Neuroelectrophysiological Evidence on the Contribution of the Primary Motor Cortex in Understanding Action Verbs: An Electroencephalography Study

• In Event: Brain, Neurosciences, and Education SIG Paper Session 1

Abstract

This study is to test the hypothesis of symbol-grounding transfer by observing scalp electrophysiological signals(scalp EEG) elicited when human participants read second-language words. In this research project, I replicated Pulvermüller et al.’s (2001) study with Korean words. In addition, the present study attempted to extend these findings to Korean (L1) speakers with English as a second language (L2). In the present study, I asked if differential neural activations in the motor strip associated with verb access could be replicated in Korean L1, and whether such effects would also be found in the access of L2 verbs in English.

Authors

• Sungbong Kim, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Mary Llenell Paz, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Peter Gordon, Teachers College, Columbia University