Where in the brain does the meaning of a word live, and why does hearing "kick" activate your leg motor cortex? Friedemann Pulvermuller unpacks how the brain grounds language in sensory and motor experience.

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Friedemann Pulvermuller presents a neurobiological account of word meaning that challenges traditional modular theories of semantics. Drawing on his mentor Valentino Braitenberg's vision of the cortex as an information mixing system, Pulvermuller argues that meaning arises from distributed cortical circuits where neurons that were originally specialized for vision or motor control become cross-modal through mutual linkage. The result is that understanding a word like "grasp" activates hand motor representations, while "kick" engages leg-related cortical areas,  ...