Although the idea of action simulation is nowadays popular in cognitive science, neuroscience and... more Although the idea of action simulation is nowadays popular in cognitive science, neuroscience and robotics, many aspects of the simulative processes remain unclear from empirical, computational, and neural perspectives. In the first part of the article, we provide a critical review and assessment of action simulation theories advanced so far in the wider literature of embodied and motor cognition. We focus our analysis on twelve key questions, and discuss them in the context of human and (occasionally) primate studies. In the second part of the article, we describe an integrative neuro-computational account of action simulation, which links the neural substrate (as revealed in neuroimaging studies of action simulation) to the components of a computational architecture that includes internal modeling, action monitoring and inhibition mechanisms.
Una base di dati sui valori di età di acquisizione, frequenza, familiarità, immaginabilità, concr... more Una base di dati sui valori di età di acquisizione, frequenza, familiarità, immaginabilità, concretezza, e altre variabili lessicali e sublessicali per 626 nomi dell'italiano. E ALTRE VARIABILI LESSICALI E SUBLESSICALI PER 626 NOMI DELL'ITALIANO. RIASSUNTO Numerose variabili lessicali e sublessicali influenzano i processi di riconoscimento e produzione delle parole sia negli adulti che nei bambini, sia in condizioni normali che in presenza di disturbi di linguaggio. In questo lavoro vengono forniti, per 626 nomi semplici dell'italiano, indici relativi a diverse variabili: età di acquisizione della parola, familiarità, immaginabilità, concretezza, frequenza nello scritto adulto e nello scritto infantile, frequenza nel parlato, numero di parole simili ortograficamente, frequenza media in bigrammi, lunghezza in sillabe ed in lettere, tipo di fonema iniziale. Sono illustrate e discusse le correlazioni riscontrate fra le diverse variabili. Vengono passati brevemente in rassegna gli studi che mostrano gli effetti di queste variabili in diversi compiti lessicali. Rispetto ad alcuni studi recenti che hanno indagato per l'italiano il ruolo di alcune di queste e di altre variabili nella denominazione di figure (Nisi, Longoni e Snodgrass, 2000; Lotto, Dell'Acqua e Job, in stampa), il presente lavoro si occupa specificamente di proprietà delle parole, e amplia la base di dati considerando le variabili maggiormente implicate nei processi di comprensione e produzione lessicale, specificamente la lettura.
Questa bibliografia ragionata affronta il tema del ruolo di diversi fattori (variabili lessicali ... more Questa bibliografia ragionata affronta il tema del ruolo di diversi fattori (variabili lessicali e caratteristiche ortografiche) nella lettura ad alta voce (di singole parole) di adulti e bambini di diverse lingue.
In questo lavoro viene esaminato il ruolo della numerosità del paradigma flessivo nel determinare... more In questo lavoro viene esaminato il ruolo della numerosità del paradigma flessivo nel determinare l'accesso lessicale visivo e la lettura di verbi e aggettivi italiani, in condizioni di lista mista e bloccata. Sono stati predisposti due esperimenti: un compito di decisione lessicale (Esperimento 1) e un compito di lettura ad alta voce veloce (Esperimento 2). In entrambi i verbi hanno fatto registrare tempi di reazione più lenti degli aggettivi, sebbene gli stimoli fossero pareggiati per le più rilevanti variabili psicolinguistiche. Le analisi correlazionali condotte post-hoc hanno manifestato effetti significativi della frequenza della radice solo per i verbi, ed effetti più rilevanti della frequenza della parola intera per gli aggettivi rispetto ai verbi. Non è stato rilevato alcun effetto di lista. Questi risultati sono prova del fatto che un alto numero di forme flesse favorisce l'accesso tramite rappresentazioni morfemiche, mentre un paradigma flessivo numericamente limitato induce preferenzialmente una modalità di accesso tramite parola intera.
Speech is a complex skill to master. In addition to sophisticated phono-articulatory abilities, s... more Speech is a complex skill to master. In addition to sophisticated phono-articulatory abilities, speech acquisition requires neuronal systems configured for vocal learning, with adaptable sensorimotor maps that couple heard speech sounds with motor programs for speech production; imitation and self-imitation mechanisms that can train the sensorimotor maps to reproduce heard speech sounds; and a "pedagogical" learning environment that supports tutor learning.
In this research, the effects of word frequency, imageability and age of acquisition, on Italian ... more In this research, the effects of word frequency, imageability and age of acquisition, on Italian children's reading aloud, are investigated. Two groups of children in the 3rd and 5th grades performed the task of single-word reading aloud. Children in both groups were ...
Speech is a complex skill to master. In addition to sophisticated phono-articulatory abilities, s... more Speech is a complex skill to master. In addition to sophisticated phono-articulatory abilities, speech acquisition requires neuronal systems configured for vocal learning, with adaptable sensorimotor maps that couple heard speech sounds with motor programs for speech production; imitation and self-imitation mechanisms that can train the sensorimotor maps to reproduce heard speech sounds; and a "pedagogical" learning environment that supports tutor learning.
In keeping with the idea that observing objects activates possible motor responses, several exper... more In keeping with the idea that observing objects activates possible motor responses, several experiments revealed compatibility effects between the hand posture used to report a choice and some characteristics of the stimuli. The real-time dynamics of such compatibility effects are currently unknown. We tracked the time course of a categorization experiment requiring subjects to categorize as natural or artifact figures of big and small objects. Participants reported their choice using either a big mouse (requiring a power grip: a hand posture compatible with the grasping of big objects) or a small mouse (requiring a precision grip: a hand posture compatible with the grasping of small objects). We found a compatibility effect between the grip required by the mouse 2 and the grip elicited by objects, even if it was irrelevant to the task. In a following experiment with the same paradigm, lexical stimuli failed to reproduce the same effect. Nevertheless, a compatibility effect mediated by the target-word category (artificial vs. natural) was observed. We discuss the results in the context of affordance effects literature and grounded theories of cognition.
Evidence indicates that adequate phonological abilities are necessary to develop proficient readi... more Evidence indicates that adequate phonological abilities are necessary to develop proficient reading skills and that later in life phonology also has a role in the covert visual word recognition of expert readers. Impairments of acoustic perception, such as deafness, can lead to atypical phonological representations of written words and letters, which in turn can affect reading proficiency. Here, we report an experiment in which young adults with different levels of acoustic perception (i.e., hearing and deaf individuals) and different modes of communication (i.e., hearing individuals using spoken language, deaf individuals with a preference for sign language, and deaf individuals using the oral modality with less or no competence in sign language) performed a visual lexical decision task, which consisted of categorizing real words and consonant strings. The lexicality effect was restricted to deaf signers who responded faster to real words than consonant strings, showing overreliance on whole word lexical processing of stimuli. No effect of stimulus type was found in deaf individuals using the oral modality or in hearing individuals. Thus, mode of communication modulates the lexicality effect. This suggests that learning a sign language during development shapes visuo-motor representations of words, which are tuned to the actions used to express them (phono-articulatory movements vs. hand movements) and to associated perceptions. As these visuo-motor representations are elicited during on-line linguistic processing and can overlap with the perceptual-motor processes required to execute the task, they can potentially produce interference or facilitation effects. Citation: Barca L, Pezzulo G, Castrataro M, Rinaldi P, Caselli MC (2013) Visual Word Recognition in Deaf Readers: Lexicality Is Modulated by Communication Mode. PLoS ONE 8(3): e59080.
Although the idea of action simulation is nowadays popular in cognitive science, neuroscience and... more Although the idea of action simulation is nowadays popular in cognitive science, neuroscience and robotics, many aspects of the simulative processes remain unclear from empirical, computational, and neural perspectives. In the first part of the article, we provide a critical review and assessment of action simulation theories advanced so far in the wider literature of embodied and motor cognition. We focus our analysis on twelve key questions, and discuss them in the context of human and (occasionally) primate studies. In the second part of the article, we describe an integrative neuro-computational account of action simulation, which links the neural substrate (as revealed in neuroimaging studies of action simulation) to the components of a computational architecture that includes internal modeling, action monitoring and inhibition mechanisms.
This study concerns the role of motor simulations in a memory task performed by expert and novice... more This study concerns the role of motor simulations in a memory task performed by expert and novice climbers. In a behavioural task, expert and novice rock climbers were shown three novel climbing routes: an easy route, a route impossible to climb but perceptually salient, and a difficult route. After a distraction task, they were given a recall test in which they had to write down the sequence of holds composing each route. No difference emerged between experts and novices on the easy and impossible routes. Differently, the ...
... Variabili lessicali e sub-lessicali: valori per 626 nomi dell'italiano. Cristina... more ... Variabili lessicali e sub-lessicali: valori per 626 nomi dell'italiano. Cristina Burani*, Laura Barca*^ e Lisa Saskia Arduino*°. ... La lunghezza in sillabe e in lettere (rispettivamente SILL e LUN) estratta automaticamente dal BDVDB di Thornton, Iacobini, e Burani (1994, 1997). ...
... Laura Barca*^, Cristina Burani* & Lisa Saskia Arduino*°. ... Child written word frequency... more ... Laura Barca*^, Cristina Burani* & Lisa Saskia Arduino*°. ... Child written word frequency or Elementary Lexicon (Child Written), taken from the frequency count (1 million occurrences) by Marconi, Ott, Pesenti, Ratti, & Tavella (1993), subdivided in TotFQ (total frequency values ...
Proceedings of the 2010 Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2010
Spatial memory is supported by multiple parallel representations of the environment. Egocentric p... more Spatial memory is supported by multiple parallel representations of the environment. Egocentric perspective (body-centered) and allocentric representations (objectcentered) are integrated to allow correct interaction with the world. According to Milner and Goodale (1995, 2008), the action-related dorsal system is specialized for location of objects in space and visuo-motor integration, and uses an egocentric frame of reference. The perception-related ventral system is specialized for categorical recognition of objects ...
Although the idea of action simulation is nowadays popular in cognitive science, neuroscience and... more Although the idea of action simulation is nowadays popular in cognitive science, neuroscience and robotics, many aspects of the simulative processes remain unclear from empirical, computational, and neural perspectives. In the first part of the article, we provide a critical review and assessment of action simulation theories advanced so far in the wider literature of embodied and motor cognition. We focus our analysis on twelve key questions, and discuss them in the context of human and (occasionally) primate studies. In the second part of the article, we describe an integrative neuro-computational account of action simulation, which links the neural substrate (as revealed in neuroimaging studies of action simulation) to the components of a computational architecture that includes internal modeling, action monitoring and inhibition mechanisms.
Una base di dati sui valori di età di acquisizione, frequenza, familiarità, immaginabilità, concr... more Una base di dati sui valori di età di acquisizione, frequenza, familiarità, immaginabilità, concretezza, e altre variabili lessicali e sublessicali per 626 nomi dell'italiano. E ALTRE VARIABILI LESSICALI E SUBLESSICALI PER 626 NOMI DELL'ITALIANO. RIASSUNTO Numerose variabili lessicali e sublessicali influenzano i processi di riconoscimento e produzione delle parole sia negli adulti che nei bambini, sia in condizioni normali che in presenza di disturbi di linguaggio. In questo lavoro vengono forniti, per 626 nomi semplici dell'italiano, indici relativi a diverse variabili: età di acquisizione della parola, familiarità, immaginabilità, concretezza, frequenza nello scritto adulto e nello scritto infantile, frequenza nel parlato, numero di parole simili ortograficamente, frequenza media in bigrammi, lunghezza in sillabe ed in lettere, tipo di fonema iniziale. Sono illustrate e discusse le correlazioni riscontrate fra le diverse variabili. Vengono passati brevemente in rassegna gli studi che mostrano gli effetti di queste variabili in diversi compiti lessicali. Rispetto ad alcuni studi recenti che hanno indagato per l'italiano il ruolo di alcune di queste e di altre variabili nella denominazione di figure (Nisi, Longoni e Snodgrass, 2000; Lotto, Dell'Acqua e Job, in stampa), il presente lavoro si occupa specificamente di proprietà delle parole, e amplia la base di dati considerando le variabili maggiormente implicate nei processi di comprensione e produzione lessicale, specificamente la lettura.
Questa bibliografia ragionata affronta il tema del ruolo di diversi fattori (variabili lessicali ... more Questa bibliografia ragionata affronta il tema del ruolo di diversi fattori (variabili lessicali e caratteristiche ortografiche) nella lettura ad alta voce (di singole parole) di adulti e bambini di diverse lingue.
In questo lavoro viene esaminato il ruolo della numerosità del paradigma flessivo nel determinare... more In questo lavoro viene esaminato il ruolo della numerosità del paradigma flessivo nel determinare l'accesso lessicale visivo e la lettura di verbi e aggettivi italiani, in condizioni di lista mista e bloccata. Sono stati predisposti due esperimenti: un compito di decisione lessicale (Esperimento 1) e un compito di lettura ad alta voce veloce (Esperimento 2). In entrambi i verbi hanno fatto registrare tempi di reazione più lenti degli aggettivi, sebbene gli stimoli fossero pareggiati per le più rilevanti variabili psicolinguistiche. Le analisi correlazionali condotte post-hoc hanno manifestato effetti significativi della frequenza della radice solo per i verbi, ed effetti più rilevanti della frequenza della parola intera per gli aggettivi rispetto ai verbi. Non è stato rilevato alcun effetto di lista. Questi risultati sono prova del fatto che un alto numero di forme flesse favorisce l'accesso tramite rappresentazioni morfemiche, mentre un paradigma flessivo numericamente limitato induce preferenzialmente una modalità di accesso tramite parola intera.
Speech is a complex skill to master. In addition to sophisticated phono-articulatory abilities, s... more Speech is a complex skill to master. In addition to sophisticated phono-articulatory abilities, speech acquisition requires neuronal systems configured for vocal learning, with adaptable sensorimotor maps that couple heard speech sounds with motor programs for speech production; imitation and self-imitation mechanisms that can train the sensorimotor maps to reproduce heard speech sounds; and a "pedagogical" learning environment that supports tutor learning.
In this research, the effects of word frequency, imageability and age of acquisition, on Italian ... more In this research, the effects of word frequency, imageability and age of acquisition, on Italian children's reading aloud, are investigated. Two groups of children in the 3rd and 5th grades performed the task of single-word reading aloud. Children in both groups were ...
Speech is a complex skill to master. In addition to sophisticated phono-articulatory abilities, s... more Speech is a complex skill to master. In addition to sophisticated phono-articulatory abilities, speech acquisition requires neuronal systems configured for vocal learning, with adaptable sensorimotor maps that couple heard speech sounds with motor programs for speech production; imitation and self-imitation mechanisms that can train the sensorimotor maps to reproduce heard speech sounds; and a "pedagogical" learning environment that supports tutor learning.
In keeping with the idea that observing objects activates possible motor responses, several exper... more In keeping with the idea that observing objects activates possible motor responses, several experiments revealed compatibility effects between the hand posture used to report a choice and some characteristics of the stimuli. The real-time dynamics of such compatibility effects are currently unknown. We tracked the time course of a categorization experiment requiring subjects to categorize as natural or artifact figures of big and small objects. Participants reported their choice using either a big mouse (requiring a power grip: a hand posture compatible with the grasping of big objects) or a small mouse (requiring a precision grip: a hand posture compatible with the grasping of small objects). We found a compatibility effect between the grip required by the mouse 2 and the grip elicited by objects, even if it was irrelevant to the task. In a following experiment with the same paradigm, lexical stimuli failed to reproduce the same effect. Nevertheless, a compatibility effect mediated by the target-word category (artificial vs. natural) was observed. We discuss the results in the context of affordance effects literature and grounded theories of cognition.
Evidence indicates that adequate phonological abilities are necessary to develop proficient readi... more Evidence indicates that adequate phonological abilities are necessary to develop proficient reading skills and that later in life phonology also has a role in the covert visual word recognition of expert readers. Impairments of acoustic perception, such as deafness, can lead to atypical phonological representations of written words and letters, which in turn can affect reading proficiency. Here, we report an experiment in which young adults with different levels of acoustic perception (i.e., hearing and deaf individuals) and different modes of communication (i.e., hearing individuals using spoken language, deaf individuals with a preference for sign language, and deaf individuals using the oral modality with less or no competence in sign language) performed a visual lexical decision task, which consisted of categorizing real words and consonant strings. The lexicality effect was restricted to deaf signers who responded faster to real words than consonant strings, showing overreliance on whole word lexical processing of stimuli. No effect of stimulus type was found in deaf individuals using the oral modality or in hearing individuals. Thus, mode of communication modulates the lexicality effect. This suggests that learning a sign language during development shapes visuo-motor representations of words, which are tuned to the actions used to express them (phono-articulatory movements vs. hand movements) and to associated perceptions. As these visuo-motor representations are elicited during on-line linguistic processing and can overlap with the perceptual-motor processes required to execute the task, they can potentially produce interference or facilitation effects. Citation: Barca L, Pezzulo G, Castrataro M, Rinaldi P, Caselli MC (2013) Visual Word Recognition in Deaf Readers: Lexicality Is Modulated by Communication Mode. PLoS ONE 8(3): e59080.
Although the idea of action simulation is nowadays popular in cognitive science, neuroscience and... more Although the idea of action simulation is nowadays popular in cognitive science, neuroscience and robotics, many aspects of the simulative processes remain unclear from empirical, computational, and neural perspectives. In the first part of the article, we provide a critical review and assessment of action simulation theories advanced so far in the wider literature of embodied and motor cognition. We focus our analysis on twelve key questions, and discuss them in the context of human and (occasionally) primate studies. In the second part of the article, we describe an integrative neuro-computational account of action simulation, which links the neural substrate (as revealed in neuroimaging studies of action simulation) to the components of a computational architecture that includes internal modeling, action monitoring and inhibition mechanisms.
This study concerns the role of motor simulations in a memory task performed by expert and novice... more This study concerns the role of motor simulations in a memory task performed by expert and novice climbers. In a behavioural task, expert and novice rock climbers were shown three novel climbing routes: an easy route, a route impossible to climb but perceptually salient, and a difficult route. After a distraction task, they were given a recall test in which they had to write down the sequence of holds composing each route. No difference emerged between experts and novices on the easy and impossible routes. Differently, the ...
... Variabili lessicali e sub-lessicali: valori per 626 nomi dell'italiano. Cristina... more ... Variabili lessicali e sub-lessicali: valori per 626 nomi dell'italiano. Cristina Burani*, Laura Barca*^ e Lisa Saskia Arduino*°. ... La lunghezza in sillabe e in lettere (rispettivamente SILL e LUN) estratta automaticamente dal BDVDB di Thornton, Iacobini, e Burani (1994, 1997). ...
... Laura Barca*^, Cristina Burani* & Lisa Saskia Arduino*°. ... Child written word frequency... more ... Laura Barca*^, Cristina Burani* & Lisa Saskia Arduino*°. ... Child written word frequency or Elementary Lexicon (Child Written), taken from the frequency count (1 million occurrences) by Marconi, Ott, Pesenti, Ratti, & Tavella (1993), subdivided in TotFQ (total frequency values ...
Proceedings of the 2010 Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2010
Spatial memory is supported by multiple parallel representations of the environment. Egocentric p... more Spatial memory is supported by multiple parallel representations of the environment. Egocentric perspective (body-centered) and allocentric representations (objectcentered) are integrated to allow correct interaction with the world. According to Milner and Goodale (1995, 2008), the action-related dorsal system is specialized for location of objects in space and visuo-motor integration, and uses an egocentric frame of reference. The perception-related ventral system is specialized for categorical recognition of objects ...
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