1
|
Shi K, Li J. High-level construal mindset promotes categorizing information based on thematic associate relations. Mem Cognit 2024:10.3758/s13421-024-01624-6. [PMID: 39192140 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-024-01624-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/23/2024] [Indexed: 08/29/2024]
Abstract
The present study examined whether a high-level construal mindset promotes categorizing information according to thematic relations. In three experiments, the construal-level priming task was used to initiate a high-level versus low-level construal mindset, and then all participants were asked to complete the triad task, which is a task measuring the preference to classify. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 have shown that regardless of whether it was a set of artificially produced objects (Experiment 1) or a set of natural objects (Experiment 2), the high-level construal mindset group exhibited a higher proportion of thematic responses in the triad task. Experiment 3 transformed the stimulus set of the triad task into a set that consisted of many, larger, published, and controlled/optimized stimuli. The results of the experiment still showed that the high-level construal mindset group exhibited a higher proportion of thematic responses in the triad task. The findings suggest that a high-level construal mindset promotes categorizing information based on thematic relations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kai Shi
- Department of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, 730050, People's Republic of China
- Gansu Provincial Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Lanzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Jiansheng Li
- Department of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, 730050, People's Republic of China.
- Gansu Provincial Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Lanzhou, People's Republic of China.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Gillen N, Angulo-Chavira AQ, Plunkett K. Prime saliency in semantic priming with 18-month-olds. Cognition 2024; 246:105764. [PMID: 38457951 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105764] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2023] [Revised: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 03/10/2024]
Abstract
This study investigated semantic priming in 18-month-old infants using the inter-modal priming technique, focusing on the effects of prime repetition on saliency. Our findings showed that prime repetition led to longer looking times at target referents for related primes compared to unrelated primes, supporting the existence of a structured semantic system in infants as young as 18 months. The results are consistent with both Spreading Activation and Distributed models of semantic priming. Additionally, our findings highlighted the impact of prime-target stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) on priming effects, revealing positive, negative, or no priming effects depending on the chosen SOA. A post-hoc explanation of this finding points to negative priming as a possible mechanism. The study also demonstrated the utility of the inter-modal priming task in studying lexical-semantic structure in younger infants with its diverse measures of infant behaviour.
Collapse
|
3
|
Baumard J, Lesourd M, Jarry C, Merck C, Etcharry-Bouyx F, Chauviré V, Belliard S, Osiurak F, Le Gall D. Knowing "what for," but not "where": Dissociation between functional and contextual tool knowledge in healthy individuals and patients with dementia. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 2024; 30:97-106. [PMID: 37650212 DOI: 10.1017/s1355617723000486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/01/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Semantic tool knowledge underlies the ability to perform activities of daily living. Models of apraxia have emphasized the role of functional knowledge about the action performed with tools (e.g., a hammer and a mallet allow a "hammering" action), and contextual knowledge informing individuals about where to find tools in the social space (e.g., a hammer and a mallet can be found in a workshop). The goal of this study was to test whether contextual or functional knowledge, would be central in the organization of tool knowledge. It was assumed that contextual knowledge would be more salient than functional knowledge for healthy controls and that patients with dementia would show impaired contextual knowledge. METHODS We created an original, open-ended categorization task with ambiguity, in which the same familiar tools could be matched on either contextual or functional criteria. RESULTS In our findings, healthy controls prioritized a contextual, over a functional criterion. Patients with dementia had normal visual categorization skills (as demonstrated by an original picture categorization task), yet they made less contextual, but more functional associations than healthy controls. CONCLUSION The findings support a dissociation between functional knowledge ("what for") on the one hand, and contextual knowledge ("where") on the other hand. While functional knowledge may be distributed across semantic and action-related factors, contextual knowledge may actually be the name of higher-order social norms applied to tool knowledge. These findings may encourage researchers to test both functional and contextual knowledge to diagnose semantic deficits and to use open-ended categorization tests.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Mathieu Lesourd
- Laboratoire de Recherches Intégratives en Neurosciences et Psychologie Cognitive & MSHE Ledoux, CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Besançon, France
| | - Christophe Jarry
- Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire (EA 4638), Université d'Angers, Angers, France
| | - Catherine Merck
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital Pontchaillou, Rennes, France
| | | | - Valérie Chauviré
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Angers, Angers, France
| | - Serge Belliard
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital Pontchaillou, Rennes, France
| | - François Osiurak
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs (EA 3082), Université de Lyon, Lyon, France
- Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
| | - Didier Le Gall
- Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire (EA 4638), Université d'Angers, Angers, France
- Département de Neurologie, Unité de Neuropsychologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d'Angers, Angers, France
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Benn Y, Ivanova AA, Clark O, Mineroff Z, Seikus C, Silva JS, Varley R, Fedorenko E. The language network is not engaged in object categorization. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:10380-10400. [PMID: 37557910 PMCID: PMC10545444 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2021] [Revised: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 07/13/2023] [Indexed: 08/11/2023] Open
Abstract
The relationship between language and thought is the subject of long-standing debate. One claim states that language facilitates categorization of objects based on a certain feature (e.g. color) through the use of category labels that reduce interference from other, irrelevant features. Therefore, language impairment is expected to affect categorization of items grouped by a single feature (low-dimensional categories, e.g. "Yellow Things") more than categorization of items that share many features (high-dimensional categories, e.g. "Animals"). To test this account, we conducted two behavioral studies with individuals with aphasia and an fMRI experiment with healthy adults. The aphasia studies showed that selective low-dimensional categorization impairment was present in some, but not all, individuals with severe anomia and was not characteristic of aphasia in general. fMRI results revealed little activity in language-responsive brain regions during both low- and high-dimensional categorization; instead, categorization recruited the domain-general multiple-demand network (involved in wide-ranging cognitive tasks). Combined, results demonstrate that the language system is not implicated in object categorization. Instead, selective low-dimensional categorization impairment might be caused by damage to brain regions responsible for cognitive control. Our work adds to the growing evidence of the dissociation between the language system and many cognitive tasks in adults.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yael Benn
- Department of Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M15 6BH, United Kingdom
| | - Anna A Ivanova
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
| | - Oliver Clark
- Department of Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M15 6BH, United Kingdom
| | - Zachary Mineroff
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
| | - Chloe Seikus
- Division of Psychology & Language Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Jack Santos Silva
- Division of Psychology & Language Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Rosemary Varley
- Division of Psychology & Language Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Evelina Fedorenko
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Bonnì S, Borghi I, Maiella M, Casula EP, Koch G, Caltagirone C, Gainotti G. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Effects on the Neural Substrate of Conceptual Representations. Brain Sci 2023; 13:1037. [PMID: 37508969 PMCID: PMC10376965 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13071037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2023] [Revised: 07/03/2023] [Accepted: 07/04/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
The aim of this study was to shed light on the neural substrate of conceptual representations starting from the construct of higher-order convergence zones and trying to evaluate the unitary or non-unitary nature of this construct. We used the 'Thematic and Taxonomic Semantic (TTS) task' to investigate (a) the neural substrate of stimuli belonging to biological and artifact categories, (b) the format of stimuli presentation, i.e., verbal or pictorial, and (c) the relation between stimuli, i.e., categorial or contextual. We administered anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to different brain structures during the execution of the TTS task. Twenty healthy participants were enrolled and divided into two groups, one investigating the role of the anterior temporal lobes (ATL) and the other the temporo-parietal junctions (TPJ). Each participant underwent three sessions of stimulation to facilitate a control condition and to investigate the role of both hemispheres. Results showed that ATL stimulation influenced all conceptual representations in relation to the format of presentation (i.e., left-verbal and right-pictorial). Moreover, ATL stimulation modulated living categories and taxonomic relations specifically, whereas TPJ stimulation did not influence semantic task performances.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sonia Bonnì
- Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Unit, Department of Behavioral and Clinical Neurology, Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS, 00179 Rome, Italy
| | - Ilaria Borghi
- Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Unit, Department of Behavioral and Clinical Neurology, Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS, 00179 Rome, Italy
- Section of Human Physiology, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Michele Maiella
- Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Unit, Department of Behavioral and Clinical Neurology, Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS, 00179 Rome, Italy
| | - Elias Paolo Casula
- Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Unit, Department of Behavioral and Clinical Neurology, Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS, 00179 Rome, Italy
- Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy
| | - Giacomo Koch
- Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Unit, Department of Behavioral and Clinical Neurology, Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS, 00179 Rome, Italy
- Section of Human Physiology, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Carlo Caltagirone
- Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy
- Department of Clinical and Behavioral Neurology, Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS, 00179 Rome, Italy
| | - Guido Gainotti
- Department of Clinical and Behavioral Neurology, Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS, 00179 Rome, Italy
- Institute of Neurology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, 00168 Rome, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Zhang Y, Mirman D, Hoffman P. Taxonomic and thematic relations rely on different types of semantic features: Evidence from an fMRI meta-analysis and a semantic priming study. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2023; 242:105287. [PMID: 37263104 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2022] [Revised: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 05/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
Taxonomic and thematic relations are major components of semantic representation but their neurocognitive underpinnings are still debated. We hypothesised that taxonomic relations preferentially activate parts of anterior temporal lobe (ATL) because they rely more on colour and shape features, while thematic relations preferentially activate temporoparietal cortex (TPC) because they rely more on action and location knowledge. We first conducted activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis to assess evidence for neural specialisation in the existing fMRI literature (Study 1), then used a primed semantic judgement task to examine if the two relations are primed by different feature types (Study 2). We find that taxonomic relations show minimal feature-based specialisation but preferentially activate the lingual gyrus. Thematic relations are more dependent on action and location features and preferentially engage TPC. The meta-analysis also showed that lateral ATL is preferentially engaged by Thematic relations, which may reflect their greater reliance on verbal associations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yueyang Zhang
- School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, UK
| | - Daniel Mirman
- School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, UK
| | - Paul Hoffman
- School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Langland-Hassan P, Davis CP. A context-sensitive and non-linguistic approach to abstract concepts. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210355. [PMID: 36571133 PMCID: PMC9791476 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite the recent upsurge in research on abstract concepts, there remain puzzles at the foundation of their empirical study. These are most evident when we consider what is required to assess a person's abstract conceptual abilities without using language as a prompt or requiring it as a response-as in classic non-verbal categorization tasks, which are standardly considered tests of conceptual understanding. After distinguishing two divergent strands in the most common conception of what it is for a concept to be abstract, we argue that neither reliably captures the kind of abstraction required to successfully categorize in non-verbal tasks. We then present a new conception of concept abstractness-termed 'trial concreteness'-that is keyed to individual categorization trials. It has advantages in capturing the context-relativity of the degree of abstraction required for the application of a concept and fittingly correlates with participant success in recent experiments. This article is part of the theme issue 'Concepts in interaction: social engagement and inner experiences'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Charles P. Davis
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, 27708, NC, USA
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Merck C, Noël A, Jamet E, Robert M, Salmon A, Belliard S, Kalénine S. Nonspecific Effects of Normal Aging on Taxonomic and Thematic Semantic Processing. Exp Aging Res 2023; 49:18-40. [PMID: 35234091 DOI: 10.1080/0361073x.2022.2046948] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This study aimed to assess the effect of normal aging on the processing of taxonomic and thematic semantic relations. METHOD We used the Visual-World-Paradigm coupled with eye-movement recording. We compared performance of healthy younger and older adults on a word-to-picture matching task in which participants had to identify each target among semantically related (taxonomic or thematic) and unrelated distractors. RESULTS Younger and older participants exhibited similar patterns of gaze fixations in the two semantic conditions. The effect of aging took the form of an overall reduction in sensitivity to semantic competitors, with no difference between the taxonomic and thematic conditions. Moreover, comparison of the proportions of fixations between the younger and older participants indicated that targets were identified equally quickly in both age groups. This was not the case when mouse-click reaction times were analyzed. CONCLUSIONS Findings argue in favor of nonspecific effects of normal aging on semantic processing that similarly affect taxonomic and thematic processing. There are important clinical implications, as pathological aging has been repeatedly shown to selectively affect either taxonomic or thematic relations. Measuring eye-movements in a semantic task is also an interesting approach in the elderly, as these seem to be less impacted by aging than other motor responses.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Merck
- Service de Neurologie, Cmrr Haute Bretagne, Chu Pontchaillou, Rennes, France.,Normandie Univ, Unicaen, Psl Research University, Ephe, Inserm, U1077, Chu de Caen, Neuropsychologie Et Imagerie de la Mémoire Humaine, Caen, France
| | - Audrey Noël
- Univ Rennes, LP3C (Psychology of Cognition, Behavior & Communication Laboratory) - Ea 1285, Rennes, France
| | - Eric Jamet
- Univ Rennes, LP3C (Psychology of Cognition, Behavior & Communication Laboratory) - Ea 1285, Rennes, France
| | - Maxime Robert
- Univ Rennes, LP3C (Psychology of Cognition, Behavior & Communication Laboratory) - Ea 1285, Rennes, France
| | - Anne Salmon
- Service de Neurologie, Cmrr Haute Bretagne, Chu Pontchaillou, Rennes, France
| | - Serge Belliard
- Service de Neurologie, Cmrr Haute Bretagne, Chu Pontchaillou, Rennes, France.,Normandie Univ, Unicaen, Psl Research University, Ephe, Inserm, U1077, Chu de Caen, Neuropsychologie Et Imagerie de la Mémoire Humaine, Caen, France
| | - Solène Kalénine
- Univ. Lille, Cnrs, Chu Lille, Umr 9193 - SCALab - Sciences Cognitives Et Sciences Affectives, Lille, France
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Anderson EJ, Midgley KJ, Holcomb PJ, Riès SK. Taxonomic and thematic semantic relationships in picture naming as revealed by Laplacian-transformed event-related potentials. Psychophysiology 2022; 59:e14091. [PMID: 35554943 PMCID: PMC9788343 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2021] [Revised: 03/30/2022] [Accepted: 04/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Semantically related concepts co-activate when we speak. Prior research reported both behavioral interference and facilitation due to co-activation during picture naming. Different word relationships may account for some of this discrepancy. Taxonomically related words (e.g., WOLF-DOG) have been associated with semantic interference; thematically related words (e.g., BONE-DOG) have been associated with facilitation. Although these different semantic relationships have been associated with opposite behavioral outcomes, electrophysiological studies have found inconsistent effects on event-related potentials. We conducted a picture-word interference electroencephalography experiment to examine word retrieval dynamics in these different semantic relationships. Importantly, we used traditional monopolar analysis as well as Laplacian transformation allowing us to examine spatially deblurred event-related components. Both analyses revealed greater negativity (150-250 ms) for unrelated than related taxonomic pairs, though more restricted in space for thematic pairs. Critically, Laplacian analyses revealed a larger negative-going component in the 300 to 500 ms time window in taxonomically related versus unrelated pairs which were restricted to a left frontal recording site. In parallel, an opposite effect was found in the same time window but localized to a left parietal site. Finding these opposite effects in the same time window was feasible thanks to the use of the Laplacian transformation and suggests that frontal control processes are concurrently engaged with cascading effects of the spread of activation through semantically related representations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth J. Anderson
- Joint Doctoral Program in Language and Communicative DisordersSan Diego State UniversitySan DiegoCaliforniaUSA,Joint Doctoral Program in Language and Communicative DisordersUniversity of California San DiegoLa JollaCaliforniaUSA
| | | | - Phillip J. Holcomb
- Department of PsychologySan Diego State UniversitySan DiegoCaliforniaUSA
| | - Stephanie K. Riès
- School of Speech, Language, and Hearing SciencesSan Diego State UniversitySan DiegoCaliforniaUSA
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Thompson HE, Noonan KA, Halai AD, Hoffman P, Stampacchia S, Hallam G, Rice GE, De Dios Perez B, Lambon Ralph MA, Jefferies E. Damage to temporoparietal cortex is sufficient for impaired semantic control. Cortex 2022; 156:71-85. [PMID: 36183573 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.05.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2021] [Revised: 04/07/2022] [Accepted: 05/16/2022] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Semantic control allows us to focus semantic activation on currently relevant aspects of knowledge, even in the face of competition or when the required information is weakly encoded. Diverse cortical regions, including left prefrontal and posterior temporal cortex, are implicated in semantic control, however; the relative contribution of these regions is unclear. For the first time, we compared semantic aphasia (SA) patients with damage restricted to temporoparietal cortex (TPC; N = 8) to patients with infarcts encompassing prefrontal cortex (PF+; N = 22), to determine if prefrontal lesions are necessary for semantic control deficits. These SA groups were also compared with semantic dementia (SD; N = 10), characterised by degraded semantic representations. We asked whether TPC cases with semantic impairment show controlled retrieval deficits equivalent to PF+ cases or conceptual degradation similar to patients with SD. Independent of lesion location, the SA subgroups showed similarities, whereas SD patients showed a qualitatively distinct semantic impairment. Relative to SD, both TPC and PF+ SA subgroups: (1) showed few correlations in performance across tasks with differing control demands, but a strong relationship between tasks of similar difficulty; (2) exhibited attenuated effects of lexical frequency and concept familiarity, (3) showed evidence of poor semantic regulation in their verbal output - performance on picture naming was substantially improved when provided with a phonological cue, and (4) showed effects of control demands, such as retrieval difficulty, which were equivalent in severity across TPC and PF+ groups. These findings show that semantic impairment in SA is underpinned by damage to a distributed semantic control network, instantiated across anterior and posterior cortical areas.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hannah E Thompson
- School of Psychology and Counselling, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
| | - Krist A Noonan
- School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, UK
| | - Ajay D Halai
- MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, UK
| | - Paul Hoffman
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, UK
| | - Sara Stampacchia
- Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Innovative Molecular Tracers (NIMTlab), Geneva University Neurocenter and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
| | - Glyn Hallam
- School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, UK
| | - Grace E Rice
- MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, UK
| | - Blanca De Dios Perez
- Division of Psychiatry and Applied Psychology, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, UK
| | | | - Elizabeth Jefferies
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Schwen Blackett D, Varkey J, Wilmskoetter J, Roth R, Andrews K, Busby N, Gleichgerrcht E, Desai RH, Riccardi N, Basilakos A, Johnson LP, Kristinsson S, Johnson L, Rorden C, Spell LA, Fridriksson J, Bonilha L. Neural network bases of thematic semantic processing in language production. Cortex 2022; 156:126-143. [PMID: 36244204 PMCID: PMC10041939 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.08.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2022] [Revised: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 08/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Semantic processing is a central component of language and cognition. The anterior temporal lobe is postulated to be a key hub for semantic processing, but the posterior temporoparietal cortex is also involved in thematic associations during language. It is possible that these regions act in concert and depend on an anteroposterior network linking the temporal pole with posterior structures to support thematic semantic processing during language production. We employed connectome-based lesion-symptom mapping to examine the causal relationship between lesioned white matter pathways and thematic processing language deficits among individuals with post-stroke aphasia. Seventy-nine adults with chronic aphasia completed the Philadelphia Naming Test, and semantic errors were coded as either thematic or taxonomic to control for taxonomic errors. Controlling for nonverbal conceptual-semantic knowledge as measured by the Pyramids and Palm Trees Test, lesion size, and the taxonomic error rate, thematic error rate was associated with loss of white matter connections from the temporal pole traversing in peri-Sylvian regions to the posterior cingulate and the insula. These findings support the existence of a distributed network underlying thematic relationship processing in language as opposed to discrete cortical areas.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Deena Schwen Blackett
- Department of Otolaryngology, College of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA; Division of Speech-Language Pathology, College of Health Professions, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
| | - Jesse Varkey
- Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
| | - Janina Wilmskoetter
- Division of Speech-Language Pathology, College of Health Professions, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
| | - Rebecca Roth
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
| | - Keeghan Andrews
- Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
| | - Natalie Busby
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
| | - Ezequiel Gleichgerrcht
- Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
| | - Rutvik H Desai
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Barnwell College, Columbia, SC, USA.
| | - Nicholas Riccardi
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Barnwell College, Columbia, SC, USA.
| | - Alexandra Basilakos
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
| | - Lorelei P Johnson
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
| | - Sigfus Kristinsson
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
| | - Lisa Johnson
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
| | - Chris Rorden
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Barnwell College, Columbia, SC, USA.
| | - Leigh A Spell
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
| | - Julius Fridriksson
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
| | - Leonardo Bonilha
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Knights E, Smith FW, Rossit S. The role of the anterior temporal cortex in action: evidence from fMRI multivariate searchlight analysis during real object grasping. Sci Rep 2022; 12:9042. [PMID: 35662252 PMCID: PMC9167815 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-12174-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 04/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Intelligent manipulation of handheld tools marks a major discontinuity between humans and our closest ancestors. Here we identified neural representations about how tools are typically manipulated within left anterior temporal cortex, by shifting a searchlight classifier through whole-brain real action fMRI data when participants grasped 3D-printed tools in ways considered typical for use (i.e., by their handle). These neural representations were automatically evocated as task performance did not require semantic processing. In fact, findings from a behavioural motion-capture experiment confirmed that actions with tools (relative to non-tool) incurred additional processing costs, as would be suspected if semantic areas are being automatically engaged. These results substantiate theories of semantic cognition that claim the anterior temporal cortex combines sensorimotor and semantic content for advanced behaviours like tool manipulation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ethan Knights
- School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
| | - Fraser W Smith
- School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
| | | |
Collapse
|
13
|
Acunzo DJ, Low DM, Fairhall SL. Deep neural networks reveal topic-level representations of sentences in medial prefrontal cortex, lateral anterior temporal lobe, precuneus, and angular gyrus. Neuroimage 2022; 251:119005. [PMID: 35176493 PMCID: PMC10184870 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Revised: 02/11/2022] [Accepted: 02/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
When reading a sentence, individual words can be combined to create more complex meaning. In this study, we sought to uncover brain regions that reflect the representation of the meaning of sentences at the topic level, as opposed to the meaning of their individual constituent words when considered irrespective of their context. Using fMRI, we recorded the neural activity of participants while reading sentences. We constructed a topic-level sentence representations using the final layer of a convolutional neural network (CNN) trained to classify Wikipedia sentences into broad semantic categories. This model was contrasted with word-level sentence representations constructed using the average of the word embeddings constituting the sentence. Using representational similarity analysis, we found that the medial prefrontal cortex, lateral anterior temporal lobe, precuneus, and angular gyrus more strongly represent sentence topic-level, compared to word-level, meaning, uncovering the important role of these semantic system regions in the representation of topic-level meaning. Results were comparable when sentence meaning was modelled with a multilayer perceptron that was not sensitive to word order within a sentence, suggesting that the learning objective, in the terms of the topic being modelled, is the critical factor in capturing these neural representational spaces.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- David J Acunzo
- CIMeC/University of Trento, Corso Bettini 31, Rovereto 38068, Italy
| | - Daniel M Low
- Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard Medical School, United States; Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, MIT, United States
| | - Scott L Fairhall
- CIMeC/University of Trento, Corso Bettini 31, Rovereto 38068, Italy.
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Wu MH, Anderson AJ, Jacobs RA, Raizada RDS. Analogy-Related Information Can Be Accessed by Simple Addition and Subtraction of fMRI Activation Patterns, Without Participants Performing any Analogy Task. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2022; 3:1-17. [PMID: 37215331 PMCID: PMC10158578 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2020] [Accepted: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Analogical reasoning, for example, inferring that teacher is to chalk as mechanic is to wrench, plays a fundamental role in human cognition. However, whether brain activity patterns of individual words are encoded in a way that could facilitate analogical reasoning is unclear. Recent advances in computational linguistics have shown that information about analogical problems can be accessed by simple addition and subtraction of word embeddings (e.g., wrench = mechanic + chalk - teacher). Critically, this property emerges in artificial neural networks that were not trained to produce analogies but instead were trained to produce general-purpose semantic representations. Here, we test whether such emergent property can be observed in representations in human brains, as well as in artificial neural networks. fMRI activation patterns were recorded while participants viewed isolated words but did not perform analogical reasoning tasks. Analogy relations were constructed from word pairs that were categorically or thematically related, and we tested whether the predicted fMRI pattern calculated with simple arithmetic was more correlated with the pattern of the target word than other words. We observed that the predicted fMRI patterns contain information about not only the identity of the target word but also its category and theme (e.g., teaching-related). In summary, this study demonstrated that information about analogy questions can be reliably accessed with the addition and subtraction of fMRI patterns, and that, similar to word embeddings, this property holds for task-general patterns elicited when participants were not explicitly told to perform analogical reasoning.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Meng-Huan Wu
- Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Andrew J. Anderson
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
- Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Robert A. Jacobs
- Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Rajeev D. S. Raizada
- Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Magnetoencephalography resting-state correlates of executive and language components of verbal fluency. Sci Rep 2022; 12:476. [PMID: 35013361 PMCID: PMC8748602 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-03829-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Accepted: 12/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Verbal fluency (VF) is a heterogeneous cognitive function that requires executive as well as language abilities. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the specificity of the resting state MEG correlates of the executive and language components. To this end, we administered a VF test, another verbal test (Vocabulary), and another executive test (Trail Making Test), and we recorded 5-min eyes-open resting-state MEG data in 28 healthy participants. We used source-reconstructed spectral power estimates to compute correlation/anticorrelation MEG clusters with the performance at each test, as well as with the advantage in performance between tests, across individuals using cluster-level statistics in the standard frequency bands. By obtaining conjunction clusters between verbal fluency scores and factor loading obtained for verbal fluency and each of the two other tests, we showed a core of slow clusters (delta to beta) localized in the right hemisphere, in adjacent parts of the premotor, pre-central and post-central cortex in the mid-lateral regions related to executive monitoring. We also found slow parietal clusters bilaterally and a cluster in the gamma 2 and 3 bands in the left inferior frontal gyrus likely associated with phonological processing involved in verbal fluency.
Collapse
|
16
|
Flick G, Abdullah O, Pylkkänen L. From letters to composed concepts: A magnetoencephalography study of reading. Hum Brain Mapp 2021; 42:5130-5153. [PMID: 34402114 PMCID: PMC8449097 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2020] [Revised: 06/23/2021] [Accepted: 07/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Language comprehension requires the recognition of individual words and the combination of their meanings to yield complex concepts or interpretations. This combinatory process often requires the insertion of unstated semantic material between words, based on thematic or feature knowledge. For example, the phrase horse barn is not interpreted as a blend of a horse and a barn, but specifically a barn where horses are kept. Previous neuroscientific evidence suggests that left posterior and anterior temporal cortex underpin thematic and feature‐based concept knowledge, respectively, but much remains unclear about how these areas contribute to combinatory language processing. Using magnetoencephalography, we contrasted source‐localized responses to modifier‐noun phrases involving thematic relations versus feature modifications, while also examining how lower‐level orthographic processing fed composition. Participants completed three procedures examining responses to letter‐strings, adjective‐noun phrases, and noun–noun combinations that varied the semantic relations between words. We found that sections of the left anterior temporal lobe, posterior temporal lobe, and cortex surrounding the angular gyrus were all engaged in the minimal composition of adjective‐noun phrases, a more distributed network than in most prior studies of minimal composition. Of these regions, only the left posterior temporal lobe was additionally sensitive to implicit thematic relations between composing words, suggesting that it houses a specialized relational processing component in a wider composition network. We additionally identified a left occipitotemporal progression from orthographic to lexical processing, feeding ventral anterior areas engaged in the combination of word meanings. Finally, by examining source signal leakage, we characterized the degree to which these responses could be distinguished from one another using source estimation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Graham Flick
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA.,NYUAD Research Institute, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Osama Abdullah
- NYUAD Research Institute, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Liina Pylkkänen
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA.,NYUAD Research Institute, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.,Department of Linguistics, New York University, New York, New York, USA
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Choi M, Yoon S. Asymmetric Underlying Mechanisms of Relation-Based and Property-Based Noun-Noun Conceptual Combination. Front Psychol 2021; 12:567971. [PMID: 34393869 PMCID: PMC8359794 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.567971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2020] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Conceptual combination is a fundamental human cognitive ability by which people can experience infinite thinking by artfully combining finite knowledge. For example, one can instantly combine “cactus” and “fish” together as “prickly fish” even if one has never previously heard of a “cactus fish.” Although two major combinatorial types—property and relational combinations—have been identified, the underlying processes of each remain elusive. This study investigates the asymmetric processing mechanisms underlying property and relational combinations by examining differential semantic activation during noun–noun conceptual combination. Across two experiments utilizing each combinatorial process as semantic priming and implementing a lexical decision task immediately after combination, we measure and compare the semantic activation patterns of intrinsic and extrinsic semantic features in these two combinatorial types. We found converging evidence that property and relational combinations involve asymmetric semantic information and entail distinct processing mechanisms. In property combination, the intrinsic feature in the modifier concept showed greater activation than the semantic feature of the same dimension in the head concept. In contrast, in relational combination, the extrinsic semantic feature in the head concept and the whole modifier concept showed similar levels of activation. Moreover, our findings also showed that these patterns of semantic activation occurred only when the combinatorial process was complete, indicating that accessing the same lexical-semantic information is not sufficient to observe asymmetric patterns. These findings demonstrate that property combination involves replacing a specific semantic feature of the head noun with that of the modifier noun, whereas relational combination involves completing the semantic feature of the head noun with the whole modifier concept. We discuss the implications of these findings, research limitations, and future research directions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mingyeong Choi
- Institute of Social Science Research, Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea
| | - Sangsuk Yoon
- Department of Marketing, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, United States
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Lesourd M, Servant M, Baumard J, Reynaud E, Ecochard C, Medjaoui FT, Bartolo A, Osiurak F. Semantic and action tool knowledge in the brain: Identifying common and distinct networks. Neuropsychologia 2021; 159:107918. [PMID: 34166668 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2020] [Revised: 06/10/2021] [Accepted: 06/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Most cognitive models of apraxia assume that impaired tool use results from a deficit occurring at the conceptual level, which contains dedicated information about tool use, namely, semantic and action tool knowledge. Semantic tool knowledge contains information about the prototypical use of familiar tools, such as function (e.g., a hammer and a mallet share the same purpose) and associative relations (e.g., a hammer goes with a nail). Action tool knowledge contains information about how to manipulate tools, such as hand posture and kinematics. The present review aimed to better understand the neural correlates of action and semantic tool knowledge, by focusing on activation, stimulation and patients' studies (left brain-damaged patients). We found that action and semantic tool knowledge rely upon a large brain network including temporal and parietal regions. Yet, while action tool knowledge calls into play the intraparietal sulcus, function relations mostly involve the anterior and posterior temporal lobe. Associative relations engaged the angular and the posterior middle temporal gyrus. Moreover, we found that hand posture and kinematics both tapped into the inferior parietal lobe and the lateral occipital temporal cortex, but no region specificity was found for one or the other representation. Our results point out the major role of both posterior middle temporal gyrus and inferior parietal lobe for action and semantic tool knowledge. They highlight the common and distinct brain networks involved in action and semantic tool networks and spur future directions on this topic.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mathieu Lesourd
- Laboratoire de Recherches Intégratives en Neurosciences et Psychologie Cognitive, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-25000, Besançon, France; MSHE Ledoux, CNRS, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-25000, Besançon, France.
| | - Mathieu Servant
- Laboratoire de Recherches Intégratives en Neurosciences et Psychologie Cognitive, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-25000, Besançon, France; MSHE Ledoux, CNRS, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-25000, Besançon, France
| | | | - Emanuelle Reynaud
- Laboratoire d'Étude des Mécanismes Cognitifs (EA 3082), Université Lyon 2, Bron, France
| | | | | | - Angela Bartolo
- Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 9193 - SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, F-59000, Lille, France; Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), France
| | - François Osiurak
- Laboratoire d'Étude des Mécanismes Cognitifs (EA 3082), Université Lyon 2, Bron, France; Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), France
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Thye M, Geller J, Szaflarski JP, Mirman D. Intracranial EEG evidence of functional specialization for taxonomic and thematic relations. Cortex 2021; 140:40-50. [PMID: 33933929 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.03.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2020] [Revised: 02/19/2021] [Accepted: 03/12/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The dual-hub account posits that the neural organization of semantic knowledge is segregated by the type of semantic relation with anterior temporal lobe (ATL) specializing for taxonomic relations and inferior parietal lobule (IPL) for thematic relations. This study critically examined this account by recording intracranial EEG from an array of depth electrodes within ATL, IPL, and two regions within the semantic control network, inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG), while 17 participants with refractory epilepsy completed a semantic relatedness judgment task. We observed a significant difference between relation types in ATL and IPL approximately 600-800 ms after trial presentation, and no significant differences in IFG or pMTG. Within this time window, alpha and theta suppression indexing cognitive effort and memory retrieval was observed in ATL for taxonomic trials and in IPL for thematic trials. These results suggest taxonomic specialization in ATL and thematic specialization in IPL, consistent with the dual-hub account of semantic cognition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Melissa Thye
- Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
| | - Jason Geller
- Center for Cognitive Science, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA
| | - Jerzy P Szaflarski
- Department of Neurology and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Epilepsy Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
| | - Daniel Mirman
- Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Assessing abstract thought and its relation to language with a new nonverbal paradigm: Evidence from aphasia. Cognition 2021; 211:104622. [PMID: 33601019 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104622] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Revised: 02/02/2021] [Accepted: 02/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
In recent years, language has been shown to play a number of important cognitive roles over and above the communication of thoughts. One hypothesis gaining support is that language facilitates thought about abstract categories, such as democracy or prediction. To test this proposal, a novel set of semantic memory task trials, designed for assessing abstract thought non-linguistically, were normed for levels of abstractness. The trials were rated as more or less abstract to the degree that answering them required the participant to abstract away from both perceptual features and common setting associations corresponding to the target image. The normed materials were then used with a population of people with aphasia to assess the relationship of abstract thought to language. While the language-impaired group with aphasia showed lower overall accuracy and longer response times than controls in general, of special note is that their response times were significantly longer as a function of a trial's degree of abstractness. Further, the aphasia group's response times in reporting their degree of confidence (a separate, metacognitive measure) were negatively correlated with their language production abilities, with lower language scores predicting longer metacognitive response times. These results provide some support for the hypothesis that language is an important aid to abstract thought and to metacognition about abstract thought.
Collapse
|
21
|
Zhang M, Varga D, Wang X, Krieger-Redwood K, Gouws A, Smallwood J, Jefferies E. Knowing what you need to know in advance: The neural processes underpinning flexible semantic retrieval of thematic and taxonomic relations. Neuroimage 2021; 224:117405. [PMID: 32992002 PMCID: PMC7779371 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2020] [Revised: 08/22/2020] [Accepted: 09/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Semantic retrieval is flexible, allowing us to focus on subsets of features and associations that are relevant to the current task or context: for example, we use taxonomic relations to locate items in the supermarket (carrots are a vegetable), but thematic associations to decide which tools we need when cooking (carrot goes with peeler). We used fMRI to investigate the neural basis of this form of semantic flexibility; in particular, we asked how retrieval unfolds differently when participants have advanced knowledge of the type of link to retrieve between concepts (taxonomic or thematic). Participants performed a semantic relatedness judgement task: on half the trials, they were cued to search for a taxonomic or thematic link, while on the remaining trials, they judged relatedness without knowing which type of semantic relationship would be relevant. Left inferior frontal gyrus showed greater activation when participants knew the trial type in advance. An overlapping region showed a stronger response when the semantic relationship between the items was weaker, suggesting this structure supports both top-down and bottom-up forms of semantic control. Multivariate pattern analysis further revealed that the neural response in left inferior frontal gyrus reflects goal information related to different conceptual relationships. Top-down control specifically modulated the response in visual cortex: when the goal was unknown, there was greater deactivation to the first word, and greater activation to the second word. We conclude that top-down control of semantic retrieval is primarily achieved through the gating of task-relevant 'spoke' regions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Meichao Zhang
- Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK, YO10 5DD.
| | - Dominika Varga
- Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK, YO10 5DD
| | - Xiuyi Wang
- Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK, YO10 5DD
| | | | - Andre Gouws
- Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK, YO10 5DD
| | - Jonathan Smallwood
- Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK, YO10 5DD
| | - Elizabeth Jefferies
- Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK, YO10 5DD.
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
Lewis GA, Poeppel D, Murphy GL. Contrasting Semantic versus Inhibitory Processing in the Angular Gyrus: An fMRI Study. Cereb Cortex 2020; 29:2470-2481. [PMID: 29878066 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhy118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2018] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent studies of semantic memory have focused on dissociating the neural bases of two foundational components of human thought: taxonomic categories, which group similar objects like dogs and seals based on features, and thematic categories, which group dissimilar objects like dogs and leashes based on events. While there is emerging consensus that taxonomic concepts are represented in the anterior temporal lobe, there is disagreement over whether thematic concepts are represented in the angular gyrus (AG). We previously found AG sensitivity to both kinds of concepts; however, some accounts suggest that such activity reflects inhibition of irrelevant information rather than thematic activation. To test these possibilities, an fMRI experiment investigated both types of conceptual relations in the AG during two semantic judgment tasks. Each task trained participants to give negative responses (inhibition) or positive responses (activation) to word pairs based on taxonomic and thematic criteria of relatedness. Results showed AG engagement during both negative judgments and thematic judgments, but not during positive judgments about taxonomic pairs. Together, the results suggest that activity in the AG reflects functions that include both thematic (but not taxonomic) processing and inhibiting irrelevant semantic information.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gwyneth A Lewis
- Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place, New York, NY, USA
| | - David Poeppel
- Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place, New York, NY, USA.,Department of Neuroscience, Max-Planck-Institute (MPIEA), Grüneburgweg, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Gregory L Murphy
- Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place, New York, NY, USA
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Liang X, Xiao F, Zhu Y, Lei Y, Chen Q. How types of prior knowledge and task properties impact the category-based induction: diverging evidence from the P2, N400, and LPC effects. Biol Psychol 2020; 156:107951. [PMID: 32890634 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107951] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2019] [Revised: 04/24/2020] [Accepted: 08/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Category-based induction task was combined with ERP to unravel whether prior knowledge and property interact when inferring on genes or diseases. Larger P2 amplitudes for near taxonomic/causal distances relative to far ones, as well as larger LPC for taxonomic relation relative to thematic relation, are found in both gene and disease tasks. However, smaller N400 is found for taxonomic relation in gene task and thematic relation in disease task, respectively, and larger LPC at 700-850 ms for near taxonomic distance in the gene task and near causal distance in the disease task. These results suggested that the category-based inductive reasoning is context-sensitive, and there may be four stages of category-based inductive reasoning: the early automatic comparison of features/relations (P2), features/relations generalization process (N400), the extraction of common relationship/rule (LPC at 550-700 ms), the inference generation (LPC at 700-850 ms).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xiuling Liang
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen University Health Science Center, Shenzhen, China; College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China
| | - Feng Xiao
- Department of Education Science, Innovation Center for Fundamental Education Quality Enhancement of Shanxi Province, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen 041000, China
| | - Yuxi Zhu
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China; School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Yi Lei
- Institute for Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610068, China
| | - Qingfei Chen
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China; Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, 518057, China.
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Federico G, Brandimonte MA. Looking to recognise: the pre-eminence of semantic over sensorimotor processing in human tool use. Sci Rep 2020; 10:6157. [PMID: 32273576 PMCID: PMC7145874 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-63045-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2019] [Accepted: 03/24/2020] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Alongside language and bipedal locomotion, tool use is a characterizing activity of human beings. Current theories in the field embrace two contrasting approaches: "manipulation-based" theories, which are anchored in the embodied-cognition view, explain tool use as deriving from past sensorimotor experiences, whereas "reasoning-based" theories suggest that people reason about object properties to solve everyday-life problems. Here, we present results from two eye-tracking experiments in which we manipulated the visuo-perceptual context (thematically consistent vs. inconsistent object-tool pairs) and the goal of the task (free observation or looking to recognise). We found that participants exhibited reversed tools' visual-exploration patterns, focusing on the tool's manipulation area under thematically consistent conditions and on its functional area under thematically inconsistent conditions. Crucially, looking at the tools with the aim of recognising them produced longer fixations on the tools' functional areas irrespective of thematic consistency. In addition, tools (but not objects) were recognised faster in the thematically consistent conditions. These results strongly support reasoning-based theories of tool use, as they indicate that people primarily process semantic rather than sensorimotor information to interact with the environment in an agent's consistent-with-goal way. Such a pre-eminence of semantic processing challenges the mainstream embodied-cognition view of human tool use.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Federico
- Suor Orsola Benincasa University, Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Naples, Italy.
| | - Maria A Brandimonte
- Suor Orsola Benincasa University, Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Naples, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Abstract
Syntax, the structure of sentences, enables humans to express an infinite range of meanings through finite means. The neurobiology of syntax has been intensely studied but with little consensus. Two main candidate regions have been identified: the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG) and the posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG). Integrating research in linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neuroscience, we propose a neuroanatomical framework for syntax that attributes distinct syntactic computations to these regions in a unified model. The key theoretical advances are adopting a modern lexicalized view of syntax in which the lexicon and syntactic rules are intertwined, and recognizing a computational asymmetry in the role of syntax during comprehension and production. Our model postulates a hierarchical lexical-syntactic function to the pMTG, which interconnects previously identified speech perception and conceptual-semantic systems in the temporal and inferior parietal lobes, crucial for both sentence production and comprehension. These relational hierarchies are transformed via the pIFG into morpho-syntactic sequences, primarily tied to production. We show how this architecture provides a better account of the full range of data and is consistent with recent proposals regarding the organization of phonological processes in the brain.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- William Matchin
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA
| | - Gregory Hickok
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
- Department of Language Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
A Case of Right Temporal Lobectomy for Brain Tumor With Selective Semantic Pictorial Disorder. Cogn Behav Neurol 2020; 33:52-62. [PMID: 32132403 DOI: 10.1097/wnn.0000000000000220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Disagreement exists regarding representational and connectionist interpretations of semantic knowledge subserved by the right versus left anterior temporal lobes (ATLs). These interpretations predict a different pattern of impairment in patients with a right unilateral ATL lesion. We conducted a neuropsychological study of a selective semantic pictorial defect exhibited by a 57-year-old man who had undergone a right temporal lobectomy due to the presence of a glioblastoma. The patient was given the Thematic and Taxonomic Semantic task, in which individuals must select, within triplets of words or pictures, the best associates of living or nonliving stimuli, related by thematic or taxonomic links, and presented in the verbal or pictorial modality. The selectivity of the defect was documented by a comparison between the results obtained by our patient and those obtained by healthy controls on living items and on pictures with a thematic relation. The selectivity of the defect was confirmed by a within-subject analysis of the results obtained on all of the task's triplets and those obtained on the stimuli representing living entities with a taxonomic relation. The selectivity of this semantic pictorial defect mainly concerning living entities is consistent with the representational account of semantic defects observed in our patient. In the present case report, a right temporal lobectomy resulted in a selective semantic pictorial defect with the qualitative features predicted by the representational account of semantic defects observed after a unilateral ATL lesion.
Collapse
|
27
|
Relaciones conceptuales: comparación entre Niños, Adultos Jóvenes y Adultos Mayores. REVISTA IBEROAMERICANA DE PSICOLOGÍA 2020. [DOI: 10.33881/2027-1786.rip.13106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
El estudio de la organización del conocimiento en la memoria semántica suscita gran interés en Psicología Cognitiva y Neuropsicología. El conocimiento semántico está representado por conceptos que comparten características y forman una jerarquía inclusiva -organización taxonómica-, o que se vinculan en tiempo y espacio -organización temática o situacional-. Se considera que a lo largo del desarrollo cambia la preferencia por estos tipos de organización, pero son pocos los estudios que comparan las organizaciones conceptuales de niños en edad escolar, adultos jóvenes y mayores, y sus resultados son divergentes. Asimismo, la organización conceptual también varía en función del dominio al que pertenece el concepto (vivo vs no vivo). Por lo tanto, el objetivo general de este estudio fue estudiar qué tipos de organización conceptual empleaban esos grupos en una tarea de producción de atributos para conceptos de seres vivos y no vivos. Los resultados indican que la producción de atributos taxonómicos fue significativamente mayor para los adultos jóvenes que para los adultos mayores y los niños, en tanto la producción taxonómica de estos dos últimos grupos fue pareja. En cuanto a la producción temática, fue alta y homogénea en los tres grupos de edad. Por último, para el dominio de los seres no vivos los atributos resultaron en su mayoría temáticos y perceptivos, y para el dominio de los seres vivos, mayormente perceptivos.
Collapse
|
28
|
Taxonomic relations evoke more fear than thematic relations after fear conditioning: An EEG study. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2020; 167:107099. [DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2019.107099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2018] [Revised: 08/14/2019] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
|
29
|
Luzzatti C, Mauri I, Castiglioni S, Zuffi M, Spartà C, Somalvico F, Franceschi M. Evaluating Semantic Knowledge Through a Semantic Association Task in Individuals With Dementia. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen 2020; 35:1533317520917294. [PMID: 32308008 PMCID: PMC10623912 DOI: 10.1177/1533317520917294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/03/2024]
Abstract
Conceptual knowledge is supported by multiple semantic systems that are specialized for the analysis of different properties associated with object concepts. Various types of semantic association between concrete concepts-categorical (CA), encyclopedic (EA), functional (FA), and visual-encyclopedic (VEA) associations-were tested through a new picture-to-picture matching task (semantic association task, SAT). Forty individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD), 13 with behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bv-FTD), 6 with primary progressive aphasia (PPA), and 37 healthy participants were tested with the SAT. Within-group comparisons highlighted a global impairment of all types of semantic association in bv-FTD individuals but a disproportionate impairment of EA and FA, with relative sparing of CA and VEA, in AD individuals. Single-case analyses detected dissociations in all dementia groups. Conceptual knowledge can be selectively impaired in various types of neurodegenerative disease on the basis of the specific cognitive process that is disrupted.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Claudio Luzzatti
- Department of Psychology, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Ilaria Mauri
- Department of Psychology, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | | | - Marta Zuffi
- Department of Neurology, MultiMedica Hospital, Castellanza, Italy
| | - Chiara Spartà
- Department of Psychology, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
30
|
Jefferies E, Thompson H, Cornelissen P, Smallwood J. The neurocognitive basis of knowledge about object identity and events: dissociations reflect opposing effects of semantic coherence and control. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 375:20190300. [PMID: 31840592 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Semantic memory encompasses knowledge of specific objects and their diverse associations, but the mechanisms that allow us to retrieve aspects of knowledge required for a given task are poorly understood. The dual hub theory suggests that separate semantic stores represent knowledge of (i) taxonomic categories (in the anterior temporal lobes, ATL) and (ii) thematic associations (in angular gyrus, AG or posterior middle temporal gyrus, pMTG). Alternatively, the controlled semantic cognition (CSC) framework suggests that semantic processing emerges from the flexible interaction of heteromodal semantic representations in ATL with a semantic control network, which includes pMTG as well as prefrontal regions. According to this view, ATL supports patterns of coherent auto-associative retrieval, while semantic control sites respond when ongoing conceptual activation needs to be altered to suit the task or context. These theories make different predictions about the nature of functional dissociations within the semantic network. We review evidence for these claims across multiple methods. First, we show ATL is sensitive to the strength of thematic associations as well as taxonomic relations. Next, we document functional dissociations between AG and pMTG: rather than these regions acting as comparable thematic hubs, AG is allied to the default mode network and supports more 'automatic' retrieval, while pMTG responds when control demands are high. However, the semantic control network, including pMTG, also shows a greater response to events/actions and verbs, supporting the claims of both theories. We propose that tasks tapping event semantics often require greater shaping of conceptual retrieval than comparison tasks, because these elements of our knowledge are inherently flexible, with relevant features depending on the context. In this way, the CSC account might be able to account for findings that suggest both a process and a content distinction within the semantic network. This article is part of the theme issue 'Towards mechanistic models of meaning composition'.
Collapse
|
31
|
Liang X, Xiao F, Lei Y, Li H, Chen Q. N400/frontal negativity reveals the controlled processes of taxonomic and thematic relationships in semantic priming for artifacts. Psychophysiology 2019; 57:e13486. [PMID: 31595978 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2018] [Revised: 05/05/2019] [Accepted: 06/01/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Recent studies show that taxonomic and thematic relationships are functionally and neurologically dissociated; however, there remain some discrepancies due to inconsistencies in definitions, task properties, and concept domains. This issue was further explored via the semantic priming paradigm with a long SOA of 600 ms while controlling for perceptual or functional features of artifacts involved across taxonomic and thematic relationships. Six conditions were compared: perceptual relationship (axe-helve), functional relationship (axe-wood), perceptual classification (axe-hammer), functional classification (axe-saw), unrelated condition (axe-skates), and nonword (axe-derf) conditions. Behavioral priming effects are found for all related conditions relative to unrelated conditions except for perceptual relationships, whereas semantic priming effects (smaller N400 amplitude) are found for functional relationships and perceptual classification relative to unrelated conditions but not for perceptual relationships and functional classification, indicating perceptual features are less important than functional features for artifacts. Furthermore, the frontal negativity elicited by functional relationships is smaller than all other related conditions at 400-550 ms, while it is only smaller than functional classification at 550-650 ms. These results indicate that, besides different features, taxonomic and thematic relationships are dissociated to organize object knowledge, which is primarily fuelled by feature processing, with taxonomic, or thematic, relationships further embedded with such sensory, or functional, features.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xiuling Liang
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.,School of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen University Health Science Center, Shenzhen, China.,Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China
| | - Feng Xiao
- Department of Education Science, Innovation Center for Fundamental Education Quality Enhancement of Shanxi Province, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen, China
| | - Yi Lei
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Hong Li
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Qingfei Chen
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.,Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China.,Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen, China
| |
Collapse
|
32
|
Liu F, Han J, Zhang L, Li F. Inductive Reasoning Differs Between Taxonomic and Thematic Contexts: Electrophysiological Evidence. Front Psychol 2019; 10:1702. [PMID: 31402887 PMCID: PMC6669940 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2019] [Accepted: 07/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Inductive reasoning can be performed in different contexts, but it is unclear whether the neural mechanism of reasoning performed in a thematic context (e.g., bee has x, so honey has x) is the same as that performed in a taxonomic context (e.g., bee has x, so butterfly has x). In the present study, participants were required to judge whether a conclusion was acceptable or not based on its premise, for which the taxonomic or thematic distances between premise and conclusion objects were either far or near. The Event related potential (ERP) results indicated that the effect of context (taxonomic vs. thematic) was initially observed in the P2 component; while the distance effect (far vs. near) was observed in N400 and late components. Moreover, the distance effect on thematic-based inductive reasoning was found in the anterior regions, while the distance effect on taxonomic-based inductive reasoning conditions was found in the posterior regions. These results support the view that inductive reasoning is performed differently under different semantic contexts.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fangfang Liu
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China.,School of Educational Science, Minnan Normal University, Zhangzhou, China
| | - Jiahui Han
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China
| | - Lingcong Zhang
- School of Educational Science, Minnan Normal University, Zhangzhou, China
| | - Fuhong Li
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China
| |
Collapse
|
33
|
Merck C, Noël A, Jamet E, Robert M, Hou C, Salmon A, Belliard S, Kalénine S. Identification of taxonomic and thematic relationships: Do the two semantic systems have the same status in semantic dementia? J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 2019; 41:946-964. [PMID: 31305211 DOI: 10.1080/13803395.2019.1641186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Introduction: Disequilibrium between the taxonomic and thematic semantic systems was previously hypothesized in participants with semantic dementia (SD), without rigorously assessing their ability to identify the two types of semantic relationships. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to directly compare the ability of 10 participants with SD, 10 participants with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and 20 controls to identify thematic versus taxonomic relationships. Methods: Participants performed an explicit forced-choice picture-matching task in which they had to determine which of two pictures of choice was semantically related to the target picture. Target pictures could display natural or artifact objects. Each target was presented once with a taxonomically related picture and once with a thematically related picture. Results: Analyses of correct thematic and taxonomic matches as a function of target domain showed that the performance of the two groups of patients differed in the taxonomic conditions but not in the thematic conditions, demonstrating a relative preservation of thematic knowledge in SD. Additional correlation analyses further indicated that the particular status of thematic relationships in SD was even stronger for artifact concepts. Conclusions: Results provide evidence of the heterogeneous nature of semantic knowledge disruption in SD, and could be regarded as being consistent with the existence of two neuroanatomically and functionally distinct semantic systems. Results further stress the relevance of performing a more detailed and complete assessment of semantic performance in participants with SD, in order to capture the impaired but also preserved aspects of their knowledge.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Merck
- Service de neurologie, CMRR Haute Bretagne, CHU Pontchaillou , Rennes , France.,Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, PSL Research University, EPHE, INSERM, U1077, CHU de Caen, Neuropsychologie et Imagerie de la Mémoire Humaine , Caen , France
| | - Audrey Noël
- Université Rennes 2, Laboratoire de Psychologie: Cognition, Comportement et Communication (EA 1285, laboratoire LP3C) , Rennes , France
| | - Eric Jamet
- Université Rennes 2, Laboratoire de Psychologie: Cognition, Comportement et Communication (EA 1285, laboratoire LP3C) , Rennes , France
| | - Maxime Robert
- Université Rennes 2, Laboratoire de Psychologie: Cognition, Comportement et Communication (EA 1285, laboratoire LP3C) , Rennes , France
| | - Camille Hou
- Service de neurologie, CMRR Haute Bretagne, CHU Pontchaillou , Rennes , France
| | - Anne Salmon
- Service de neurologie, CMRR Haute Bretagne, CHU Pontchaillou , Rennes , France
| | - Serge Belliard
- Service de neurologie, CMRR Haute Bretagne, CHU Pontchaillou , Rennes , France.,Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, PSL Research University, EPHE, INSERM, U1077, CHU de Caen, Neuropsychologie et Imagerie de la Mémoire Humaine , Caen , France
| | - Solène Kalénine
- Univ. Lille, CNRS, CHU Lille, UMR 9193 - SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives , Lille , France
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Teige C, Cornelissen PL, Mollo G, Gonzalez Alam TRDJ, McCarty K, Smallwood J, Jefferies E. Dissociations in semantic cognition: Oscillatory evidence for opposing effects of semantic control and type of semantic relation in anterior and posterior temporal cortex. Cortex 2019; 120:308-325. [PMID: 31394366 PMCID: PMC6854548 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.07.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2018] [Revised: 02/04/2019] [Accepted: 07/07/2019] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
How does the brain represent and process different types of knowledge? The Dual Hub account postulates that anterior temporal lobes (ATL) support taxonomic relationships based on shared physical features (mole – cat), while temporoparietal regions, including posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG), support thematic associations (mole – earth). Conversely, the Controlled Semantic Cognition account proposes that ATL supports both aspects of knowledge, while left pMTG contributes to controlled retrieval. This study used magnetoencephalography to test these contrasting predictions of functional dissociations within the temporal lobe. ATL and pMTG responded more strongly to taxonomic and thematic trials respectively, matched for behavioural performance, in line with predictions of the Dual Hub account. In addition, ATL showed a greater response to strong than weak thematic associations, while pMTG showed the opposite pattern, supporting a key prediction of the Controlled Semantic Cognition account. ATL showed a stronger response for word pairs that were more semantically coherent, either because they shared physical features (in taxonomic trials) or a strong thematic association. These effects largely coincided in time and frequency (although an early oscillatory response in ATL was specific to taxonomic trials). In contrast, pMTG showed non-overlapping effects of semantic control demands and thematic judgements: this site showed a larger oscillatory response to weak associations, when ongoing retrieval needed to be shaped to suit the task demands, and also a larger response to thematic judgements contrasted with taxonomic trials (which was reduced but not eliminated when the thematic trials were easier). Consequently, time-sensitive neuroimaging supports a complex pattern of functional dissociations within the left temporal lobe, which reflects both coherence versus control and distinctive oscillatory responses for taxonomic overlap (in ATL) and thematic relations (in pMTG).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Catarina Teige
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
| | | | - Giovanna Mollo
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
| | | | | | - Jonathan Smallwood
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
| | - Elizabeth Jefferies
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
Federico G, Brandimonte MA. Tool and object affordances: An ecological eye-tracking study. Brain Cogn 2019; 135:103582. [PMID: 31255885 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2019.103582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2019] [Revised: 05/27/2019] [Accepted: 06/22/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
In the present eye-tracking study, we analysed the visuo-spatial attentional patterns of participants looking at 3D images depicting single tools and object-tool pairs. The object-tool pairs could be thematically consistent, thematically inconsistent or spatially inconsistent. During the first 500 ms of visual exploration, tools were fixated longer on their functional area in all experimental conditions. However, extending the time-window of analysis to 1750 ms, the visual scene was encoded in a faster and more suited-for-action way in the thematically consistent condition (e.g., hammer-nail). Most important, the visual exploration of the thematically consistent pairs focused on the manipulation area of the tool (e.g., the handle of the hammer) more than on its functional area (e.g., the head of the hammer). Finally, when single tools were shown and the entire time-window of analysis was considered (1750 ms), fixation focused on the tool's manipulation area. These results are discussed within the reasoning-based framework of tool use. They highlight the relative role of the visuo-perceptual context in affordance perception and suggest a novel interpretation of the cognitive mechanisms underlying the processing of tools and object-tool pairs in terms of action reappraisal (i.e., a re-functionalization process when the action possibility is mined by the visuo-perceptual context).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Federico
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Suor Orsola Benincasa University, Naples, Italy.
| | - Maria A Brandimonte
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Suor Orsola Benincasa University, Naples, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
36
|
Xu P, Qu Q, Shen W, Li X. Co-activation of Taxonomic and Thematic Relations in Spoken Word Comprehension: Evidence From Eye Movements. Front Psychol 2019; 10:964. [PMID: 31130893 PMCID: PMC6509418 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2019] [Accepted: 04/11/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Evidence from behavior, computational linguistics, and neuroscience studies supported that semantic knowledge is represented in (at least) two semantic systems (i.e., taxonomic and thematic systems). It remains unclear whether, and to what extent taxonomic and thematic relations are co-activated. The present study investigated the co-activation of the two types of semantic representations when both types of semantic relations are simultaneously presented. In a visual-world task, participants listened to a spoken target word and looked at a visual display consisted of a taxonomic competitor, a thematic competitor and two distractors. Growth curve analyses revealed that both taxonomic and thematic competitors attracted visual attention during the processing of the target word but taxonomic competitor received more looks than thematic competitor. Moreover, although fixations on taxonomic competitor rose faster than thematic competitor, these two types of competitors started to attract more fixations than distractor in a similar time window. These findings indicate that taxonomic and thematic relations are co-activated by the spoken word, the activation of taxonomic relation is stronger and rise faster than thematic relation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pingping Xu
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Qingqing Qu
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Wei Shen
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China.,Centre for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xingshan Li
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| |
Collapse
|
37
|
Desai RH, Reilly M, van Dam W. The multifaceted abstract brain. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 373:rstb.2017.0122. [PMID: 29914991 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/11/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
concepts play a central role in human behaviour and constitute a critical component of the human conceptual system. Here, we investigate the neural basis of four types of abstract concepts, examining their similarities and differences through neuroimaging meta-analyses. We examine numerical and emotional concepts, and two higher-order abstract processes, morality judgements and theory of mind. Three main findings emerge. First, representation of abstract concepts is more widespread than is often assumed. Second, representations of different types of abstract concepts differ in important respects. Each of the domains examined here was associated with some unique areas. Third, some areas were commonly activated across domains and included inferior parietal, posterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex. We interpret these regions in terms of their role in episodic recall, event representation and social-emotional processing. We suggest that different types of abstract concepts can be represented and grounded through differing contributions from event-based, interoceptive, introspective and sensory-motor representations. The results underscore the richness and diversity of abstract concepts, argue against single-mechanism accounts for representation of all types of abstract concepts and suggest mechanisms for their direct and indirect grounding.This article is part of the theme issue 'Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rutvik H Desai
- Department of Psychology, Institute for Mind and Brain, University of South Carolina, 220 Discovery Building, 915 Greene St., Columbia, SC 29208, USA
| | - Megan Reilly
- Department of Psychology, Institute for Mind and Brain, University of South Carolina, 220 Discovery Building, 915 Greene St., Columbia, SC 29208, USA
| | - Wessel van Dam
- Department of Psychology, Institute for Mind and Brain, University of South Carolina, 220 Discovery Building, 915 Greene St., Columbia, SC 29208, USA
| |
Collapse
|
38
|
Matchin W, Liao CH, Gaston P, Lau E. Same words, different structures: An fMRI investigation of argument relations and the angular gyrus. Neuropsychologia 2019; 125:116-128. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.01.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2018] [Revised: 01/09/2019] [Accepted: 01/31/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
|
39
|
Europa E, Gitelman DR, Kiran S, Thompson CK. Neural Connectivity in Syntactic Movement Processing. Front Hum Neurosci 2019; 13:27. [PMID: 30814941 PMCID: PMC6381040 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2018] [Accepted: 01/21/2019] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Linguistic theory suggests non-canonical sentences subvert the dominant agent-verb-theme order in English via displacement of sentence constituents to argument (NP-movement) or non-argument positions (wh-movement). Both processes have been associated with the left inferior frontal gyrus and posterior superior temporal gyrus, but differences in neural activity and connectivity between movement types have not been investigated. In the current study, functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired from 21 adult participants during an auditory sentence-picture verification task using passive and active sentences contrasted to isolate NP-movement, and object- and subject-cleft sentences contrasted to isolate wh-movement. Then, functional magnetic resonance imaging data from regions common to both movement types were entered into a dynamic causal modeling analysis to examine effective connectivity for wh-movement and NP-movement. Results showed greater left inferior frontal gyrus activation for Wh > NP-movement, but no activation for NP > Wh-movement. Both types of movement elicited activity in the opercular part of the left inferior frontal gyrus, left posterior superior temporal gyrus, and left medial superior frontal gyrus. The dynamic causal modeling analyses indicated that neither movement type significantly modulated the connection from the left inferior frontal gyrus to the left posterior superior temporal gyrus, nor vice-versa, suggesting no connectivity differences between wh- and NP-movement. These findings support the idea that increased complexity of wh-structures, compared to sentences with NP-movement, requires greater engagement of cognitive resources via increased neural activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus, but both movement types engage similar neural networks.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eduardo Europa
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States
| | - Darren R Gitelman
- Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, IL, United States.,Department of Medicine, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL, United States.,The Ken and Ruth Davee Department of Neurology Department of Neurology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Swathi Kiran
- College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Cynthia K Thompson
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States.,The Ken and Ruth Davee Department of Neurology Department of Neurology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States.,Mesulam Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States
| |
Collapse
|
40
|
Vivas L, Manoiloff L, García AM, Lizarralde F, Vivas J. Core Semantic Links or Lexical Associations: Assessing the Nature of Responses in Word Association Tasks. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2019; 48:243-256. [PMID: 30225580 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-018-9601-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
The processes tapped by the widely-used word association (WA) paradigm remain a matter of debate: while some authors consider them as driven by lexical co-occurrences, others emphasize the role of meaning-based connections. To test these contrastive hypotheses, we analyzed responses in a WA task in terms of their normative defining features (those describing the object denoted by the cue word). Results indicate that 72.5% of the responses had medium-to-high coincidence with such defining semantic features. Moreover, 75.51% of responses had medium-to-high values of Relevance (a measure of the importance of the feature for construing a given concept). Furthermore, most responses (62.7%) referred to elements of the situation in which the concept usually appears, followed by sensory properties (e.g., color) of the denoted object (27.86%). These results suggest that the processes behind WA tasks involve a reactivation of the cue item's semantic properties, particularly those most relevant to its core meaning.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Leticia Vivas
- Psychology Faculty, Institute of Basic and Applied Psychology and Technology, National University of Mar del Plata, Funes 3250, Building V, Level III, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
| | - Laura Manoiloff
- Cognitive Psychology of Language and Psycholinguistics Research Group, Laboratory of Cognitive Psychology, CIPSI, National University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina
| | - Adolfo M García
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN), Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience (INCYT), INECO Foundation, Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Faculty of Education, National University of Cuyo (UNCuyo), Mendoza, Argentina
| | - Francisco Lizarralde
- Faculty of Engineering-Artificial Intelligence Applied to Engineering Research Group, National University of Mar del Plata, J.B. Justo 4302, 3rd Floor, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Jorge Vivas
- Psychology Faculty, Institute of Basic and Applied Psychology and Technology, National University of Mar del Plata, Funes 3250, Building V, Level III, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| |
Collapse
|
41
|
Matchin W, Brodbeck C, Hammerly C, Lau E. The temporal dynamics of structure and content in sentence comprehension: Evidence from fMRI-constrained MEG. Hum Brain Mapp 2019; 40:663-678. [PMID: 30259599 PMCID: PMC6865621 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2018] [Revised: 09/04/2018] [Accepted: 09/07/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans have a striking capacity to combine words into sentences that express new meanings. Previous research has identified key brain regions involved in this capacity, but little is known about the time course of activity in these regions, as hemodynamic methods such as fMRI provide little insight into temporal dynamics of neural activation. We performed an MEG experiment to elucidate the temporal dynamics of structure and content processing within four brain regions implicated by fMRI data from the same experiment: the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), the posterior temporal lobe (PTL), the anterior temporal lobe (ATL), and the anterior inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). The TPJ showed increased activity for both structure and content near the end of the sentence, consistent with a role in incremental interpretation of event semantics. The PTL, a region not often associated with core aspects of syntax, showed a strong early effect of structure, consistent with predictive parsing models, and both structural and semantic context effects on function words. These results provide converging evidence that the PTL plays an important role in lexicalized syntactic processing. The ATL and IFG, regions traditionally associated with syntax, showed minimal effects of sentence structure. The ATL, PTL and IFG all showed effects of semantic content: increased activation for real words relative to nonwords. Our fMRI-guided MEG investigation therefore helps identify syntactic and semantic aspects of sentence comprehension in the brain in both spatial and temporal dimensions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- William Matchin
- Department of Communication Sciences and DisordersUniversity of South CarolinaColumbiaSouth Carolina
| | - Christian Brodbeck
- Institute for Systems ResearchUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkMaryland
| | | | - Ellen Lau
- Department of LinguisticsUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkMaryland
| |
Collapse
|
42
|
Chou TL, Wong CH, Chen SY, Fan LY, Booth JR. Developmental changes of association strength and categorical relatedness on semantic processing in the brain. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2019; 189:10-19. [PMID: 30593860 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2018.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2016] [Revised: 10/29/2018] [Accepted: 12/19/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Semantic knowledge has thematic relations of contiguity based on association and taxonomic relations of similarity based on shared features to form categories. It is unknown if there are distinct brain networks between thematic and taxonomic organizations in children and if this distinction is related to changes in specialized brain regions with age and/or skill. We orthogonally manipulated association strength (strong, weak) and categorical relatedness (high, low) to examine 10- to 14-year-old children over a two-year interval. Moreover, we examined whether initial behavioral performance predicted brain activation changes. Weak versus strong association strength produced greater activation over time in left middle temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus, and initial accuracy predicted activation changes in the latter. Moreover, high versus low categorical relatedness produced greater activation over time in left occipito-temporal cortex and precuneus, and initial accuracy predicted activation changes in the latter. These developmental findings suggest different organization for thematic and taxonomic relations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tai-Li Chou
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan; Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, USA.
| | - Ciao-Han Wong
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
| | - Shiou-Yuan Chen
- Department of Early Childhood Education, University of Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Li-Ying Fan
- Department of Education, National Taipei University of Education, Taiwan
| | - James R Booth
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
43
|
Walenski M, Europa E, Caplan D, Thompson CK. Neural networks for sentence comprehension and production: An ALE-based meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies. Hum Brain Mapp 2019; 40:2275-2304. [PMID: 30689268 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2018] [Revised: 12/14/2018] [Accepted: 12/26/2018] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Comprehending and producing sentences is a complex endeavor requiring the coordinated activity of multiple brain regions. We examined three issues related to the brain networks underlying sentence comprehension and production in healthy individuals: First, which regions are recruited for sentence comprehension and sentence production? Second, are there differences for auditory sentence comprehension vs. visual sentence comprehension? Third, which regions are specifically recruited for the comprehension of syntactically complex sentences? Results from activation likelihood estimation (ALE) analyses (from 45 studies) implicated a sentence comprehension network occupying bilateral frontal and temporal lobe regions. Regions implicated in production (from 15 studies) overlapped with the set of regions associated with sentence comprehension in the left hemisphere, but did not include inferior frontal cortex, and did not extend to the right hemisphere. Modality differences between auditory and visual sentence comprehension were found principally in the temporal lobes. Results from the analysis of complex syntax (from 37 studies) showed engagement of left inferior frontal and posterior temporal regions, as well as the right insula. The involvement of the right hemisphere in the comprehension of these structures has potentially important implications for language treatment and recovery in individuals with agrammatic aphasia following left hemisphere brain damage.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Walenski
- Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.,Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, School of Communication, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
| | - Eduardo Europa
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco
| | - David Caplan
- Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Cynthia K Thompson
- Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.,Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, School of Communication, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.,Department of Neurology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
| |
Collapse
|
44
|
Distinct roles of temporal and frontoparietal cortex in representing actions across vision and language. Nat Commun 2019; 10:289. [PMID: 30655531 PMCID: PMC6336825 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-08084-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2018] [Accepted: 12/08/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Both temporal and frontoparietal brain areas are associated with the representation of knowledge about the world, in particular about actions. However, what these brain regions represent and precisely how they differ remains unknown. Here, we reveal distinct functional profiles of lateral temporal and frontoparietal cortex using fMRI-based MVPA. Frontoparietal areas encode representations of observed actions and corresponding written sentences in an overlapping way, but these representations do not generalize across stimulus type. By contrast, only left lateral posterior temporal cortex (LPTC) encodes action representations that generalize across observed action scenes and written descriptions. The representational organization of stimulus-general action information in LPTC can be predicted from models that describe basic agent-patient relations (object- and person-directedness) and the general semantic similarity between actions. Our results suggest that LPTC encodes general, conceptual aspects of actions whereas frontoparietal representations appear to be tied to specific stimulus types. Temporal and frontoparietal brain areas both encode representations of actions, but whether they do so in different ways is unclear. Here, the authors show that only lateral posterior temporal cortex (LPTC) encodes representations that generalize across directly observed action scenes and written descriptions.
Collapse
|
45
|
Left inferior parietal and posterior temporal cortices mediate the effect of action observation on semantic processing of objects: evidence from rTMS. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2018; 84:1006-1019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00426-018-1117-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2018] [Accepted: 10/31/2018] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
|
46
|
Xu Y, Wang X, Wang X, Men W, Gao JH, Bi Y. Doctor, Teacher, and Stethoscope: Neural Representation of Different Types of Semantic Relations. J Neurosci 2018; 38:3303-3317. [PMID: 29476016 PMCID: PMC6596060 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2562-17.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2017] [Revised: 02/08/2018] [Accepted: 02/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Concepts can be related in many ways. They can belong to the same taxonomic category (e.g., "doctor" and "teacher," both in the category of people) or be associated with the same event context (e.g., "doctor" and "stethoscope," both associated with medical scenarios). How are these two major types of semantic relations coded in the brain? We constructed stimuli from three taxonomic categories (people, manmade objects, and locations) and three thematic categories (school, medicine, and sports) and investigated the neural representations of these two dimensions using representational similarity analyses in human participants (10 men and nine women). In specific regions of interest, the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL) and the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ), we found that, whereas both areas had significant effects of taxonomic information, the taxonomic relations had stronger effects in the ATL than in the TPJ ("doctor" and "teacher" closer in ATL neural activity), with the reverse being true for thematic relations ("doctor" and "stethoscope" closer in TPJ neural activity). A whole-brain searchlight analysis revealed that widely distributed regions, mainly in the left hemisphere, represented the taxonomic dimension. Interestingly, the significant effects of the thematic relations were only observed after the taxonomic differences were controlled for in the left TPJ, the right superior lateral occipital cortex, and other frontal, temporal, and parietal regions. In summary, taxonomic grouping is a primary organizational dimension across distributed brain regions, with thematic grouping further embedded within such taxonomic structures.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT How are concepts organized in the brain? It is well established that concepts belonging to the same taxonomic categories (e.g., "doctor" and "teacher") share neural representations in specific brain regions. How concepts are associated in other manners (e.g., "doctor" and "stethoscope," which are thematically related) remains poorly understood. We used representational similarity analyses to unravel the neural representations of these different types of semantic relations by testing the same set of words that could be differently grouped by taxonomic categories or by thematic categories. We found that widely distributed brain areas primarily represented taxonomic categories, with the thematic categories further embedded within the taxonomic structure.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yangwen Xu
- National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, 100875
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, 100875
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, 100875
| | - Xiaosha Wang
- National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, 100875
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, 100875
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, 100875
| | - Xiaoying Wang
- National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, 100875
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, 100875
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, 100875
| | - Weiwei Men
- Center for MRI Research, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, China, 100871
- Beijing City Key Laboratory for Medical Physics and Engineering, Institute of Heavy Ion Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China, 100871, and
| | - Jia-Hong Gao
- Center for MRI Research, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, China, 100871
- Beijing City Key Laboratory for Medical Physics and Engineering, Institute of Heavy Ion Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China, 100871, and
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, China, 100871
| | - Yanchao Bi
- National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, 100875,
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, 100875
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, 100875
| |
Collapse
|
47
|
Roux-Sibilon A, Kalénine S, Pichat C, Peyrin C. Dorsal and ventral stream contribution to the paired-object affordance effect. Neuropsychologia 2018. [PMID: 29522759 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
Visual extinction, a parietal syndrome in which patients exhibit perceptual impairments when two objects are simultaneously presented in the visual field, is reduced when objects are correctly positioned for action, indicating that action helps patients' visual attention. Similarly, healthy individuals make faster action decisions on object pairs that appear in left/right standard co-location for actions in comparison to object pairs that appear in a mirror location, a phenomenon called the paired-object affordance effect. However, the neural locus of such effect remains debated and may be related to the activity of ventral or dorsal brain regions. The present fMRI study aims at determining the neural substrates of the paired-object affordance effect. Fourteen right-handed participants made decisions about semantically related (i.e. thematically related and co-manipulated) and unrelated object pairs. Pairs were either positioned in a standard location for a right-handed action (with the active object - lid - in the right visual hemifield, and the passive object - pan - in the left visual hemifield), or in the reverse location. Behavioral results showed a suppression of the observed cost of correctly positioning related pairs for action when performing action decisions (deciding if the two objects are usually used together), but not when performing contextual decisions (deciding if the two objects are typically found in the kitchen). Anterior regions of the dorsal stream (e.g. supplementary motor area) responded to inadequate object co-positioning for action, but only when the perceptual task required action decisions. In the ventral cortex, the left lateral occipital complex showed increased activation for objects correctly positioned for action in all conditions except when neither task demands nor object relatedness was relevant for action. Thus, fMRI results demonstrated a joint contribution of ventral and dorsal cortical streams to the paired-affordance effect. They further suggest that this contribution may depend on contextual situations and task demands, in line with flexible views of affordance evocation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Solène Kalénine
- Univ. Lille, CNRS, CHU Lille, UMR 9193, SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Cédric Pichat
- Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, LPNC UMR 5105, Grenoble, France
| | - Carole Peyrin
- Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, LPNC UMR 5105, Grenoble, France
| |
Collapse
|
48
|
Abstract
Although the parietal lobe was considered by many of the earliest investigators of disordered language to be a major component of the neural systems instantiating language, most views of the anatomic substrate of language emphasize the role of temporal and frontal lobes in language processing. We review evidence from lesion studies as well as functional neuroimaging, demonstrating that the left parietal lobe is also crucial for several aspects of language. First, we argue that the parietal lobe plays a major role in semantic processing, particularly for "thematic" relationships in which information from multiple sensory and motor domains is integrated. Additionally, we review a number of accounts that emphasize the role of the left parietal lobe in phonologic processing. Although the accounts differ somewhat with respect to the nature of the linguistic computations subserved by the parietal lobe, they share the view that the parietal lobe is essential for the processes by which sound-based representations are transcoded into a format that can drive action systems. We suggest that investigations of the linguistic capacities of the parietal lobe constrained by the understanding of the parietal lobe in action and multimodal sensory integration may serve to enhance not only our understanding of language, but also the relationship between language and more basic brain functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- H Branch Coslett
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
| | - Myrna F Schwartz
- Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Elkins Park, PA, United States
| |
Collapse
|
49
|
Comparing the temporal dynamics of thematic and taxonomic processing using event-related potentials. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0189362. [PMID: 29236767 PMCID: PMC5728532 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189362] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2016] [Accepted: 11/27/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
We report the results of a study comparing the temporal dynamics of thematic and taxonomic knowledge activation in a picture-word priming paradigm using event-related potentials. Although we found no behavioral differences between thematic and taxonomic processing, ERP data revealed distinct patterns of N400 and P600 amplitude modulation for thematic and taxonomic priming. Thematically related target stimuli elicited less negativity than taxonomic targets between 280–460 ms after stimulus onset, suggesting easier semantic processing of thematic than taxonomic relationships. Moreover, P600 mean amplitude was significantly increased for taxonomic targets between 520–600 ms, consistent with a greater need for stimulus reevaluation in that condition. These results offer novel evidence in favor of a dissociation between thematic and taxonomic thinking in the early phases of conceptual evaluation.
Collapse
|
50
|
Barca L, Mazzuca C, Borghi AM. Pacifier Overuse and Conceptual Relations of Abstract and Emotional Concepts. Front Psychol 2017; 8:2014. [PMID: 29250003 PMCID: PMC5717369 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2016] [Accepted: 11/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
This study explores the impact of the extensive use of an oral device since infancy (pacifier) on the acquisition of concrete, abstract, and emotional concepts. While recent evidence showed a negative relation between pacifier use and children's emotional competence (Niedenthal et al., 2012), the possible interaction between use of pacifier and processing of emotional and abstract language has not been investigated. According to recent theories, while all concepts are grounded in sensorimotor experience, abstract concepts activate linguistic and social information more than concrete ones. Specifically, the Words As Social Tools (WAT) proposal predicts that the simulation of their meaning leads to an activation of the mouth (Borghi and Binkofski, 2014; Borghi and Zarcone, 2016). Since the pacifier affects facial mimicry forcing mouth muscles into a static position, we hypothesize its possible interference on acquisition/consolidation of abstract emotional and abstract not-emotional concepts, which are mainly conveyed during social and linguistic interactions, than of concrete concepts. Fifty-nine first grade children, with a history of different frequency of pacifier use, provided oral definitions of the meaning of abstract not-emotional, abstract emotional, and concrete words. Main effect of concept type emerged, with higher accuracy in defining concrete and abstract emotional concepts with respect to abstract not-emotional concepts, independently from pacifier use. Accuracy in definitions was not influenced by the use of pacifier, but correspondence and hierarchical clustering analyses suggest that the use of pacifier differently modulates the conceptual relations elicited by abstract emotional and abstract not-emotional. While the majority of the children produced a similar pattern of conceptual relations, analyses on the few (6) children who overused the pacifier (for more than 3 years) showed that they tend to distinguish less clearly between concrete and abstract emotional concepts and between concrete and abstract not-emotional concepts than children who did not use it (5) or used it for short (17). As to the conceptual relations they produced, children who overused the pacifier tended to refer less to their experience and to social and emotional situations, use more exemplifications and functional relations, and less free associations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Laura Barca
- Institute of Cognitive Science and Technologies, Italian National Research Council (CNR), Rome, Italy
| | - Claudia Mazzuca
- Department of Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Anna M Borghi
- Institute of Cognitive Science and Technologies, Italian National Research Council (CNR), Rome, Italy.,Department of Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| |
Collapse
|