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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 18, 2026

Stimulating the Lip Motor Cortex with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Stimulating the Lip Motor Cortex with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Published on: June 14, 2014

Language-motor interference reflected in MEG beta oscillations.

Anne Klepp¹, Valentina Niccolai¹, Giovanni Buccino²

¹Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University, Universitätsstr. 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.

|January 11, 2015

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Language processing interferes with motor control, especially for highly imageable hand verbs. This interference is linked to altered brain activity in motor areas, supporting embodied cognition theories.

Keywords:

Action verbs Beta oscillations Embodied cognition Imageability Interference MEG

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Science
Psycholinguistics

Background:

The brain's motor system is involved in processing action-related language.
This involvement can interfere with executing simultaneous actions.

Purpose of the Study:

Investigate behavioral interference between action-related language and motor execution.
Explore the neurophysiological basis of this language-motor interference using magnetoencephalography (MEG).

Main Methods:

Participants performed a semantic decision task on hand, foot, and abstract verbs.
Response latencies were measured for button presses (right hand).
Oscillatory MEG data, specifically beta band power, was analyzed.

Main Results:

Interference effects depended on verb imageability and effector.
Highly imageable hand verbs showed longer response latencies compared to highly imageable foot verbs.
Weaker beta band power suppression was observed for highly imageable hand verbs, indicating altered cortical excitability.

Conclusions:

Language-motor interference occurs when verb and motor response relate to the same body part.
This interference is accompanied by neurophysiological changes in beta band oscillations.
Findings support embodied cognition theories by suggesting motor simulation during action-related language processing.