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Review
. 2023 Feb 1:17:982849.
doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.982849. eCollection 2023.

Motor imagery training to improve language processing: What are the arguments?

Mariam Bayram  1 , Richard Palluel-Germain  1 , Florent Lebon  2   3 , Edith Durand  4 , Sylvain Harquel  5 , Marcela Perrone-Bertolotti  1   3
Affiliations
Review

Motor imagery training to improve language processing: What are the arguments?

Mariam Bayram et al. Front Hum Neurosci. .

Abstract

Studies showed that motor expertise was found to induce improvement in language processing. Grounded and situated approaches attributed this effect to an underlying automatic simulation of the motor experience elicited by action words, similar to motor imagery (MI), and suggest shared representations of action conceptualization. Interestingly, recent results also suggest that the mental simulation of action by MI training induces motor-system modifications and improves motor performance. Consequently, we hypothesize that, since MI training can induce motor-system modifications, it could be used to reinforce the functional connections between motor and language system, and could thus lead to improved language performance. Here, we explore these potential interactions by reviewing recent fundamental and clinical literature in the action-language and MI domains. We suggested that exploiting the link between action language and MI could open new avenues for complementary language improvement programs. We summarize the current literature to evaluate the rationale behind this novel training and to explore the mechanisms underlying MI and its impact on language performance.

Keywords: cognitive training; language; mental simulation; motor imagery; rehabilitation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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