Comprehending action language recruits the action system.
To what extent do action simulations reflect the fine-grained
parameters of real world action? We investigate whether
action simulations are sensitive to speed of an action. In two
experiments participants completed a motor task where they
moved slowly or quickly, followed by a sentence sensibility
task. We found an overall action effect for sentences
describing hand actions: moving slowly increased accuracy
(Exp.1) and reduced response time (Exp. 2). For sentences
describing full-body actions, responses were more accurate
when movement speed matched the speed implied in the
sentence, in Experiment 1 only. This study demonstrates
online action simulation and provides evidence that speed of
action can be simulated during sentence comprehension.