tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048879464910781933.post5485328160525494569..comments2023-10-12T00:25:24.119-07:00Comments on Talking Brains: How much can a motor representation contribute to action word meaning?Greg Hickokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16656473495682901613noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048879464910781933.post-82772243074503021932008-10-15T13:15:00.000-07:002008-10-15T13:15:00.000-07:00so we can figure out what they mean?so we can figure out what they mean?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048879464910781933.post-64497656646259026802008-09-04T12:30:00.000-07:002008-09-04T12:30:00.000-07:00That is an excellent question: what does it mean t...That is an excellent question: what does it mean to say that the semantics of action words are encoded or grounded in the motor system? How about we look through some of the papers promoting this position and see if we can figure out what they mean?Greg Hickokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16656473495682901613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048879464910781933.post-8503895459720825702008-09-04T12:13:00.000-07:002008-09-04T12:13:00.000-07:00Unclear to me what 'explaining the meaning' refers...Unclear to me what 'explaining the meaning' refers to ?<BR/><BR/>If I follow the discussion, finding a distinct motor activation for every distinct verb in a language L (hike vs walk) WOULD constitute an 'explanation'?? How so ?<BR/><BR/>Let me entertain a different possibility. Part of a verb meaning is its argument structure. If a relation between motor activation and argument structure could be found would this go further than 'mere association' and constitute an 'explanation' of the 'meaning' ? <BR/><BR/>Bottom line, I just would like to hear more about what could count as an explanation in this case.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048879464910781933.post-4418564276554023732008-09-04T11:41:00.000-07:002008-09-04T11:41:00.000-07:00how much of the meaning of these words is actually...how much of the meaning of these words is actually explained by movement?<BR/><BR/>Part of the meaning of a verb is its argument structure. Would something be explained if there was a strict relation between motor activation and argument structure ? <BR/>Unclear that hike and walk actually differ in this regards.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048879464910781933.post-24887444564462665882008-09-02T08:51:00.000-07:002008-09-02T08:51:00.000-07:00Right, so now we get to the issue: how much is act...Right, so now we get to the issue: how much is actually encoded? My point is that if you start looking carefully at the how much meaning can actually be represented in a motor code, the answer is not so much.Greg Hickokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16656473495682901613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048879464910781933.post-59818876393420108752008-09-02T08:46:00.000-07:002008-09-02T08:46:00.000-07:00Surely some words have more specific motor codes t...Surely some words have more specific motor codes than others, in the same way that words referring to objects can be rated as more or less imageable/concrete (e.g. wine glass vs. container). It could also be the case that even if a motor code is indistinguishable between two similar verbs (hike/walk), other aspects of meaning (e.g. visual knowledge) jointly disambiguate them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048879464910781933.post-85629156016205252112008-08-27T21:17:00.000-07:002008-08-27T21:17:00.000-07:00It has nothing to do with multiple meanings. Take...It has nothing to do with multiple meanings. Take hike. What is the motor representation of that action? Is it distinguishable from the motor representation of walk? If not, the semantic representation affording by the motor code can't even distinguish these two verbs. Therefore, we haven't explained much.Greg Hickokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16656473495682901613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048879464910781933.post-78129646917960091472008-08-27T18:06:00.000-07:002008-08-27T18:06:00.000-07:00Namely, even if we admit that motor representation...<I><BR/>Namely, even if we admit that motor representations are part of an action word's semantics, how much of the meaning of these words is actually explained by movement?<BR/></I><BR/>Greg,<BR/>Does it really matter though, how much of the 'meaning' of the word is explained, i.e. the fact that a word has multiple meanings does not really seem important.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com