Grasping ideas with your hands: neuromechanical assessment of the relation between cognitive processing and motor performance

Is it your mind or your hand that grasps an idea? Neural and behavioural evidence from the cognitive sciences suggests it may be both due to a theorized bidirectional relationship between cognitive processes and motor control. Yet, this hypothesis has not been approached from a neuromechanical perspective. We aim to test this claim with detailed analyses of semantic and mechanical features of action-related words. Our results suggest a close relationship between semantic and motor representations of action, supporting the idea of shared neural substrates between cognitive and motor systems.