New Paper: Learning by doing: How the brain's motor system can support vocabulary learning

Our recent study published in the Journal of Neuroscience sheds light on why active learning techniques may out-perform traditional methods that are used to learn new foreign language vocabulary such as studying written word lists. Using a neuroscience technique known as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), we found that learning foreign language words by performing semantically-related gestures changed how those words were represented within the motor cortex. This particular brain region controls the body's voluntary movements. Responses in the motor cortex facilitated the recognition of the gesture-enriched words following a short period of vocabulary training. This finding can be interpreted through the lens of the predictive coding theory of brain function by suggesting that motor brain responses are able to enhance auditory learning and perception.

Mathias, B.*, Waibel, A.*, Hartwigsen, G., Sureth, L., Macedonia, M., Mayer, K. M., et al. (2021). Motor cortex causally contributes to vocabulary translation following sensorimotor-enriched training. J Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2249-20.2021 *Joint first authors