That means something to me: How linguistic and emotional experience affect the acquisition, representation, and processing of novel abstract concepts.

We used a novel linguistic training paradigm to investigate the experience-dependent acquisition, representation, and processing of novel emotional and neutral abstract concepts. Participants engaged in mental imagery (n = 32) or lexico-semantic rephrasing (n = 34) of linguistic material during five training sessions and successfully learned the novel abstract concepts. Feature production after training showed that specifically emotion features enriched the emotional concepts' representations. Unexpectedly, for participants engaging in vivid mental imagery during training a higher semantic richness of the acquired emotional concepts slowed down lexical decisions. Rephrasing, in turn, promoted a better learning and processing performance than imagery, probably due to stronger established lexical associations. Our results confirm the importance of emotional and linguistic experience and additional deep lexico-semantic processing for the acquisition, representation, and processing of abstract concepts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Brain Signatures of Embodied Semantics and Language: A Consensus Paper.

According to embodied theories (including embodied, embedded, extended, enacted, situated, and grounded approaches to cognition), language representation is intrinsically linked to our interactions with the world around us, which is reflected in specific brain signatures during language processing and learning. Moving on from the original rivalry of embodied vs. amodal theories, this consensus paper addresses a series of carefully selected questions that aim at determining when and how rather than whether motor and perceptual processes are involved in language processes. We cover a wide range of research areas, from the neurophysiological signatures of embodied semantics, e.g., event-related potentials and fields as well as neural oscillations, to semantic processing and semantic priming effects on concrete and abstract words, to first and second language learning and, finally, the use of virtual reality for examining embodied semantics. Our common aim is to better understand the role of motor and perceptual processes in language representation as indexed by language comprehension and learning. We come to the consensus that, based on seminal research conducted in the field, future directions now call for enhancing the external validity of findings by acknowledging the multimodality, multidimensionality, flexibility and idiosyncrasy of embodied and situated language and semantic processes.

Sensorimotor synchronization to music reduces pain.

Pain-reducing effects of music listening are well-established, but the effects are small and their clinical relevance questionable. Recent theoretical advances, however, have proposed that synchronizing to music, such as clapping, tapping or dancing, has evolutionarily important social effects that are associated with activation of the endogenous opioid system (which supports both analgesia and social bonding). Thus, active sensorimotor synchronization to music could have stronger analgesic effects than simply listening to music. In this study, we show that sensorimotor synchronization to music significantly amplifies the pain-reducing effects of music listening. Using pressure algometry to the fingernails, pain stimuli were delivered to n = 59 healthy adults either during music listening or silence, while either performing an active tapping task or a passive control task. Compared to silence without tapping, music with tapping (but not simply listening to music) reduced pain with a large, clinically significant, effect size (d = 0.93). Simply tapping without music did not elicit such an effect. Our analyses indicate that both attentional and emotional mechanisms drive the pain-reducing effects of sensorimotor synchronization to music, and that tapping to music in addition to merely listening to music may enhance pain-reducing effects in both clinical contexts and everyday life. The study was registered as a clinical trial at ClinicalTrials.gov (registration number NCT05267795), and the trial was first posted on 04/03/2022.

Prevalence of dentin hypersensitivity after orthodontic treatment: A cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of cervical dentin hypersensitivity in patients after corrective orthodontic treatment has been poorly studied, although such hypersensitivity is very common. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of dentin hypersensitivity in patients who received corrective orthodontic treatment, the impact of general oral problems on quality of life, and the impact of hypersensitivity on the quality of life of this population. METHODS: This observational, cross-sectional study evaluated 232 patients who finished orthodontic treatment between 2000 and 2020 for self-reported hypersensitivity and clinically diagnosed hypersensitivity. The following tests were used: tactile, evaporative (bellows), evaporative (triple syringe), and thermal. The patients were also evaluated regarding their quality of life using questionnaires (Oral Health Impact Profile-14 and Dentine Hypersensitivity Experience Questionnaire). We evaluated data with nonparametric statistics. RESULTS: The prevalence of hypersensitivity was higher in women and in those aged <30 years; the most affected teeth were the mandibular incisors and premolars; different diagnostic tests for hypersensitivity may indicate different prevalence values; patients with hypersensitivity had a lower quality of life in most of the domains of both of the tests that were used. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of hypersensitivity among patients after orthodontic treatment may be higher than in the general population. Further investigation is needed to indicate the possible factors associated with orthodontic tooth movement.

When a Sunny Day Gives You Butterflies: An Electrophysiological Investigation of Concreteness and Context Effects in Semantic Word Processing.

Theories on controlled semantic cognition assume that word concreteness and linguistic context interact during semantic word processing. Methodological approaches and findings on how this interaction manifests at the electrophysiological and behavioral levels are heterogeneous. We measured ERPs and RTs applying a validated cueing paradigm with 19 healthy participants, who performed similarity judgments on concrete or abstract words (e.g., "butterfly" or "tolerance") after reading contextual and irrelevant sentential cues. Data-driven analyses showed that concreteness increased and context decreased negative-going deflections in broadly distributed bilateral clusters covering the N400 and N700/late positive component time range, whereas both reduced RTs. Crucially, within a frontotemporal cluster in the N400 time range, contextual (vs. irrelevant) information reduced negative-going amplitudes in response to concrete but not abstract words, whereas a contextual cue reduced RTs only in response to abstract but not concrete words. The N400 amplitudes did not explain additional variance in the RT data, which showed a stronger contextual facilitation for abstract than concrete words. Our results support separate but interacting effects of concreteness and context on automatic and controlled stages of contextual semantic processing and suggest that effects on the electrophysiological versus behavioral level obtained with this paradigm are dissociated.

Corroborating behavioral evidence for the interplay of representational richness and semantic control in semantic word processing.

This study aimed to replicate and validate concreteness and context effects on semantic word processing. In Experiment 1, we replicated the behavioral findings of Hoffman et al. (Cortex 63,250-266, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2014.09.001 , 2015) by applying their cueing paradigm with their original stimuli translated into German. We found concreteness and contextual cues to facilitate word processing in a semantic judgment task with 55 healthy adults. The two factors interacted in their effect on reaction times: abstract word processing profited more strongly from a contextual cue, while the concrete words' processing advantage was reduced but still present. For accuracy, the descriptive pattern of results suggested an interaction, which was, however, not significant. In Experiment 2, we reformulated the contextual cues to avoid repetition of the to-be-processed word. In 83 healthy adults, the same pattern of results emerged, further validating the findings. Our corroborating evidence supports theories integrating representational richness and semantic control mechanisms as complementary mechanisms in semantic word processing.

How words get meaning: The neural processing of novel object names after sensorimotor training.

The hypothesis that individual experience affects the formation and processing of conceptual representations is controversially debated. Previous training studies with novel tool-like objects have found experience effects on conceptual representations as measured in tasks requiring the processing of object pictures. This study instead explored the neural processing of training-induced word meaning of novel object names. We asked whether the type of experience gained during object concept formation specifically modulates object name processing. In three training sessions with novel tool-like objects, two groups of healthy participants gained either active or observational manipulation experience as well as purely visual experience, while learning pseudowords serving as object names. In an fMRI session after training, participants were presented with the learned novel object names in a lexical decision task. Results revealed that processing novel object names in comparison to meaningless pseudowords elicits a word-like activation pattern in frontal, parietal and temporal regions known to underlie lexical-semantic processing, thus suggesting word meaning formation. Experience-specific modulations did not emerge as regional activation effects. However, a post-hoc analysis revealed that the type of experience (manipulation versus visual) as well as the way, in which the manipulation was learned (active versus observational) led to specific functional connectivity increases between semantic regions and neuronal assemblies in brain areas coding for object manipulation and related visuospatial information. These results suggest that the emergence of conceptual processing for novel object names might be grounded in functional brain networks specifically coding for the experience with their referents.

The role of experience for abstract concepts: Expertise modulates the electrophysiological correlates of mathematical word processing.

Embodied theories assign experience a crucial role in shaping conceptual representations. Supporting evidence comes mostly from studies on concrete concepts, where e.g., motor expertise facilitated action concept processing. This study examined experience-dependent effects on abstract concept processing. We asked participants with high and low mathematical expertise to perform a lexical decision task on mathematical and nonmathematical abstract words, while acquiring event-related potentials. Analyses revealed an interaction of expertise and word type on the amplitude of a fronto-central N400 and a centro-parietal late positive component (LPC). For mathematical words, we found a trend for a lower N400 and a significantly higher LPC amplitude in experts compared to nonexperts. No differences between groups were found for nonmathematical words. The results suggest that expertise affects the processing stages of semantic integration and memory retrieval specifically for expertise-related concepts. This study supports the generalization of experience-dependent conceptual processing mechanisms to the abstract domain.

The Effect of Training-Induced Visual Imageability on Electrophysiological Correlates of Novel Word Processing.

The concreteness effect (CE) describes a processing advantage for concrete over abstract words. Electrophysiologically, the CE manifests in higher N400 and N700 amplitudes for concrete words. The contribution of the stimulus-inherent imageability to the electrophysiological correlates of the CE is not yet fully unraveled. This EEG study focused on the role of imageability irrespective of concreteness by examining the effects of training-induced visual imageability on the processing of novel words. In two training sessions, 21 healthy participants learned to associate novel words with pictures of novel objects as well as electron-microscopical structures and were additionally familiarized with novel words without any picture association. During a post-training EEG session, participants categorized trained novel words with or without picture association, together with real concrete and abstract words. Novel words associated with novel object pictures during the training elicited a higher N700 than familiarized novel words without picture-association. Crucially, this training-induced N700 effect resembled the CE found for real words. However, a CE on the N400 was found for real words, but no effect of imageability in novel words. The results suggest that the N400 CE for real words depends on the integration of multiple semantic features, while mere visual imageability might contribute to the CE in the N700 time window.

Event-related desynchronization of mu and beta oscillations during the processing of novel tool names.

According to the embodied cognition framework, the formation of conceptual representations integrates the type of experience during learning. In this electroencephalographic study, we applied a linguistic variant of a training paradigm, in which participants learned to associate novel names to novel tools while either manipulating or visually exploring them. The analysis focused on event-related desynchronization (ERD) of oscillations in the mu and beta frequency range, which reflects activation of sensorimotor brain areas. After three training sessions, processing names of manipulated tools elicited a stronger ERD of the beta (18-25 Hz, 140-260 ms) and the lower mu rhythm (8-10 Hz, 320-440 ms) than processing names of visually explored tools, reflecting a possible reactivation of experiential sensorimotor information. Given the unexpected result that familiarized pseudo-words elicited an ERD comparable to names of manipulated tools, our findings could reflect a suppression of sensorimotor activity during the processing of objects with exclusively visual features.

The influence of acute stress on attention mechanisms and its electrophysiological correlates.

FOR THE SELECTION OF RELEVANT INFORMATION OUT OF A CONTINUOUS STREAM OF INFORMATION, WHICH IS A COMMON DEFINITION OF ATTENTION, TWO CORE MECHANISMS ARE ASSUMED: a competition-based comparison of the neuronal activity in sensory areas and the top-down modulation of this competition by frontal executive control functions. Those control functions are thought to bias the processing of information toward the intended goals. Acute stress is thought to impair these frontal functions through the release of cortisol. In the present study, subjects had to detect a luminance change of a stimulus and ignore more salient but task irrelevant orientation changes. Before the execution of this task, subjects underwent a socially evaluated cold pressor test (SECPT) or a non-stressful control situation. The SECPT revealed reliable stress response with a significant increase of cortisol and alpha-amylase. Stressed subjects showed higher error rates than controls, particularly in conditions which require top-down control processing to bias the less salient target feature against the more salient and spatially separated distracter. By means of the EEG, subjects who got stressed showed a reduced allocation to the relevant luminance change apparent in a modulation of the N1pc. The following N2pc, which reflects a re-allocation of attentional resources, supports the error pattern. There was only an N2pc in conditions, which required to bias the less salient luminance change. Moreover, this N2pc was decreased as a consequence of the induced stress. These results allow the conclusion that acute stress impairs the intention-based attentional allocation and enhances the stimulus-driven selection, leading to a strong distractibility during attentional information selection.