1
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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.
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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
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2
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Henderson SK, Dev SI, Ezzo R, Quimby M, Wong B, Brickhouse M, Hochberg D, Touroutoglou A, Dickerson BC, Cordella C, Collins JA. A category-selective semantic memory deficit for animate objects in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia. Brain Commun 2021; 3:fcab210. [PMID: 34622208 PMCID: PMC8493104 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcab210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2021] [Revised: 07/16/2021] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Data are mixed on whether patients with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia exhibit a category-selective semantic deficit for animate objects. Moreover, there is little consensus regarding the neural substrates of this category-selective semantic deficit, though prior literature has suggested that the perirhinal cortex and the lateral posterior fusiform gyrus may support semantic memory functions important for processing animate objects. In this study, we investigated whether patients with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia exhibited a category-selective semantic deficit for animate objects in a word-picture matching task, controlling for psycholinguistic features of the stimuli, including frequency, familiarity, typicality and age of acquisition. We investigated the neural bases of this category selectivity by examining its relationship with cortical atrophy in two primary regions of interest: bilateral perirhinal cortex and lateral posterior fusiform gyri. We analysed data from 20 patients with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (mean age = 64 years, S.D. = 6.94). For each participant, we calculated an animacy index score to denote the magnitude of the category-selective semantic deficit for animate objects. Multivariate regression analysis revealed a main effect of animacy (β = 0.52, t = 4.03, P < 0.001) even after including all psycholinguistic variables in the model, such that animate objects were less likely to be identified correctly relative to inanimate objects. Inspection of each individual patient's data indicated the presence of a disproportionate impairment in animate objects in most patients. A linear regression analysis revealed a relationship between the right perirhinal cortex thickness and animacy index scores (β = -0.57, t = -2.74, P = 0.015) such that patients who were more disproportionally impaired for animate relative to inanimate objects exhibited thinner right perirhinal cortex. A vertex-wise general linear model analysis restricted to the temporal lobes revealed additional associations between positive animacy index scores (i.e. a disproportionately poorer performance on animate objects) and cortical atrophy in the right perirhinal and entorhinal cortex, superior, middle, and inferior temporal gyri, and the anterior fusiform gyrus, as well as the left anterior fusiform gyrus. Taken together, our results indicate that a category-selective semantic deficit for animate objects is a characteristic feature of semantic variant primary progressive aphasia that is detectable in most individuals. Our imaging findings provide further support for the role of the right perirhinal cortex and other temporal lobe regions in the semantic processing of animate objects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shalom K Henderson
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sheena I Dev
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Rania Ezzo
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Megan Quimby
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Bonnie Wong
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Michael Brickhouse
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Daisy Hochberg
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Alexandra Touroutoglou
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Bradford C Dickerson
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Claire Cordella
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jessica A Collins
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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3
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How words get meaning: The neural processing of novel object names after sensorimotor training. Neuroimage 2019; 197:284-294. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.04.069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2018] [Revised: 04/13/2019] [Accepted: 04/25/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
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4
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Garcea FE, Buxbaum LJ. Gesturing tool use and tool transport actions modulates inferior parietal functional connectivity with the dorsal and ventral object processing pathways. Hum Brain Mapp 2019; 40:2867-2883. [PMID: 30900321 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2018] [Revised: 02/22/2019] [Accepted: 02/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Interacting with manipulable objects (tools) requires the integration of diverse computations supported by anatomically remote regions. Previous functional neuroimaging research has demonstrated the left supramarginal (SMG) exhibits functional connectivity to both ventral and dorsal pathways, supporting the integration of ventrally-mediated tool properties and conceptual knowledge with dorsally-computed volumetric and structural representations of tools. This architecture affords us the opportunity to test whether interactions between the left SMG, ventral visual pathway, and dorsal visual pathway are differentially modulated when participants plan and generate tool-directed gestures emphasizing functional manipulation (tool use gesturing) or structure-based grasping (tool transport gesturing). We found that functional connectivity between the left SMG, ventral temporal cortex (bilateral fusiform gyri), and dorsal visual pathway (left superior parietal lobule/posterior intraparietal sulcus) was maximal for tool transport planning and gesturing, whereas functional connectivity between the left SMG, left ventral anterior temporal lobe, and left frontal operculum was maximal for tool use planning and gesturing. These results demonstrate that functional connectivity to the left SMG is differentially modulated by tool use and tool transport gesturing, suggesting that distinct tool features computed by the two object processing pathways are integrated in the parietal lobe in the service of tool-directed action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frank E Garcea
- Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.,Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Laurel J Buxbaum
- Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.,Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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5
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Garcin B, Urbanski M, Thiebaut de Schotten M, Levy R, Volle E. Anterior Temporal Lobe Morphometry Predicts Categorization Ability. Front Hum Neurosci 2018; 12:36. [PMID: 29467637 PMCID: PMC5808329 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2017] [Accepted: 01/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Categorization is the mental operation by which the brain classifies objects and events. It is classically assessed using semantic and non-semantic matching or sorting tasks. These tasks show a high variability in performance across healthy controls and the cerebral bases supporting this variability remain unknown. In this study we performed a voxel-based morphometry study to explore the relationships between semantic and shape categorization tasks and brain morphometric differences in 50 controls. We found significant correlation between categorization performance and the volume of the gray matter in the right anterior middle and inferior temporal gyri. Semantic categorization tasks were associated with more rostral temporal regions than shape categorization tasks. A significant relationship was also shown between white matter volume in the right temporal lobe and performance in the semantic tasks. Tractography revealed that this white matter region involved several projection and association fibers, including the arcuate fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, uncinate fasciculus, and inferior longitudinal fasciculus. These results suggest that categorization abilities are supported by the anterior portion of the right temporal lobe and its interaction with other areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Béatrice Garcin
- Frontlab, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM), UPMC UMRS 1127, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Paris, France.,Department of Neurology, Salpêtrière Hospital AP-HP, Paris, France
| | - Marika Urbanski
- Frontlab, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM), UPMC UMRS 1127, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Paris, France.,Service de Médecine et Réadaptation, Hôpitaux de Saint-Maurice, Saint-Maurice, France.,Brain Connectivity and Behaviour Group, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière, Paris, France
| | - Michel Thiebaut de Schotten
- Frontlab, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM), UPMC UMRS 1127, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Paris, France.,Brain Connectivity and Behaviour Group, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière, Paris, France.,Centre de NeuroImagerie de Recherche, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière, Paris, France
| | - Richard Levy
- Frontlab, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM), UPMC UMRS 1127, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Paris, France.,Department of Neurology, Salpêtrière Hospital AP-HP, Paris, France
| | - Emmanuelle Volle
- Frontlab, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM), UPMC UMRS 1127, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Paris, France.,Brain Connectivity and Behaviour Group, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière, Paris, France
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6
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Bechtold L, Ghio M, Lange J, Bellebaum C. Event-related desynchronization of mu and beta oscillations during the processing of novel tool names. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2018; 177-178:44-55. [PMID: 29421271 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2018.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2017] [Revised: 12/22/2017] [Accepted: 01/15/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
According to the embodied cognition framework, the formation of conceptual representations integrates the type of experience during learning. In this electroencephalographic study, we applied a linguistic variant of a training paradigm, in which participants learned to associate novel names to novel tools while either manipulating or visually exploring them. The analysis focused on event-related desynchronization (ERD) of oscillations in the mu and beta frequency range, which reflects activation of sensorimotor brain areas. After three training sessions, processing names of manipulated tools elicited a stronger ERD of the beta (18-25 Hz, 140-260 ms) and the lower mu rhythm (8-10 Hz, 320-440 ms) than processing names of visually explored tools, reflecting a possible reactivation of experiential sensorimotor information. Given the unexpected result that familiarized pseudo-words elicited an ERD comparable to names of manipulated tools, our findings could reflect a suppression of sensorimotor activity during the processing of objects with exclusively visual features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Bechtold
- Institute of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany.
| | - Marta Ghio
- Institute of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Joachim Lange
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Christian Bellebaum
- Institute of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany
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7
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Merck C, Corouge I, Jonin PY, Desgranges B, Gauvrit JY, Belliard S. What semantic dementia teaches us about the functional organization of the left posterior fusiform gyrus. Neuropsychologia 2017; 106:159-168. [PMID: 28951166 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.09.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2017] [Revised: 09/21/2017] [Accepted: 09/22/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
After demonstrating the relative preservation of fruit and vegetable knowledge in patients with semantic dementia (SD), we sought to identify the neural substrate of this unusual category effect. Nineteen patients with SD performed a semantic sorting task and underwent a morphometric 3T MRI scan. The grey-matter volumes of five regions within the temporal lobe were bilaterally computed, as well as those of two recently described areas (FG1 and FG2) within the posterior fusiform gyrus. In contrast to the other semantic categories we tested, fruit and vegetable scores were only predicted by left FG1 volume. We therefore found a specific relationship between the volume of a subregion within the left posterior fusiform gyrus and performance on fruits and vegetables in SD. We argue that the left FG1 is a convergence zone for the features that might be critical to successfully sort fruits and vegetables. We also discuss evidence for a functional specialization of the fusiform gyrus along two axes (lateral medial and longitudinal), depending on the nature of the concepts and on the level of processing complexity required by the ongoing task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Merck
- Service de neurologie, CMRR, CHU Pontchaillou, Rennes, France; Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, PSL Research University, EPHE, INSERM, U1077, CHU de Caen, Neuropsychologie et Imagerie de la Mémoire Humaine, 14000 Caen, France.
| | - Isabelle Corouge
- University of Rennes 1, Faculté de Médecine, Rennes F-35065, France; Inria, Rennes Research Center, Rennes F-35042, France; Inserm, U1228, ERL VISAGES, Rennes F-35042, France; CNRS, UMR 6074, IRISA, Rennes F-35042, France
| | | | - Béatrice Desgranges
- Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, PSL Research University, EPHE, INSERM, U1077, CHU de Caen, Neuropsychologie et Imagerie de la Mémoire Humaine, 14000 Caen, France
| | - Jean-Yves Gauvrit
- University of Rennes 1, Faculté de Médecine, Rennes F-35065, France; Inria, Rennes Research Center, Rennes F-35042, France; Inserm, U1228, ERL VISAGES, Rennes F-35042, France; CNRS, UMR 6074, IRISA, Rennes F-35042, France; CHU Rennes, Neuroradiology Dept, Rennes F-35033, France; Service de Radiologie, CHU Pontchaillou, Rennes, France
| | - Serge Belliard
- Service de neurologie, CMRR, CHU Pontchaillou, Rennes, France; Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, PSL Research University, EPHE, INSERM, U1077, CHU de Caen, Neuropsychologie et Imagerie de la Mémoire Humaine, 14000 Caen, France
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8
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Abstract
How is knowledge about the meanings of words and objects represented in the human brain? Current theories embrace two radically different proposals: either distinct cortical systems have evolved to represent different kinds of things, or knowledge for all kinds is encoded within a single domain-general network. Neither view explains the full scope of relevant evidence from neuroimaging and neuropsychology. Here we propose that graded category-specificity emerges in some components of the semantic network through joint effects of learning and network connectivity. We test the proposal by measuring connectivity amongst cortical regions implicated in semantic representation, then simulating healthy and disordered semantic processing in a deep neural network whose architecture mirrors this structure. The resulting neuro-computational model explains the full complement of neuroimaging and patient evidence adduced in support of both domain-specific and domain-general approaches, reconciling long-standing disputes about the nature and origins of this uniquely human cognitive faculty.
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9
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Concept typicality responses in the semantic memory network. Neuropsychologia 2016; 93:167-175. [PMID: 27789333 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.10.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2016] [Revised: 10/21/2016] [Accepted: 10/22/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
For decades concept typicality has been recognized as critical to structuring conceptual knowledge, but only recently has typicality been applied in better understanding the processes engaged by the neurological network underlying semantic memory. This previous work has focused on one region within the network - the Anterior Temporal Lobe (ATL). The ATL responds negatively to concept typicality (i.e., the more atypical the item, the greater the activation in the ATL). To better understand the role of typicality in the entire network, we ran an fMRI study using a category verification task in which concept typicality was manipulated parametrically. We argue that typicality is relevant to both amodal feature integration centers as well as category-specific regions. Both the Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG) and ATL demonstrated a negative correlation with typicality, whereas inferior parietal regions showed positive effects. We interpret this in light of functional theories of these regions. Interactions between category and typicality were not observed in regions classically recognized as category-specific, thus, providing an argument against category specific regions, at least with fMRI.
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10
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Bi Y, Wang X, Caramazza A. Object Domain and Modality in the Ventral Visual Pathway. Trends Cogn Sci 2016; 20:282-290. [PMID: 26944219 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2016.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2015] [Revised: 02/10/2016] [Accepted: 02/11/2016] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
The nature of domain-specific organization in higher-order visual cortex (ventral occipital temporal cortex, VOTC) has been investigated both in the case of visual experience deprivation and of modality of stimulation in sighted individuals. Object domain interacts in an intriguing and revelatory way with visual experience and modality of stimulation: selectivity for artifacts and scene domains is largely immune to visual deprivation and is multi-modal, whereas selectivity for animate items in lateral posterior fusiform gyrus is present only with visual stimulation. This domain-by-modality interaction is not readily accommodated by existing theories of VOTC representation. We conjecture that these effects reflect a distinction between the visual features that characterize different object domains and their interaction with different types of downstream computational systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanchao Bi
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
| | - Xiaoying Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Alfonso Caramazza
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA; Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto TN, Italy
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11
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Chen L, Rogers TT. A Model of Emergent Category-specific Activation in the Posterior Fusiform Gyrus of Sighted and Congenitally Blind Populations. J Cogn Neurosci 2015; 27:1981-99. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00834] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Theories about the neural bases of semantic knowledge tend between two poles, one proposing that distinct brain regions are innately dedicated to different conceptual domains and the other suggesting that all concepts are encoded within a single network. Category-sensitive functional activations in the fusiform cortex of the congenitally blind have been taken to support the former view but also raise several puzzles. We use neural network models to assess a hypothesis that spans the two poles: The interesting functional activation patterns reflect the base connectivity of a domain-general semantic network. Both similarities and differences between sighted and congenitally blind groups can emerge through learning in a neural network, but only in architectures adopting real anatomical constraints. Surprisingly, the same constraints suggest a novel account of a quite different phenomenon: the dyspraxia observed in patients with semantic impairments from anterior temporal pathology. From this work, we suggest that the cortical semantic network is wired not to encode knowledge of distinct conceptual domains but to promote learning about both conceptual and affordance structure in the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lang Chen
- 1University of Wisconsin–Madison
- 2Stanford Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Laboratory, Palo Alto, CA
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12
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Dekker TM, Mareschal D, Johnson MH, Sereno MI. Picturing words? Sensorimotor cortex activation for printed words in child and adult readers. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2014; 139:58-67. [PMID: 25463817 PMCID: PMC4271739 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2014.09.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2014] [Revised: 09/12/2014] [Accepted: 09/24/2014] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Learning to read involves associating abstract visual shapes with familiar meanings. Embodiment theories suggest that word meaning is at least partially represented in distributed sensorimotor networks in the brain (Barsalou, 2008; Pulvermueller, 2013). We explored how reading comprehension develops by tracking when and how printed words start activating these "semantic" sensorimotor representations as children learn to read. Adults and children aged 7-10 years showed clear category-specific cortical specialization for tool versus animal pictures during a one-back categorisation task. Thus, sensorimotor representations for these categories were in place at all ages. However, co-activation of these same brain regions by the visual objects' written names was only present in adults, even though all children could read and comprehend all presented words, showed adult-like task performance, and older children were proficient readers. It thus takes years of training and expert reading skill before spontaneous processing of printed words' sensorimotor meanings develops in childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tessa M Dekker
- Department of Visual Neuroscience, Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, UK; Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Department of Psychological Science, Birkbeck, University of London, UK.
| | - Denis Mareschal
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Department of Psychological Science, Birkbeck, University of London, UK
| | - Mark H Johnson
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Department of Psychological Science, Birkbeck, University of London, UK
| | - Martin I Sereno
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Department of Psychological Science, Birkbeck, University of London, UK; Birkbeck-UCL Centre for Neuroimaging, Department of Psychology, University College London, UK
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13
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Bruffaerts R, De Weer AS, De Grauwe S, Thys M, Dries E, Thijs V, Sunaert S, Vandenbulcke M, De Deyne S, Storms G, Vandenberghe R. Noun and knowledge retrieval for biological and non-biological entities following right occipitotemporal lesions. Neuropsychologia 2014; 62:163-74. [PMID: 25080190 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.07.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2013] [Revised: 07/11/2014] [Accepted: 07/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
We investigated the critical contribution of right ventral occipitotemporal cortex to knowledge of visual and functional-associative attributes of biological and non-biological entities and how this relates to category-specificity during confrontation naming. In a consecutive series of 7 patients with lesions confined to right ventral occipitotemporal cortex, we conducted an extensive assessment of oral generation of visual-sensory and functional-associative features in response to the names of biological and nonbiological entities. Subjects also performed a confrontation naming task for these categories. Our main novel finding related to a unique case with a small lesion confined to right medial fusiform gyrus who showed disproportionate naming impairment for nonbiological versus biological entities, specifically for tools. Generation of visual and functional-associative features was preserved for biological and non-biological entities. In two other cases, who had a relatively small posterior lesion restricted to primary visual and posterior fusiform cortex, retrieval of visual attributes was disproportionately impaired compared to functional-associative attributes, in particular for biological entities. However, these cases did not show a category-specific naming deficit. Two final cases with the largest lesions showed a classical dissociation between biological versus nonbiological entities during naming, with normal feature generation performance. This is the first lesion-based evidence of a critical contribution of the right medial fusiform cortex to tool naming. Second, dissociations along the dimension of attribute type during feature generation do not co-occur with category-specificity during naming in the current patient sample.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rose Bruffaerts
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Neurology Department, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - An-Sofie De Weer
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Sophie De Grauwe
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Miek Thys
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Eva Dries
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Vincent Thijs
- Neurology Department, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Stefan Sunaert
- Radiology Department, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Mathieu Vandenbulcke
- Brain and Emotion Laboratory Leuven, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Psychiatry Department, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Simon De Deyne
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Gerrit Storms
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Rik Vandenberghe
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Neurology Department, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
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14
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State-Dependent Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Protocols. TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC STIMULATION 2014. [DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-0879-0_9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
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15
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Bruffaerts R, Dupont P, Peeters R, De Deyne S, Storms G, Vandenberghe R. Similarity of fMRI activity patterns in left perirhinal cortex reflects semantic similarity between words. J Neurosci 2013; 33:18597-607. [PMID: 24259581 PMCID: PMC6618797 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1548-13.2013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2013] [Revised: 10/13/2013] [Accepted: 10/19/2013] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
How verbal and nonverbal visuoperceptual input connects to semantic knowledge is a core question in visual and cognitive neuroscience, with significant clinical ramifications. In an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment we determined how cosine similarity between fMRI response patterns to concrete words and pictures reflects semantic clustering and semantic distances between the represented entities within a single category. Semantic clustering and semantic distances between 24 animate entities were derived from a concept-feature matrix based on feature generation by >1000 subjects. In the main fMRI study, 19 human subjects performed a property verification task with written words and pictures and a low-level control task. The univariate contrast between the semantic and the control task yielded extensive bilateral occipitotemporal activation from posterior cingulate to anteromedial temporal cortex. Entities belonging to a same semantic cluster elicited more similar fMRI activity patterns in left occipitotemporal cortex. When words and pictures were analyzed separately, the effect reached significance only for words. The semantic similarity effect for words was localized to left perirhinal cortex. According to a representational similarity analysis of left perirhinal responses, semantic distances between entities correlated inversely with cosine similarities between fMRI response patterns to written words. An independent replication study in 16 novel subjects confirmed these novel findings. Semantic similarity is reflected by similarity of functional topography at a fine-grained level in left perirhinal cortex. The word specificity excludes perceptually driven confounds as an explanation and is likely to be task dependent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rose Bruffaerts
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurosciences
- Neurology Department, and
| | - Patrick Dupont
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurosciences
| | - Ronald Peeters
- Radiology Department, University Hospitals Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium, and
| | - Simon De Deyne
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Humanities and Social Sciences Group, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Gerrit Storms
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Humanities and Social Sciences Group, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Rik Vandenberghe
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurosciences
- Neurology Department, and
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16
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Bruffaerts R, Dupont P, De Grauwe S, Peeters R, De Deyne S, Storms G, Vandenberghe R. Right fusiform response patterns reflect visual object identity rather than semantic similarity. Neuroimage 2013; 83:87-97. [PMID: 23811413 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.05.128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2013] [Accepted: 05/02/2013] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
We previously reported the neuropsychological consequences of a lesion confined to the middle and posterior part of the right fusiform gyrus (case JA) causing a partial loss of knowledge of visual attributes of concrete entities in the absence of category-selectivity (animate versus inanimate). We interpreted this in the context of a two-step model that distinguishes structural description knowledge from associative-semantic processing and implicated the lesioned area in the former process. To test this hypothesis in the intact brain, multi-voxel pattern analysis was used in a series of event-related fMRI studies in a total of 46 healthy subjects. We predicted that activity patterns in this region would be determined by the identity of rather than the conceptual similarity between concrete entities. In a prior behavioral experiment features were generated for each entity by more than 1000 subjects. Based on a hierarchical clustering analysis the entities were organised into 3 semantic clusters (musical instruments, vehicles, tools). Entities were presented as words or pictures. With foveal presentation of pictures, cosine similarity between fMRI response patterns in right fusiform cortex appeared to reflect both the identity of and the semantic similarity between the entities. No such effects were found for words in this region. The effect of object identity was invariant for location, scaling, orientation axis and color (grayscale versus color). It also persisted for different exemplars referring to a same concrete entity. The apparent semantic similarity effect however was not invariant. This study provides further support for a neurobiological distinction between structural description knowledge and processing of semantic relationships and confirms the role of right mid-posterior fusiform cortex in the former process, in accordance with previous lesion evidence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rose Bruffaerts
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Neurology Department, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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17
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He C, Peelen MV, Han Z, Lin N, Caramazza A, Bi Y. Selectivity for large nonmanipulable objects in scene-selective visual cortex does not require visual experience. Neuroimage 2013; 79:1-9. [PMID: 23624496 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.04.051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2012] [Revised: 04/01/2013] [Accepted: 04/15/2013] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The principles that determine the organization of object representations in ventral temporal cortex (VTC) remain elusive. Here, we focus on the parahippocampal place area (PPA), a region in medial VTC that has been shown to respond selectively to pictures of scenes. Recent studies further observed that this region also shows a preference for large nonmanipulable objects relative to other objects, which might reflect the suitability of large objects for navigation. The mechanisms underlying this selectivity remain poorly understood. We examined the extent to which PPA selectivity requires visual experience. Fourteen congenitally blind and matched sighted participants were tested on an auditory size judgment experiment involving large nonmanipulable objects, small objects (tools), and animals. Sighted participants additionally participated in a picture-viewing experiment. Replicating previous work, we found that the PPA responded selectively to large nonmanipulable objects, relative to tools and animals, in the sighted group viewing pictures. Importantly, this selectivity was also observed in the auditory experiment in both sighted and congenitally blind groups. In both groups, selectivity for large nonmanipulable objects was additionally observed in the retrosplenial complex (RSC) and the transverse occipital sulcus (TOS), regions previously implicated in scene perception and navigation. Finally, in both groups the PPA showed resting-state functional connectivity with TOS and RSC. These results provide new evidence that large object selectivity in PPA, and the intrinsic connectivity between PPA and other navigation-relevant regions, do not require visual experience. More generally, they show that the organization of object representations in VTC can develop, at least partly, without visual experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chenxi He
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China
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18
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Simanova I, Hagoort P, Oostenveld R, van Gerven MAJ. Modality-Independent Decoding of Semantic Information from the Human Brain. Cereb Cortex 2012; 24:426-34. [DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhs324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 91] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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19
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Lachaux JP, Axmacher N, Mormann F, Halgren E, Crone NE. High-frequency neural activity and human cognition: past, present and possible future of intracranial EEG research. Prog Neurobiol 2012; 98:279-301. [PMID: 22750156 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2012.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 294] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2011] [Revised: 05/31/2012] [Accepted: 06/18/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Human intracranial EEG (iEEG) recordings are primarily performed in epileptic patients for presurgical mapping. When patients perform cognitive tasks, iEEG signals reveal high-frequency neural activities (HFAs, between around 40 Hz and 150 Hz) with exquisite anatomical, functional and temporal specificity. Such HFAs were originally interpreted in the context of perceptual or motor binding, in line with animal studies on gamma-band ('40 Hz') neural synchronization. Today, our understanding of HFA has evolved into a more general index of cortical processing: task-induced HFA reveals, with excellent spatial and time resolution, the participation of local neural ensembles in the task-at-hand, and perhaps the neural communication mechanisms allowing them to do so. This review promotes the claim that studying HFA with iEEG provides insights into the neural bases of cognition that cannot be derived as easily from other approaches, such as fMRI. We provide a series of examples supporting that claim, drawn from studies on memory, language and default-mode networks, and successful attempts of real-time functional mapping. These examples are followed by several guidelines for HFA research, intended for new groups interested by this approach. Overall, iEEG research on HFA should play an increasing role in cognitive neuroscience in humans, because it can be explicitly linked to basic research in animals. We conclude by discussing the future evolution of this field, which might expand that role even further, for instance through the use of multi-scale electrodes and the fusion of iEEG with MEG and fMRI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Philippe Lachaux
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Brain Dynamics and Cognition Team, F-69500 Lyon-Bron, France.
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20
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The bottle and the glass say to me: "pour!". Exp Brain Res 2012; 218:539-49. [PMID: 22411580 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-012-3047-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2011] [Accepted: 02/21/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
The present study aimed at determining whether the observation of two functionally compatible artefacts, that is which potentially concur in achieving a specific function, automatically activates a motor programme of interaction between the two objects. To this purpose, an interference paradigm was used during which an artefact (a bottle filled with orange juice), target of a reaching-grasping and lifting sequence, was presented alone or with a non-target object (distractor) of the same or different semantic category and functionally compatible or not. In experiment 1, the bottle was presented alone or with an artefact (a sphere), or a natural (an apple) distractor. In experiment 2, the bottle was presented with either the apple or a glass (an artefact) filled with orange juice, whereas in experiment 3, either an empty or a filled glass was presented. In the control experiment 4, we compared the kinematics of reaching-grasping and pouring with those of reaching-grasping and lifting. The kinematics of reach, grasp and lift was affected by distractor presentation. However, no difference was observed between two distractors that belonged to different semantic categories. In contrast, the presence of the empty rather filled glass affected the kinematics of the actual grasp. This suggests that an actually functional compatibility between target (the bottle) and distractor (the empty glass) was necessary to activate automatically a programme of interaction (i.e. pouring) between the two artefacts. This programme affected the programme actually executed (i.e. lifting). The results of the present study indicate that, in addition to affordances related to intrinsic object properties, "working affordances" related to a specific use of an artefact with another object can be activated on the basis of functional compatibility.
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Abstract
How the brain encodes the semantic concepts represented by words is a fundamental question in cognitive neuroscience. Hemodynamic neuroimaging studies have robustly shown that different areas of posteroventral temporal lobe are selectively activated by images of animals versus manmade objects. Selective responses in these areas to words representing animals versus objects are sometimes also seen, but they are task-dependent, suggesting that posteroventral temporal cortex may encode visual categories, while more anterior areas encode semantic categories. Here, using the spatiotemporal resolution provided by intracranial macroelectrode and microelectrode arrays, we report category-selective responses to words representing animals and objects in human anteroventral temporal areas including inferotemporal, perirhinal, and entorhinal cortices. This selectivity generalizes across tasks and sensory modalities, suggesting that it represents abstract lexicosemantic categories. Significant category-specific responses are found in measures sensitive to synaptic activity (local field potentials, high gamma power, current sources and sinks) and unit-firing (multiunit and single-unit activity). Category-selective responses can occur at short latency (as early as 130 ms) in middle cortical layers and thus are extracted in the first pass of activity through the anteroventral temporal lobe. This activation may provide input to posterior areas for iconic representations when required by the task, as well as to the hippocampal formation for categorical encoding and retrieval of memories, and to the amygdala for emotional associations. More generally, these results support models in which the anteroventral temporal lobe plays a primary role in the semantic representation of words.
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22
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Hocking J, McMahon KL, de Zubicaray GI. Cortical organization of environmental sounds by attribute. Hum Brain Mapp 2011; 32:688-98. [PMID: 21391255 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.21040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2009] [Revised: 02/01/2010] [Accepted: 02/08/2010] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Semantic knowledge is supported by a widely distributed neuronal network, with differential patterns of activation depending upon experimental stimulus or task demands. Despite a wide body of knowledge on semantic object processing from the visual modality, the response of this semantic network to environmental sounds remains relatively unknown. Here, we used fMRI to investigate how access to different conceptual attributes from environmental sound input modulates this semantic network. Using a range of living and manmade sounds, we scanned participants whilst they carried out an object attribute verification task. Specifically, we tested visual perceptual, encyclopedic, and categorical attributes about living and manmade objects relative to a high-level auditory perceptual baseline to investigate the differential patterns of response to these contrasting types of object-related attributes, whilst keeping stimulus input constant across conditions. Within the bilateral distributed network engaged for processing environmental sounds across all conditions, we report here a highly significant dissociation within the left hemisphere between the processing of visual perceptual and encyclopedic attributes of objects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Hocking
- The University of Queensland, Centre for Advanced Imaging, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia.
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23
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Shinkareva SV, Malave VL, Mason RA, Mitchell TM, Just MA. Commonality of neural representations of words and pictures. Neuroimage 2011; 54:2418-25. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.10.042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2010] [Revised: 10/04/2010] [Accepted: 10/13/2010] [Indexed: 10/18/2022] Open
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24
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Zhang Y, Liu Q, Yang Q, Zhang Q. Electrophysiological correlates of early processing of visual word recognition: N2 as an index of visual category feature processing. Neurosci Lett 2010; 473:32-6. [PMID: 20153808 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2010.02.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2009] [Revised: 01/26/2010] [Accepted: 02/06/2010] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
A fundamental question in second language learning is how the brain separates inputs from different languages into distinct representation systems prior to semantic activation. The present study investigated this question using a silent reading task in which Latin letters and simple Chinese characters (including real characters and pseudocharacters) appeared randomly for 100 milliseconds (ms). High-density event-related potentials were employed to record the electrophysiological correlates of visual word recognition prior to motor response. The results showed that real Chinese characters and pseudocharacters produced a larger N2 response than letters within 200-300ms time window. However, no significant differences between real Chinese characters and pseudocharacters were found. The separation of two languages into their own systems might occur in the time window when N2 was elicited. The segregation of real Chinese characters and pseudocharacters was observed in a later time window (350-450ms). The category feature processing of stimuli might be responsible for the N2 response; the processing allows stimuli of the same category to be analyzed in their specific units and distinguishes different stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ye Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, Southwest University, Tiansheng Road 2, Beibai, Chongqing 400715, China.
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25
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Cattaneo Z, Devlin JT, Salvini F, Vecchi T, Silvanto J. The causal role of category-specific neuronal representations in the left ventral premotor cortex (PMv) in semantic processing. Neuroimage 2010; 49:2728-34. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.10.048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2009] [Revised: 10/10/2009] [Accepted: 10/14/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
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26
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Liu J, Li J, Zhang H, Rieth CA, Huber DE, Lee K, Tian J. Neural correlates of top-down letter processing. Neuropsychologia 2010; 48:636-41. [PMID: 19883666 PMCID: PMC2814001 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.10.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2009] [Revised: 10/16/2009] [Accepted: 10/22/2009] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
This fMRI study investigated top-down letter processing with an illusory letter detection task. Participants responded whether one of a number of different possible letters was present in a very noisy image. After initial training that became increasingly difficult, they continued to detect letters even though the images consisted of pure noise, which eliminated contamination from strong bottom-up input. For illusory letter detection, greater fMRI activation was observed in several cortical regions. These regions included the precuneus, an area generally involved in top-down processing of objects, and the left superior parietal lobule, an area previously identified with the processing of valid letter and word stimuli. In addition, top-down letter detection also activated the left inferior frontal gyrus, an area that may be involved in the integration of general top-down processing and letter-specific bottom-up processing. These findings suggest that these regions may play a significant role in top-down as well as bottom-up processing of letters and words, and are likely to have reciprocal functional connections to more posterior regions in the word and letter processing network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiangang Liu
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Computer and Information Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
| | - Jun Li
- Life Science Research Center, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710071, P.R. China
| | | | | | | | - Kang Lee
- University of California, San Diego, USA
- University of Toronto, Canada
| | - Jie Tian
- Life Science Research Center, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710071, P.R. China
- Institute of Automation Chinese Academy of Sciences, P. O. Box 2728, Beijing, 100190, China
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27
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Category-specific activations during word generation reflect experiential sensorimotor modalities. Neuroimage 2009; 48:717-25. [PMID: 19559802 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.06.042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2008] [Revised: 06/10/2009] [Accepted: 06/18/2009] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
According to the sensorimotor theory of lexicosemantic organization, semantic representations are neurally distributed and anatomically linked to category-specific sensory areas. Previous functional neuroimaging studies have demonstrated category specificity in lexicosemantic representations. However, little evidence is available from word generation paradigms, which provide access to semantic representations while minimizing confounds resulting from low-level perceptual features of stimulus presentation. In this study, 13 healthy young adults underwent fMRI scanning while performing a word generation task, generating exemplars to nine different semantic categories. Each semantic category was assigned to one of three superordinate category types, based upon sensorimotor modalities (visual, motor, somatosensory) presumed to predominate in lexical acquisition. For word generation overall, robust activation was seen in left inferior frontal cortex. Analyses by sensorimotor modality categories yielded activations in brain regions related to perceptual and motor processing: Visual categories activated extrastriate cortex, motor categories activated the intraparietal sulcus and posterior middle temporal cortex, and somatosensory categories activated postcentral and inferior parietal regions. Our results are consistent with the sensorimotor theory, according to which lexicosemantic representations are distributed across brain regions participating in sensorimotor processing associated with the experiential components of lexicosemantic acquisition.
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28
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Hocking J, Price CJ. Dissociating verbal and nonverbal audiovisual object processing. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2009; 108:89-96. [PMID: 19101025 PMCID: PMC2693664 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2008.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2007] [Revised: 09/30/2008] [Accepted: 10/09/2008] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
This fMRI study investigates how audiovisual integration differs for verbal stimuli that can be matched at a phonological level and nonverbal stimuli that can be matched at a semantic level. Subjects were presented simultaneously with one visual and one auditory stimulus and were instructed to decide whether these stimuli referred to the same object or not. Verbal stimuli were simultaneously presented spoken and written object names, and nonverbal stimuli were photographs of objects simultaneously presented with naturally occurring object sounds. Stimulus differences were controlled by including two further conditions that paired photographs of objects with spoken words and object sounds with written words. Verbal matching, relative to all other conditions, increased activation in a region of the left superior temporal sulcus that has previously been associated with phonological processing. Nonverbal matching, relative to all other conditions, increased activation in a right fusiform region that has previously been associated with structural and conceptual object processing. Thus, we demonstrate how brain activation for audiovisual integration depends on the verbal content of the stimuli, even when stimulus and task processing differences are controlled.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Hocking
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL, London, UK.
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29
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Hoenig K, Sim EJ, Bochev V, Herrnberger B, Kiefer M. Conceptual Flexibility in the Human Brain: Dynamic Recruitment of Semantic Maps from Visual, Motor, and Motion-related Areas. J Cogn Neurosci 2008; 20:1799-814. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2008.20123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 143] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Traditionally, concepts are assumed to be situational invariant mental knowledge entities (conceptual stability), which are represented in a unitary brain system distinct from sensory and motor areas (amodality). However, accumulating evidence suggests that concepts are embodied in perception and action in that their conceptual features are stored within modality-specific semantic maps in the sensory and motor cortex. Nonetheless, the first traditional assumption of conceptual stability largely remains unquestioned. Here, we tested the notion of flexible concepts using functional magnetic resonance imaging and event-related potentials (ERPs) during the verification of two attribute types (visual, action-related) for words denoting artifactual and natural objects. Functional imaging predominantly revealed crossover interactions between category and attribute type in visual, motor, and motion-related brain areas, indicating that access to conceptual knowledge is strongly modulated by attribute type: Activity in these areas was highest when nondominant conceptual attributes had to be verified. ERPs indicated that these category-attribute interactions emerged as early as 116 msec after stimulus onset, suggesting that they reflect rapid access to conceptual features rather than postconceptual processing. Our results suggest that concepts are situational-dependent mental entities. They are composed of semantic features which are flexibly recruited from distributed, yet localized, semantic maps in modality-specific brain regions depending on contextual constraints.
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Affiliation(s)
- Klaus Hoenig
- 1University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany
- 2Transfer Center for Neurosciences and Learning, Ulm, Germany
| | | | - Viktor Bochev
- 1University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany
- 2Transfer Center for Neurosciences and Learning, Ulm, Germany
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30
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Gilpin H, Whitcomb D, Cho K. Atypical evening cortisol profile induces visual recognition memory deficit in healthy human subjects. Mol Brain 2008; 1:4. [PMID: 18803857 PMCID: PMC2546400 DOI: 10.1186/1756-6606-1-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2008] [Accepted: 08/21/2008] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Diurnal rhythm-mediated endogenous cortisol levels in humans are characterised by a peak in secretion after awakening that declines throughout the day to an evening trough. However, a significant proportion of the population exhibits an atypical cycle of diurnal cortisol due to shift work, jet-lag, aging, and mental illness. RESULTS The present study has demonstrated a correlation between elevation of cortisol in the evening and deterioration of visual object recognition memory. However, high evening cortisol levels have no effect on spatial memory. CONCLUSION This study suggests that atypical evening salivary cortisol levels have an important role in the early deterioration of recognition memory. The loss of recognition memory, which is vital for everyday life, is a major symptom of the amnesic syndrome and early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, this study will promote a potential physiologic marker of early deterioration of recognition memory and a possible diagnostic strategy for Alzheimer's disease.
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31
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Abstract
Studies of categories of objects, including tools, have spurred the development of the sensory-motor model of object concept representation. According to this model, information about objects is represented in the same neural subsystems that are active when we perceive and use them. In turn, this model has provided insight into the brain mechanisms of tool use. For tools, three types of information are especially important for identification: the characteristic motion with which they move (such as the up and down motion of a hammer), their visual form, and the way that they are manipulated. Evidence from neuropsychological, non-human primates, and neuroimaging studies suggest a mapping between specific brain regions and these fundamental identifying properties of tools. We focus on neuroimaging studies of the left posterior middle temporal gyrus. This brain region is active both when subjects perceive moving tools and when they answer questions about tools, and is responsive to the type of visual motion characteristic of tools: rigid, unarticulated motion. We describe a simple model that explains how low-level receptive field properties like those known to exist in area MT/V5 could give rise to the high-level category-related representations observed in functional imaging experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael S Beauchamp
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, 20892-1366 MD, USA
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32
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Abstract
Evidence from functional neuroimaging of the human brain indicates that information about salient properties of an object-such as what it looks like, how it moves, and how it is used-is stored in sensory and motor systems active when that information was acquired. As a result, object concepts belonging to different categories like animals and tools are represented in partially distinct, sensory- and motor property-based neural networks. This suggests that object concepts are not explicitly represented, but rather emerge from weighted activity within property-based brain regions. However, some property-based regions seem to show a categorical organization, thus providing evidence consistent with category-based, domain-specific formulations as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex Martin
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-1366, USA.
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Pisella L, Binkofski F, Lasek K, Toni I, Rossetti Y. No double-dissociation between optic ataxia and visual agnosia: multiple sub-streams for multiple visuo-manual integrations. Neuropsychologia 2006; 44:2734-48. [PMID: 16753188 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.03.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 186] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2005] [Revised: 03/10/2006] [Accepted: 03/17/2006] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The current dominant view of the visual system is marked by the functional and anatomical dissociation between a ventral stream specialised for perception and a dorsal stream specialised for action. The "double-dissociation" between visual agnosia (VA), a deficit of visual recognition, and optic ataxia (OA), a deficit of visuo-manual guidance, considered as consecutive to ventral and dorsal damage, respectively, has provided the main argument for this dichotomic view. In the first part of this paper, we show that the currently available empirical data do not suffice to support a double-dissociation between OA and VA. In the second part, we review evidence coming from human neuropsychology and monkey data, which cast further doubts on the validity of a simple double-dissociation between perception and action because they argue for a far more complex organisation with multiple parallel visual-to-motor connections: 1. A dorso-dorsal pathway (involving the most dorsal part of the parietal and pre-motor cortices): for immediate visuo-motor control--with OA as typical disturbance. The latest research about OA is reviewed, showing how these patients exhibit deficits restricted to the most direct and fast visuo-motor transformations. We also propose that mild mirror ataxia, consisting of misreaching errors when the controlesional hand is guided to a visual goal though a mirror, could correspond to OA with an isolated "hand effect". 2. A ventral stream-prefrontal pathway (connections from the ventral visual stream to pre-frontal areas, by-passing the parietal areas): for "mediate" control (involving spatial or temporal transpositions [Rossetti, Y., & Pisella, L. (2003). Mediate responses as direct evidence for intention: Neuropsychology of Not to-, Not now- and Not there-tasks. In S. Johnson (Ed.), Cognitive Neuroscience perspectives on the problem of intentional action (pp. 67-105). MIT Press.])--with VA as typical disturbance. Preserved visuo-manual guidance in patients with VA is restricted to immediate goal-directed guidance, they exhibit deficits for delayed or pantomimed actions. 3. A ventro-dorsal pathway (involving the more ventral part of the parietal lobe and the pre-motor and pre-frontal areas): for complex planning and programming relying on high representational levels with a more bilateral organisation or an hemispheric lateralisation--with mirror apraxia, limb apraxia and spatial neglect as representatives. Mirror apraxia is a deficit that affects both hands after unilateral inferior parietal lesion with the patients reaching systematically and repeatedly toward the virtual image in the mirror. Limb apraxia is localized on a more advanced conceptual level of object-related actions and results from deficient integrative, computational and "working memory" capacities of the left inferior parietal lobule. A component of spatial working memory has recently been revealed also in spatial neglect consecutive to lesion involving the network of the right inferior parietal lobule and the right frontal areas. We conclude by pointing to the differential temporal constraints and integrative capabilities of these parallel visuo-motor pathways as keys to interpret the neuropsychological deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Pisella
- INSERM UMR-S 534, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, and Université Claude Bernard-Lyon, Espace et Action, Bron, France
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Malhi GS, Loo C, Cahill CM, Lagopoulos J, Mitchell P, Sachdev P. "Getting physical": the management of neuropsychiatric disorders using novel physical treatments. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat 2006; 2:165-79. [PMID: 19412461 PMCID: PMC2671781 DOI: 10.2147/nedt.2006.2.2.165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To summarize and review the utility of physical interventions in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. METHODS A systematic review of the literature pertaining to novel physical interventions, namely, transcranial magnetic stimulation, deep brain stimulation, vagus nerve stimulation, and neurosurgery, was conducted using MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PSYCHLIT. Bibliographies of papers were scrutinized for further relevant references along with literature known to the authors. RESULTS Currently available physical interventions worldwide are reviewed with respect to efficacy, applications, and putative indications. Physical interventions have experienced a resurgence of interest for both the investigation of brain function and the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. The widespread availability of neuroimaging technology has advanced our understanding of brain function and allowed closer examination of the effects of physical treatments. Clinically, transcranial magnetic stimulation seems likely to have a role in the management of depression, and its use in other neuropsychiatric disorders appears promising. Following on from its success in the management of intractable epilepsy, vagus nerve stimulation is undergoing evaluation in the treatment of depression with some success in refractory cases. Deep brain stimulation has improved mood in patients with Parkinson's disease and may also relieve symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Neurosurgery has re-invented itself by way of increased technical sophistication, and although further assessment of its efficacy and clinical utility is still needed, its widespread practice reflects its increasing acceptance as a viable treatment of last resort. CONCLUSION It is clear that physical treatments are here to stay and "getting physical" offers a useful addition to the neuropsychiatrist's therapeutic armamentarium. However, like all new treatments these interventions need to remain under rigorous scientific scrutiny to determine accurately their immediate and long-term effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gin S Malhi
- School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Australia.
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Pulvermüller F, Hauk O. Category-specific Conceptual Processing of Color and Form in Left Fronto-temporal Cortex. Cereb Cortex 2005; 16:1193-201. [PMID: 16251506 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhj060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
To investigate the cortical basis of color and form concepts, we examined event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses to matched words related to abstract color and form information. Silent word reading elicited activity in left temporal and frontal cortex, where category-specific activity differences were also observed. Whereas color words preferentially activated anterior parahippocampal gyrus, form words evoked category-specific activity in fusiform and middle temporal gyrus as well as premotor and dorsolateral prefrontal areas in inferior and middle frontal gyri. These results demonstrate that word meanings and concepts are not processed by a unique cortical area, but by different sets of areas, each of which may contribute differentially to conceptual semantic processing. We hypothesize that the anterior parahippocampal activation to color words indexes computation of the visual feature conjunctions and disjunctions necessary for classifying visual stimuli under a color concept. The predominant premotor and prefrontal activation to form words suggests action-related information processing and may reflect the involvement of neuronal elements responding in an either-or fashion to mirror neurons related to adumbrating shapes.
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Reinholz J, Pollmann S. Differential activation of object-selective visual areas by passive viewing of pictures and words. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2005; 24:702-14. [PMID: 15921900 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2005.04.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2004] [Revised: 03/23/2005] [Accepted: 04/07/2005] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Functional imaging has shown that pictures of faces (N. Kanwisher, J. McDermott, M.M. Chun, The fusiform face area: a module in human extrastriate cortex specialized for face perception, J. Neurosci. 17 (1997) 4302-4311) and buildings (R. Epstein, N. Kanwisher, A cortical representation of the local visual environment, Nature 391 (1998) 598-601) activate different regions within the lateral occipital complex (LOC). To investigate effects of stimulus format on activation in these areas, we used event-related fMRI to measure brain activity during the passive viewing of pictures showing buildings and faces, and of words identifying these pictures. Consistent with earlier findings, pictures of faces activated bilateral regions in the lateral fusiform gyri, whereas pictures of buildings activated bilateral regions in the parahippocampal gyri. Analyzing the activation elicited by visually presenting the written names of the pictures, however, we did not find an effect of word meaning on the fMRI signal change in these areas: fMRI signal changes for the names of faces and the names of buildings did not differ in any of the areas selectively activated by the corresponding pictures. In general, both word conditions and non-preferred picture conditions elicited similar signal amplitudes. While presentation of words did not lead to strong activation in object-specific areas, activation for words of both categories was found in the left occipito-temporal cortex, close to the location which has tentatively been called 'visual word form area' (L. Cohen, S. Dehaene, L. Naccache, S. Lehéricy, G. Dehaene-Lambertz, et al., The visual word form are: spatial and temporal characterization of an initial stage of reading in normal subjects and posterior split-brain patients, Brain 123 (2000) 291-307), revealing that words were processed effectively during the experiment. Taken together, these results show that names of pictures do not automatically activate the corresponding object-selective areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Reinholz
- Day Clinic of Cognitive Neurology, University of Leipzig, Germany.
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Sim EJ, Kiefer M. Category-related brain activity to natural categories is associated with the retrieval of visual features: Evidence from repetition effects during visual and functional judgments. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2005; 24:260-73. [PMID: 15993764 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2005.02.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2004] [Revised: 01/18/2005] [Accepted: 02/01/2005] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
It is debated whether category-related brain activation reflects a modality-specific (e.g., visual, functional representation systems) or a domain-specific (e.g., natural vs. artifactual categories) semantic memory organization. The present event-related potentials (ERPs) study is aimed at elucidating the nature of semantic representations of objects from natural (e.g., animal) and artifactual (e.g., tool) categories. Within a repetition priming paradigm, we tested the assumption that modality-specific semantic systems are differentially involved in representing artifacts and natural kinds by probing either visual or functional knowledge in a test task. In the exposure phase, subjects performed a classification task on object names for artifacts and natural objects. In the test phase, these previously presented (old) names were presented together with new names, and subjects had to perform either a visual (shape) or a functional (use) judgment. As in previous ERP studies, words from natural categories were associated with a more positive potential at occipito-parietal electrodes than words from artifactual categories. This effect was only obtained during the visual judgment task. This category-related ERP effect was diminished for words that had been previously presented. In the functional judgment task, category-related ERP effects were not obtained at all, probably due to the heterogeneity of the probed features. The observed interaction between task, category and repetition provides direct evidence that visual features play a more important role for the representations of natural compared to artifactual categories. Our data are therefore compatible with the notion of modality-specific semantic systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eun Jin Sim
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Ulm, Leimgrubenweg 12, 89075 Ulm, Germany
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