Motor content norms for 4,565 verbs in Spanish

Abstract

Embodiment theory suggests that, during the processing of words related to movement, as in the case of action verbs, somatotopic activation is produced in the motor and premotor cortices. In the same way, some studies have demonstrated that patients with frontal-lobe damage, such as Parkinson’s patients, have difficulties processing that kind of stimulus. At the moment, no standardized data exist concerning the motor content of Spanish verbs. Therefore, the aim of the present research was to develop a database of 4,565 verbs in Spanish through a survey filled out by 152 university students. The value for the motor content was obtained by calculating the average value from the answers of the participants. In addition, the reliability of the results was estimated, as well as their convergent validity, using diverse correlation coefficients. The database and the raw responses of the participants can be downloaded from this website: https://inco.grupos.uniovi.es/enlaces.