Action language comprehension, affordances and goals.

So far studies on language comprehension adopting the embodied and grounded perspective have underlined the similarities between language and action. In line with the idea of neural re-use, this chapter shows that language reflects some characteristics of action organization, but also that it builds on these characteristics, and modifies them in sophisticated ways. In the first part evidence is provided showing that the simulation evoked by language is rather detailed and it activates a specific kind of affordances, that is stable and canonical affordances rather than variable ones; in the case of tools this simulation activates function rather than manipulation. When possible, the simulation prepares for a specific action; when the situation is uncertain predictions are advanced in parallel in preparation of many possible situations. The second part of the chapter discusses how language reflects some characteristics of action organization. Evidence is illustrated indicating that the goal-derived and chained structure of action is reflected in language. The simulation is influenced both by the overall action goal and by the kinematics of actions; the latter is relevant only if it leads to a different interpretation of the action as a whole. However, language modulates how these aspects influence the motor system. The verb presented in imperative form, and in the 2nd person, leads to the preparation of a specific action, as the reader is recruited as agent. This phenomenon is less marked with other past tenses and with other pronouns.