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Beginning with Talmy's work in the late 1970's and early 1980's, cognitive linguists have argued that fictive motion-roughly, mentally simulated motion along a path or linear configuration-motivates the use and structure of a class of figurative uses of motion verbs. On this view, a motion verb describes an inherently static scene, as in The road runs along the coast or A trail goes through the desert, but evokes the simulation of" movement" or" scanning" along a trajectory through imagined space. The imagery is believed to be subjective in that the conceptualizer enacts the movement or scanning, and its purpose is believed to be functional-allegedly, simulating motion allows the language user to infer or convey information about the physical layout of a scene, especially the configuration and position of the path or trajectory (eg, road). The goal of this chapter is to examine the linguistic behavior of fictive motion constructions (eg, The road runs along the coast), and to discuss whether simulated motion and scanning motivates the use and comprehension of fictive motion constructions. Central to the discussion is relevant work from psychology, including