Ideomotor response and the neural representation of implied crying in the human brain: An fMRI study using onomatopoeia

Abstract

We describe an fMRI study demonstrating that, when an onomatopoeic word highly suggestive of implied crying is heard, significant activation occurs in the left inferior frontal gyrus, the left inferior parietal lobule close to the supramarginal gyrus, the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the middle frontal gyrus close to the right premotor cortex, and the visual cortex. Hearing pronounceable nonwords that do not imply crying does not appear to activate these brain areas. We tested the specific hypothesis that image formation in verbal working memory in response to crying-related words and depictions of crying faces would serve to modulate activation in the premotor and visual cortices, and found this hypothesis to be generally valid. Comparing the present findings to those of previous work that has examined implied laughter, positive (laughter) and negative (crying) emotional states appear to be associated with some overlap in brain areas or neural substrates, namely the premotor and visual cortices. We argue that the mental imagery evoked by onomatopoeia activates an "ideomotor response," the neural substrate of which comprises the premotor area, thereby playing an important role in image generation. © Japanese Psychological Association 2011.