Influence of automatic word reading on motor control

We investigated the possible influence of automatic word reading on processes of visuo‐motor transformation. Six subjects were required to reach and grasp a rod on whose visible face the word ‘long’ or ‘short’ was printed. Word reading was not explicitly required. In order to induce subjects to visually analyse the object trial by trial, object position and size were randomly varied during the experimental session. The kinematics of the reaching component was affected by word presentation. Peak acceleration, peak velocity, and peak deceleration of arm were higher for the word ‘long’ with respect to the word ‘short’. That is, during the initial movement phase subjects automatically associated the meaning of the word with the distance to be covered and activated a motor program for a farther and/or nearer object position. During the final movement phase, subjects modified the braking forces (deceleration) in order to correct the initial error. No effect of the words on the grasp component was observed. These results suggest a possible influence of cognitive functions on motor control and seem to contrast with the notion that the analyses executed in the ventral and dorsal cortical visual streams are different and independent.

[1]  Richard S. J. Frackowiak,et al.  Brain activity during reading. The effects of exposure duration and task. , 1994, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[2]  S. Chieffi,et al.  Visual illusion and action , 1996, Neuropsychologia.

[3]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  Influence of different types of grasping on the transport component of prehension movements , 1991, Neuropsychologia.

[4]  M. Posner,et al.  Localization of cognitive operations in the human brain. , 1988, Science.

[5]  D. Bouwhuis,et al.  Attention and performance X : control of language processes , 1986 .

[6]  R. Shor,et al.  Symbol Processing Speed Differences and Symbol Interference Effects in a Variety of Concept Domains. , 1971, The Journal of general psychology.

[7]  M. Goodale,et al.  The visual brain in action , 1995 .

[8]  M M Mesulam,et al.  Large‐scale neurocognitive networks and distributed processing for attention, language, and memory , 1990, Annals of neurology.

[9]  Leslie G. Ungerleider,et al.  Discrete Cortical Regions Associated with Knowledge of Color and Knowledge of Action , 1995, Science.

[10]  Ivan Toni,et al.  On the Role of the Egocentric and the Allocentric Frame of Reference in the Control of Arm Movements , 1997 .

[11]  M. Jeannerod,et al.  Impairment of grasping movements following a bilateral posterior parietal lesion , 1994, Neuropsychologia.

[12]  Colin M. Macleod.  Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: an integrative review. , 1991, Psychological bulletin.

[13]  S. Petersen,et al.  Activation of extrastriate and frontal cortical areas by visual words and word-like stimuli. , 1990, Science.

[14]  R. Frackowiak,et al.  Demonstrating the implicit processing of visually presented words and pseudowords. , 1996, Cerebral cortex.

[15]  A. Nobre,et al.  The neural system of language: structure and development , 1997, Current Opinion in Neurobiology.

[16]  M. Posner,et al.  The attention system of the human brain. , 1990, Annual review of neuroscience.

[17]  Maurizio Gentilucci,et al.  Grasping an illusion , 1997, Neuropsychologia.

[18]  P H Seymour,et al.  Stroop interference with response, comparison, and encoding stages in a sentence-picture comparison task , 1974, Memory & cognition.

[19]  S. Lehman.  The Neural and Behavioural Organization of Goal‐Directed Movements , 1990, Neurology.

[20]  M. Jeannerod.  The timing of natural prehension movements. , 1984, Journal of motor behavior.

[21]  P. T. Fox,et al.  Positron emission tomographic studies of the cortical anatomy of single-word processing , 1988, Nature.

[22]  C. Prablanc,et al.  Large adjustments in visually guided reaching do not depend on vision of the hand or perception of target displacement , 1986, Nature.