for someone or something. This motor pattern is then translated into a specific neural configuration which codes some of the possible parameters and aspects defining action itself as a whole. For example, an action emerges differentially because of the effector used to perform it, hand or foot, which correspond to a specific description in the motor cortex. This configuration is coupled and compared with the one that would lead to the actual execution of that action. The configuration of the potential action depends on the others, on how the first action has been specifically built up, depending also on the agents‟ motor habits and practices. At this stage, it is possible to verify this motor activation through motor tasks. For instance, asking a person to grasp an apple or a cherry after reading of someone grasping something. The specific motor pattern activated by the sentence “Giovanni was grasping a pen” affects the subsequent execution of an action if this last action shares some aspects of the one conveyed through language. For instance, grasping a pen typically requires to use the hand with a precision grip. Then, actually grasping a cherry should be more likely to be influenced by the sentence with respect to grasping an apple. The extent to which the linguistic action is detailed surely is a critical component of how the motor effect can be detected, as well as the expertise required to perform an action: we normally share the ability to grasp objects, but just some of us can correctly perform more skilled actions. A 11 crucial point – both from an experimental and theoretical point of view – is then to clearly define which aspects of action we are investigating and which components of motor behaviour we expect to be affected i.e. planning, execution, temporal sequence of actions and so on.

0.2. Goals definition and motor chains