Embodied Language Production

We use language to record, preserve and communicate about events, (e.g., reporting a kicking event by saying "A waitress kicks a clown"). But how do speakers encode an event into speech sounds? To do so, speakers need to start from a message and then find words for the message and arrange them into a sentence. However, how speakers construct a message out of, e.g., seeing an event, rarely has been empirically addressed. A standard view assumes that message construction mainly concerns searching concepts in long-term memory for event participants (e.g., CLOWN, WAITRESS) and their relation (e.g., KICK). One problem with this account of language production is that the message is devoid of the rich perceptual, motor and affective (i.e., sensorimotor) content we perceive of an event. For example, the perception of the kicking event above offers the visual imagery of a waitress, a clown and the act of kicking. It has been shown that when people *comprehend* a sentence describing an event, they mentally replay or simulate the sensorimotor content implied in the event, but it yet remains to be explored whether similar sensorimotor simulation is used when they *produce* a sentence to describe an event.
We propose that in language production, speakers use the sensorimotor content to mentally simulate or replay an event they want to speak about. Since sensorimotor content is perspective-specific (e.g., the sensorimotor experience of a kicking event is different for the kicker and the kickee), we hypothesise that speakers prefer to take the perspective of a more similar event participant and to choose a grammatical structure (e.g., active vs. passive) in which the perspective participant is realised as the subject of the sentence. Such an account explains the general finding across languages that speakers tend to use a more human/animate concept as the subject of a sentence (e.g., "A clown is hit by a stone" rather than "A stone hits a clown").
The proposal presents the first attempt to explore language production in terms of embodied cognition (i.e., cognition as mental simulation of sensorimotor content). We examine whether speakers employ perspective-specific sensorimotor simulation in constructing a message out of an event and whether sensorimotor simulation in the message affects the subsequent choice of grammar. In the first series of studies, we ask speakers to describe a picture (e.g., "The waitress passes the clown a ball") while tracking their computer mouse trajectories as a measure of whether they mentally simulate the movement in an event while speaking. In the second series of studies, we aim to explore whether different perspectives of the same event (e.g., a waitress kicking a clown) result in different sensorimotor simulations (let/foot movement from the waitress' perspective but pain from the clown's perspective) by recording speakers' electrophysiological activities. In the third series of studies, we investigate whether speakers tend to take the perspective of an event participant that is more similar to them in gender or emotion and realise that participant as the subject of the sentence (e.g., "The clown is kicked by the waitress" by male speakers). We aim to achieve two main objectives via these studies. Theoretically, the project presents an empirical investigation of conceptualisation, an important but rarely investigated area, and will provide a new perspective (embodied cognition) on language production. Methodologically, we will develop novel paradigms for investigating experienced-based knowledge/thoughts and how they drive symbolic behaviours (e.g., sentences).
Through the project, I aim to develop my skills in theoretical construction in language and cognitive sciences, in using of neuroscientific research methods to study language and cognition, and in using computational models to implement my theoretical proposals.

Language production (speaking and writing) is one of the most basic skills and probably one that is the most frequently used in our daily life; furthermore, it is an important part of schooling as many professions rely on the creative use of language to describe thoughts and events (e.g., students, journalists, novelists). Thus, besides academic implications for many fields in cognitive science, our research will also have practical implications for the society especially in the areas below.

Early language education
Children vary in their capacity of using language to express a thought/event (e.g., in story-telling), which requires good lexical expressions and grammatical choices. Our work will give us precious information on how speakers encode events for speaking, thus can lead to teaching implications. For example, if we find that speakers replay the sensorimotor content of a to-be-talked-about event from a particular perspective, and then use this simulation to retrieve words and organize the words in a sentence, classroom strategies in which children are encouraged to use their imagery to run such simulations may lead to better linguistic production. It would also be desirable that policy makers for early language education take such a learning strategy into consideration when designing curriculum and textbooks.

Foreign language education
Learning a second language (L2) has been a universal educational practice world-wide. Learning to speak (or write) in an L2 is notoriously more difficult than learning to comprehend (or read). For instance, learners often find it difficult to use a certain grammatical construction (e.g., the passive construction) or an appropriate word (e.g., using the verb "bring" when "take" or "fetch" is intended). While clearly frequency of use matters, it may also be the case the L2 words and grammatical constructions lack sufficient sensorimotor content due to common practices of L1-L2 association in foreign language teaching and learning. Thus, it is important that in teaching words and constructions in a foreign language, teachers create an environment in which learners can internalise the rich sensorimotor content associated with the things/events these words and constructions refer to (e.g., by combining real-world experience with task-based teaching).

UK-China research collaboration
The current project presents opportunities for developing UK-China collaboration and for promoting the UK as a centre of international excellence in the psychology of language. First, the PI has already established good collaborative relations with China. A prominent Chinese psycholinguist, Ruiming Wang from South China Normal University, has expressed interest in collaborating on the proposed project (see SCNU Visit Letter). We have discussed extending the current proposal to bilingualism and second language acquisition (see above) and applying for a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (with the PI as a co-applicant) as an extension to the current project. Second, there is currently much teaching and research in the language sciences in China, but it is failing to make an impact internationally, because of inexperience and lack of appropriate collaboration with international mentors. By collaborating in research, presenting our research findings and presenting the broader state of the art in the language sciences to Chinese researchers, our activities will have impact in terms of raising the profile of UCL (and the UK in general) as a leader for language sciences.