The auditory cortex was shown to be activated during the processing of words describing actions with acoustic features. The present study further examines whether processing visually presented action words characterized by different levels of loudness, i.e. "loud" (to shout) and "quiet" actions (to whisper), differentially engage the auditory cortex. Twenty healthy participants were measured with magnetoencephalography (MEG) while reading inflected verbs followed by a short tone and semantic tasks. Based on the results of a localizer task, loudness sensitive temporal Brodmann areas A22, A41/42, and pSTS were inspected in the word paradigm. "Loud" actions induced significantly stronger beta power suppression compared to "quiet" actions in the left hemisphere. Smaller N100m amplitude related to tones following "loud" compared to "quiet" actions confirmed that auditory cortex sensitivity was modulated by action words. Results point to possible selective auditory simulation mechanisms involved in verb processing and support embodiment theories.

中文翻译：

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听觉皮层对动词响度属性的敏感性

听觉皮层被证明在处理描述具有声学特征的动作的单词期间被激活。本研究进一步检验了处理以不同响度水平为特征的视觉呈现的动作词，即“大声”（喊叫）和“安静”动作（耳语），是否不同地参与听觉皮层。20 名健康参与者在阅读屈折动词时使用脑磁图 (MEG) 进行测量，然后是短音和语义任务。根据定位器任务的结果，在词范式中检查响度敏感的时间布罗德曼区域 A22、A41/42 和 pSTS。与左半球的“安静”动作相比，“大声”动作引起明显更强的β功率抑制。与“安静”动作相比，与“大声”后的音调相关的 N100m 幅度较小，这证实了听觉皮层敏感性受动作词的调节。结果指出了可能涉及动词加工的选择性听觉模拟机制，并支持具身理论。