Alex Miklashevsky, Martin H. Fischer

• Background and Aims: Ostarek et al. (2019) claimed a conclusive demonstration that language comprehension relies profoundly on visual simulations. They presented participants with visual noise during sentence-picture verification (SPV) and measured lateralized button response speed. The authors selectively eliminated the classical congruency effect (faster yes decisions when pictures match the objects implied by the sentences) with ‘‘high level’’ noise made from images of other objects. However, that visual noise included tool pictures, known to activate lateralized motor affordances. Moreover, some of their sentences described motor actions. This raises the question whether motor simulation may have contaminated their results. Methods: Replicating Ostarek et al. (2019), 33 right-handed participants performed SPV but either without visual noise or while viewing (a) only left-handled or (b) only right-handled or (c) alternatingly left- and right-handled tools. Accuracy and reaction times of manual yes responses were analyzed.Background and Aims: Ostarek et al. (2019) claimed a conclusive demonstration that language comprehension relies profoundly on visual simulations. They presented participants with visual noise during sentence-picture verification (SPV) and measured lateralized button response speed. The authors selectively eliminated the classical congruency effect (faster yes decisions when pictures match the objects implied by the sentences) with ‘‘high level’’ noise made from images of other objects. However, that visual noise included tool pictures, known to activate lateralized motor affordances. Moreover, some of their sentences described motor actions. This raises the question whether motor simulation may have contaminated their results. Methods: Replicating Ostarek et al. (2019), 33 right-handed participants performed SPV but either without visual noise or while viewing (a) only left-handled or (b) only right-handled or (c) alternatingly left- and right-handled tools. Accuracy and reaction times of manual yes responses were analyzed. Additionally, hand-relatedness of sentences was rated. Results: Replicating Ostarek et al. (2019), the classical SPV congruency effect appeared without noise and vanished when alternatingly handled tools were presented. Crucially, it reappeared when noise objects were consistently either left- or righthandled. Higher hand-relatedness of sentence content reduced SPV performance and accuracy was lower with right-handled noise. Conclusion: First, we demonstrated an interaction between motor- related language, visual affordances and motor responses in SPV. This result supports the embodied view of language processing. Second, we identified a motor process not previously known in SPV. This extends our understanding of mental simulation and calls for methodological controls in future studies.…