Bidirectional semantic interference between action and speech
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Updated: May 27, 2026

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology
Published on: June 29, 2021
Roman Liepelt1, Thomas Dolk, Wolfgang Prinz
1Junior Group "Neurocognition of Joint Action", Department of Psychology, Westfälische Wilhelms-University, Fliednerstrasse 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany. roman.liepelt@uni-muenster.de
Abstract:
Research on embodied cognition assumes that language processing involves modal simulations that recruit the same neural systems that are usually used for action execution. If this is true, one should find evidence for bidirectional crosstalk between action and language. Using a direct matching paradigm, this study tested if action-languages interactions are bidirectional (Experiments 1 and 2), and whether the effect of crosstalk between action perception and language production is due to facilitation or interference (Experiment 3). Replicating previous findings, we found evidence for crosstalk when manual actions had to be performed simultaneously to action-word perception (Experiment 1) and also when language had to be produced during simultaneous perception of hand actions (Experiment 2). These findings suggest a clear bidirectional relationship between action and language. The latter crosstalk effect was due to interference between action and language (Experiment 3). By extending previous research of embodied cognition, the present findings provide novel evidence suggesting that bidirectional functional relations between action and language are based on similar conceptual-semantic representations.
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