Semantic and conceptual grounding theories emphasise functional interaction between perceptual, motor, and conceptual knowledge (Pulvermüller, 1999; Barsalou, 2008). Although much evidence shows consistent activation in sensorimotor brain areas during language comprehension (e.g., Hauk et al., 2004; Grisoni et al., 2016), it has been argued that such activations may index post-hoc, epiphenomenal re-processing (Mahon and Caramazza, 2008; Bedny and Caramazza, 2011) rather than genuine semantic processing. In recent works, however, we showed evidence of a significant contribution of sensorimotor areas before predictable words appear in comprehension (Grisoni et al., 2017; Grisoni et al., 2021) and before predictable words are pronounced to complete sentence fragments (Grisoni et al., 2024). Sentence fragments that strongly predict subsequent words induced slow-wave potentials before the expected words; this potential was weaker if the preceding fragments were unpredictable. This Prediction Potential (PP) indexed predictive semantic processing was further demonstrated by the observation of cortical sources in specific sensorimotor brain areas for action-related (e.g., action verbs, tool nouns) words but in posterior, visual, areas for visual-related words (e.g., animal nouns). Furthermore, inverse correlations between the PP and the well-known brain index of semantic processing, N400, suggest that these two responses have a similar semantic discriminatory function. Overall, these data show that activity in sensorimotor brain areas also reflects the meaning subjects expect and, therefore, it cannot originate from re-processing but from genuine semantic processing.

implement visual word recognition, (ii) neuro-cognitive phenotyping to describe individual differences on the neuro-cognitive level, and (iii) to motivate training procedures with the potential to increase reading skill in groups of need. We conceptualized the model in a predictive coding framework involving explicit descriptions of efficient representations combined with evidence accumulation and categorization algorithms. Evaluation studies presented in the talk rely on brain activation measurements and behavioral data from typical readers, language learners, models, baboons, and pigeons. 

Barsalou LW (2008) Grounded cognition. Annual review of psychology 59:617-645.

Bedny M, Caramazza A (2011) Perception, action, and word meanings in the human brain: the case from action verbs. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1224:81-95.

Grisoni L, Dreyer FR, Pulvermüller F (2016) Somatotopic Semantic Priming and Prediction in the Motor System. Cerebral Cortex 26:2353-2366.

Grisoni L, Miller TM, Pulvermuller F (2017) Neural Correlates of Semantic Prediction and Resolution in Sentence Processing. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 37:4848-4858.

Grisoni L, Tomasello R, Pulvermüller F (2021) Correlated Brain Indexes of Semantic Prediction and Prediction Error: Brain Localization and Category Specificity. Cerebral Cortex 31:1553-1568.

Grisoni L, Boux IP, Pulvermüller F (2024) Predictive Brain Activity Shows Congruent Semantic Specificity in Language Comprehension and Production. The Journal of Neuroscience 44:e1723232023.

Hauk O, Johnsrude I, Pulvermüller F (2004) Somatotopic representation of action words in human motor and premotor cortex. Neuron 41:301-307.

Mahon BZ, Caramazza A (2008) A critical look at the embodied cognition hypothesis and a new proposal for grounding conceptual content. Journal of Physiology-Paris 102:59-70.

Pulvermüller F (1999) Words in the brain’s language. The Behavioral and brain sciences 22:253-279; discussion 280-336.