Beyond grasping: Syllables processing influences mere manual keypress

We aimed to better understand the link between vocalization and grasping. We especially test whether neurocognitive processes underlying this interaction are not grasping specific. To test this hypothesis, we used the procedure of a previous experiment, showing that silently reading the syllable KA and TI can facilitate power- and precision-grip responses, respectively. In our experiment, the participants have to silently read the syllable KA or TI but, according to the color of the syllables, have merely to press a large or small switch (we removed the grasping component of responses). Responses on the large switch were faster when the syllable KA was read compared with TI and conversely for the responses carried out on the small switch. This result supports that the influence of vocalization is not restricted to grasping responses, and, in addition, it supports an alternative, non-grasping-specific model of interactions between vocalization and grasping.