ABSTRACT

This book collates the most up to date evidence from behavioural, brain imagery and stroke-patient studies, to discuss the ways in which cognitive and neural processes are responsible for language processing.

Divided into six sections, the edited volume presents arguments from evolutionist, developmental, behavioural and neurobiological perspectives, all of which point to a strong relationship between action and language. It provides a scientific basis for a new theoretical approach to language evolution, acquisition and use in humans, whilst at the same time assessing current debates on motor system’s contribution to the emergence of language acquisition, perception and production.

The chapters have been written by internationally acknowledged researchers from a variety of disciplines, and as such this book will be of great interest to academics, students and professionals in the areas of cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, psycholinguistics and philosophy.

part I|29 pages

Language and action

part II|49 pages

The motor origin of language

part III|78 pages

Action in language processing

chapter 5|14 pages

Embodied lexical representations

Flexible tools for predicting the future

chapter 6|19 pages

Language comprehension

Action, affordances and goals

part IV|31 pages

Action in language acquisition

chapter 8|16 pages

Motor skills and written language perception

Contribution of writing knowledge to visual recognition of graphic shapes

part V|79 pages

Action in spatial language and numbers

part VI|48 pages

Language and action within the brain

part VII|26 pages

Language and action in cognitive neuroscience