Embodiment of action-related language in the native and a late foreign language – An fMRI-study

Theories of embodied cognition postulate that language processing activates similar sensory-motor structures as<br> when interacting with the environment. Only little is known about the neural substrate of embodiment in a<br> foreign language (L2) as compared to the mother tongue (L1). In this fMRI study, we investigated embodiment of<br> motor and non-motor action verbs in L1 and L2 including 31 late bilinguals. Half had German as L1 and French as<br> L2, and the other half vice-versa. We collapsed across languages to avoid the confound between language and<br> order of language acquisition. Region of interest analyses showed stronger activation in motor regions during L2<br> than during L1 processing, independently of the motor-relatedness of the verbs. Moreover, a stronger involvement<br> of motor regions for motor-related as compared to non-motor-related verbs, similarly for L1 and L2, was<br> found. Overall, the similarity between L1 and L2 embodiment seems to depend on individual and contextual<br> factors.