Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Modena & Reggio-Emilia, Italy.
Brain Lang. 2011 Dec;119(3):149-57. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2011.05.004.
We used Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to assess whether reading literal, non-literal (i.e., metaphorical, idiomatic) and fictive motion sentences modulates the activity of the motor system. Sentences were divided into three segments visually presented one at a time: the noun phrase, the verb and the final part of the sentence. Single pulse-TMS was delivered at the end of the sentence over the leg motor area in the left hemisphere and motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the right gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior muscles. MEPs were larger when participants were presented with literal, fictive and metaphorical motion sentences than with idiomatic motion or mental sentences. These results suggest that the excitability of the motor system is modulated by the motor component of the verb, which is preserved in fictive and metaphorical motion sentences.
我们使用经颅磁刺激（TMS）来评估阅读字面意义、非字面意义（即隐喻、习语）和虚构运动句子是否会调节运动系统的活动。句子被分为三个部分，以视觉方式一次呈现一个：名词短语、动词和句子的最后部分。在句子的末尾，在左半球的腿部运动区域给予单个脉冲 TMS，并从右腓肠肌和胫骨前肌记录运动诱发电位（MEPs）。与习语运动或心理句子相比，参与者在呈现字面、虚构和隐喻运动句子时，MEPs 更大。这些结果表明，运动系统的兴奋性受动词的运动成分调节，而虚构和隐喻运动句子中保留了这种兴奋性。
