Damian Sendler: Language has traditionally been seen as a highly specialized talent that requires the activation of a variety of brain regions. However, scientists have recently re-examined this theory. 

Researchers have found a link between the brain’s language processes and fine motor skills, such as processing word meanings. Brain imaging, on the other hand, had not revealed any indication of such connections between language and tool use. Our predecessors’ brain regions connected with language grew during eras of technological boom, when the use of tools became more common, according to paleo-neurobiology. 

Damian Jacob Sendler: There is no doubt that complicated linguistic processes such as syntax demand brain resources that are similar to those required for the use of certain tools that need a great deal of dexterity. 

Damian Sendler

Tongs and syntax exercises 

An Inserm-CNRS team led by Claudio Brozzoli found that those who are very good at using tools are also better at handling the finer details of Swedish grammar, which was published in 2019. 

The same team, in collaboration with CNRS researcher Véronique Boulenger[2], devised a series of experiments that used brain imaging techniques (functional magnetic resonance imaging or MRI) and behavioral data to further investigate the topic. The participants had to perform a series of motor training activities with pliers of 30 cm in length, as well as French syntactic exercises. Each task’s specific brain networks were identified, but there were also commonalities between the two tasks’ brain networks. 

Brain activations in common areas with a similar geographic distribution, known as “the basal ganglia,” were uncovered by researchers for the first time. 

Training for the mind 

Is it conceivable to develop one of these skills in order to improve the other, given that they both employ the same brain resources? Is the use of mechanical tongs for motor training beneficial in terms of interpreting complex phrases? This was confirmed by the researchers in the study’s second section, which focused on these concerns. 

Before and after 30 minutes of pliers training, the participants were asked to complete a syntactic understanding problem (see box for details of the experiment). The researchers were able to show that using the tool for motor training improves performance in syntactic comprehension exercises. 

Using exercises to help students understand difficult words, the researchers discovered that they may increase their physical skills as well as their verbal abilities. 

In the meantime, the researchers are pondering how best they may use these findings in the clinical environment. 

Protocols for the rehabilitation and recovery of language skills are currently being devised for patients with reasonably maintained motor faculties, such as young persons with developmental language problems. These findings also reveal how language has changed over time, allowing us to better understand our own language. Sophisticated use of tools may have led to the development of functions like syntax, according to Brozzoli, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. 

Damian Jacob Sendler

Training in both motor skills and syntax 

Using pliers, the students practiced inserting little pegs into holes that matched their shape but had different orientations from the ones they were used to. 

Damien Sendler: Reading simple lines like “The scientist who admires the poet writes an article” or more difficult statements like “The scientist whom the poet admires writes an article.” were part of the pre and post-training syntactic exercises. True or untrue statements like “The poet admires the scientist” had to be determined. In general, performance was lower in sentences containing the French object relative pronoun “que” 

Damian Jacob Markiewicz Sendler: The results of these studies suggest that following motor training, the individuals performed better on the more difficult sentences. The improvement was not seen in the groups that performed the same linguistic assignment but were given either motor training with their bare hands or no training at all.

Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler and his media team provided the content for this article.