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Electrophysiological study of action-affordance priming between object names
Isabel M Feven-Parsons1, Jeremy Goslin1
1School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA, UK.
Brain and Language
|June 24, 2018
Summary
Action affordances and semantic priming show similar effects on object recognition. However, affordance priming specifically influences motor preparation, suggesting a direct link to action, even for peripheral concepts.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psycholinguistics
- Embodied Cognition
Background:
- Object representation may be influenced by embodied experience and action affordances.
- The relative timing of accessing affordances versus abstract concepts is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the time course of accessing action affordances compared to semantic information.
- To determine if affordances are privileged in conceptual object representation.
Main Methods:
- Used event-related potentials (ERPs) to measure brain activity.
- Employed priming paradigms with object names, using either shared affordances or taxonomic categories.
- Analyzed N200 latencies for go/nogo semantic category decisions.
Main Results:
- N200 latencies showed no overall difference in facilitation between affordance and semantic priming.
- Semantic priming facilitated earlier activation during go trials (approx. 430 ms).
- Affordance priming facilitated earlier activation during nogo trials (approx. 180 ms), indicating direct motor preparation.
Conclusions:
- Action affordances, while potentially peripheral to central object concepts, directly influence motor preparation.
- Findings suggest a distinct and rapid pathway for processing action-related information.
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