Active perception: sensorimotor circuits as a cortical basis for language

Pulvermüller and Fadiga address the much discussed question of whether speech comprehension depends on activation of cortical motor areas. Reviewing data from neuroimaging, brain stimulation, lesion and computational studies, they conclude that action and perception circuits have interdependent role...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Nature reviews. Neuroscience Vol. 11; no. 5; pp. 351 - 360
Main Authors:	Pulvermüller, Friedemann, Fadiga, Luciano
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.05.2010 Nature Publishing Group
Subjects:	631/378/2649/1594 631/378/2649/1723 Animal Genetics and Genomics Animals Behavioral Sciences Biological and medical sciences Biological Techniques Biomedical and Life Sciences Biomedicine Brain Brain - physiology Cognition & reasoning Disorders of higher nervous function. Focal brain diseases. Central vestibular syndrome and deafness. Brain stem syndromes Eye and associated structures. Visual pathways and centers. Vision Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Genetic aspects Humans Language Medical sciences Monkeys & apes Motor neurons Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes) Neural Pathways - physiology Neurobiology Neurology Neurons Neurosciences opinion-2 Perception Phonology Physiological aspects Semantics Sensory receptors Speech - physiology Speech Perception - physiology Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs Italy United Kingdom Human Word Transcranial magnetic stimulation Language Central nervous system Speech Perception Sound Review Encephalon
ISSN:	1471-003X, 1471-0048, 1471-0048, 1469-3178
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Pulvermüller and Fadiga address the much discussed question of whether speech comprehension depends on activation of cortical motor areas. Reviewing data from neuroimaging, brain stimulation, lesion and computational studies, they conclude that action and perception circuits have interdependent roles in language comprehension. Action and perception are functionally linked in the brain, but a hotly debated question is whether perception and comprehension of stimuli depend on motor circuits. Brain language mechanisms are ideal for addressing this question. Neuroimaging investigations have found specific motor activations when subjects understand speech sounds, word meanings and sentence structures. Moreover, studies involving transcranial magnetic stimulation and patients with lesions affecting inferior frontal regions of the brain have shown contributions of motor circuits to the comprehension of phonemes, semantic categories and grammar. These data show that language comprehension benefits from frontocentral action systems, indicating that action and perception circuits are interdependent.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 ObjectType-Review-3 content type line 23
ISSN:	1471-003X 1471-0048 1471-0048 1469-3178
DOI:	10.1038/nrn2811