In 2019, research revealed the correlation between proficiency in using a tool and having good syntactic ability-the ability to comprehend the rules and structures of a language. A new study suggests that both these skills rely on the same neurological resources and that improving one of these skills also improves the other.
This study, conducted in collaboration by researchers in France and Sweden, was published in November 2021 in the journal Science. For their research, they developed a series of brain imaging techniques and behavioural measurements.
Common brain networks
Participants were requested to take several tests that included motor training using pliers and syntax exercises in French. Scientists were not only able to identify brain networks specific to each task, but also those that were common to both tasks, producing activations in a region called the basal ganglia.
Once the fact that both skills use the same brain regions were established, the researchers went a step further to see if training in one could improve the other. For this, participants were required to perform a syntactic comprehension task both 30 minutes before and after motor training with pliers.
Reverse is also true
The scientists not only demonstrated that motor training with mechanical tools enhanced participants performance in syntactic comprehension exercises, but also that the reverse was also true. This meant that training exercises to understand sentences with complex structures allowed participants to improve their performance with the tools.
Apart from the fact that these learnings provide us an insight as to how language evolved throughout history and how the ancestral technological boom when the first tools were developed could have radically changed our brains, it could also have some innovative applications.
Scientists believe that protocols could be put in place for supporting rehabilitation and recovery. These can be used to improve the language skills of young people with developmental disorders and the motor skills of patients.
Picture Credit : Google
