文章基本信息

标题：Language as a Tool: Motor Proficiency Using a Tool Predicts Individual Linguistic Abilities
本地全文：下载
作者：Brozzoli, Claudio ; Roy, Alice C. ; Lidborg, Linda H. 等
期刊名称：Frontiers in Psychology
电子版ISSN：1664-1078
出版年度：2019
卷号：10
页码：1-9
DOI：10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01639
出版社：Frontiers Media
摘要：Different disciplines converge to trace language evolution from motor skills. The human ability to use tools has been advocated as a fundamental step toward the emergence of linguistic processes in the brain. Neuropsychological and neuroimaging research has established that linguistic functions and tool-use are mediated by partially overlapping brain networks. Yet, scholars still theoretically debate whether the relationship between tool-use and language is contingent or functionally relevant, since empirical evidence is critically missing. Here, we measured both linguistic production and tool-use abilities in the same participants, as well as manual and linguistic motor skills. A path analysis ruling out unspecific contributions from manual or linguistic motor skills, showed that motor proficiency using a tool lawfully predicts differences in individual linguistic production. In addition, more complex tool-use reveals stronger association between linguistic production and tool mastery. These findings establish the existence of shared cognitive processes between tool-use and language.
关键词：tool-use; syntax; path model analysis; Embodied Cognition; Language