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Reilly J, Shain C, Borghesani V, Kuhnke P, Vigliocco G, Peelle JE, Mahon BZ, Buxbaum LJ, Majid A, Brysbaert M, Borghi AM, De Deyne S, Dove G, Papeo L, Pexman PM, Poeppel D, Lupyan G, Boggio P, Hickok G, Gwilliams L, Fernandino L, Mirman D, Chrysikou EG, Sandberg CW, Crutch SJ, Pylkkänen L, Yee E, Jackson RL, Rodd JM, Bedny M, Connell L, Kiefer M, Kemmerer D, de Zubicaray G, Jefferies E, Lynott D, Siew CSQ, Desai RH, McRae K, Diaz MT, Bolognesi M, Fedorenko E, Kiran S, Montefinese M, Binder JR, Yap MJ, Hartwigsen G, Cantlon J, Bi Y, Hoffman P, Garcea FE, Vinson D. What we mean when we say semantic: Toward a multidisciplinary semantic glossary. Psychon Bull Rev 2024:10.3758/s13423-024-02556-7. [PMID: 39231896 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-024-02556-7] [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: 07/19/2024] [Indexed: 09/06/2024]
Abstract
Tulving characterized semantic memory as a vast repository of meaning that underlies language and many other cognitive processes. This perspective on lexical and conceptual knowledge galvanized a new era of research undertaken by numerous fields, each with their own idiosyncratic methods and terminology. For example, "concept" has different meanings in philosophy, linguistics, and psychology. As such, many fundamental constructs used to delineate semantic theories remain underspecified and/or opaque. Weak construct specificity is among the leading causes of the replication crisis now facing psychology and related fields. Term ambiguity hinders cross-disciplinary communication, falsifiability, and incremental theory-building. Numerous cognitive subdisciplines (e.g., vision, affective neuroscience) have recently addressed these limitations via the development of consensus-based guidelines and definitions. The project to follow represents our effort to produce a multidisciplinary semantic glossary consisting of succinct definitions, background, principled dissenting views, ratings of agreement, and subjective confidence for 17 target constructs (e.g., abstractness, abstraction, concreteness, concept, embodied cognition, event semantics, lexical-semantic, modality, representation, semantic control, semantic feature, simulation, semantic distance, semantic dimension). We discuss potential benefits and pitfalls (e.g., implicit bias, prescriptiveness) of these efforts to specify a common nomenclature that other researchers might index in specifying their own theoretical perspectives (e.g., They said X, but I mean Y).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Cory Shain
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | - Philipp Kuhnke
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | | | | | - Laurel J Buxbaum
- Thomas Jefferson University, Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Elkins Park, PA, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Guy Dove
- University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA
| | - Liuba Papeo
- Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University Claude-Bernard Lyon, Lyon, France
| | | | | | | | - Paulo Boggio
- Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Eiling Yee
- University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Ken McRae
- Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Melvin J Yap
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Gesa Hartwigsen
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Yanchao Bi
- University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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Rouse MA, Ramanan S, Halai AD, Volfart A, Garrard P, Patterson K, Rowe JB, Lambon Ralph MA. The impact of bilateral versus unilateral anterior temporal lobe damage on face recognition, person knowledge and semantic memory. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae336. [PMID: 39123309 PMCID: PMC11315654 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae336] [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: 04/20/2024] [Revised: 07/24/2024] [Accepted: 07/26/2024] [Indexed: 08/12/2024] Open
Abstract
The functional importance of the anterior temporal lobes (ATLs) has come to prominence in two active, albeit unconnected literatures-(i) face recognition and (ii) semantic memory. To generate a unified account of the ATLs, we tested the predictions from each literature and examined the effects of bilateral versus unilateral ATL damage on face recognition, person knowledge, and semantic memory. Sixteen people with bilateral ATL atrophy from semantic dementia (SD), 17 people with unilateral ATL resection for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE; left = 10, right = 7), and 14 controls completed tasks assessing perceptual face matching, person knowledge and general semantic memory. People with SD were impaired across all semantic tasks, including person knowledge. Despite commensurate total ATL damage, unilateral resection generated mild impairments, with minimal differences between left- and right-ATL resection. Face matching performance was largely preserved but slightly reduced in SD and right TLE. All groups displayed the familiarity effect in face matching; however, it was reduced in SD and right TLE and was aligned with the level of item-specific semantic knowledge in all participants. We propose a neurocognitive framework whereby the ATLs underpin a resilient bilateral representation system that supports semantic memory, person knowledge and face recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew A Rouse
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK
| | - Siddharth Ramanan
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK
| | - Ajay D Halai
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK
| | - Angélique Volfart
- Université de Lorraine, CNRS, 2 avenue de la Forêt de Haye, Nancy F-54000, France
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, University of Louvain, Place du Cardinal Mercier, 10, Louvain-la-Neuve B-1348, Belgium
- School of Psychology and Counselling, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Road, Brisbane 4059, Australia
| | - Peter Garrard
- Molecular and Clinical Sciences Research Institute, St George’s, University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE, UK
| | - Karalyn Patterson
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0SZ, United Kingdom
| | - James B Rowe
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0SZ, United Kingdom
- Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0SZ, United Kingdom
| | - Matthew A Lambon Ralph
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK
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Dietz CD, Albonico A, Tree JJ, Barton JJS. Visual imagery deficits in posterior cortical atrophy. Cogn Neuropsychol 2023; 40:351-366. [PMID: 38698499 DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2024.2346362] [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] [Indexed: 05/05/2024]
Abstract
Visual imagery has a close overlapping relationship with visual perception. Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a neurodegenerative syndrome marked by early impairments in visuospatial processing and visual object recognition. We asked whether PCA would therefore also be marked by deficits in visual imagery, tested using objective forced-choice questionnaires, and whether imagery deficits would be selective for certain properties. We recruited four patients with PCA and a patient with integrative visual agnosia due to bilateral occipitotemporal strokes for comparison. We administered a test battery probing imagery for object shape, size, colour lightness, hue, upper-case letters, lower-case letters, word shape, letter construction, and faces. All subjects showed significant impairments in visual imagery, with imagery for lower-case letters most likely to be spared. We conclude that PCA subjects can show severe deficits in visual imagery. Further work is needed to establish how frequently this occurs and how early it can be found.
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Affiliation(s)
- Connor D Dietz
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology) and Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Andrea Albonico
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology) and Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Jeremy J Tree
- Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
| | - Jason J S Barton
- Human Vision and Eye Movement Laboratory, Departments of Medicine (Neurology) and Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
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Obermeyer J, Reinert L, Kamen R, Pritchard D, Park H, Martin N. Effect of Working Memory Load and Typicality on Semantic Processing in Aphasia. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2022; 31:12-29. [PMID: 34138658 PMCID: PMC9135015 DOI: 10.1044/2021_ajslp-20-00283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2020] [Revised: 12/07/2020] [Accepted: 02/23/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study evaluated the effects of a linguistic characteristic, typicality, and a processing variable, working memory on the abilities of people with aphasia (PWA) and neurologically intact adults to process semantic representations. This was accomplished using a newly developed assessment task, the Category Typicality Test, which was created for the Temple Assessment of Language and Short-Term Memory in Aphasia. METHOD A post hoc quasi-experimental design was used. Participants included 27 PWA and 14 neurologically intact adults who completed the picture and word versions of the Category Typicality Test, which required them to determine if two items are in the same category. Memory load was altered by increasing the number of items to be compared, and the typicality of items was altered to increase linguistic complexity. RESULTS A four-way mixed analysis of covariance was conducted. There was a significant interaction between working memory load and category typicality with performance accuracy decreasing as working memory load increased and category typicality decreased. There was also a significant interaction for typicality and stimuli with better performance in the picture condition and a significant interaction for working memory and group with lower performance accuracy for PWA. Post hoc pairwise comparisons revealed differences between memory load, typicality, stimuli conditions, and group. PWA also showed greater magnitude of change than neurologically intact adults when comparing high and low working memory load conditions, but not typicality conditions. DISCUSSION Increasing working memory load had the most substantial impact on the accuracy of category judgments in PWA, but the interaction between increased working memory load and decreased category typicality of items to be compared resulted in reduced accuracy in both groups. These findings suggest that manipulation of processing and linguistic variables in assessment will provide insight into the nature of linguistic breakdown in aphasia. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14781996.
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Pozueta A, Lage C, Martínez MG, Kazimierczak M, Bravo M, López-García S, Riancho J, González-Suarez A, Vázquez-Higuera JL, de Arcocha-Torres M, Banzo I, Bonilla JJ, Berciano J, Rodríguez-Rodríguez E, Sánchez-Juan P. A Brief Drawing Task for the Differential Diagnosis of Semantic Dementia. J Alzheimers Dis 2020; 72:151-160. [PMID: 31561372 DOI: 10.3233/jad-190660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Semantic dementia (SD) is a subtype of frontotemporal lobe degeneration characterized by semantic loss, with other cognitive functions initially preserved. SD requires differential diagnosis with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Semantic knowledge can be evaluated through different tests; however, most of them depend on language. OBJECTIVE We describe the development of a brief drawing task that may be helpful for the differential diagnosis of SD. METHODS Seventy-two patients, including 32 AD, 19 bvFTD, and 21 SD were asked to draw 12 items with different age of acquisition and familiarity, belonging to four different semantic categories. We employed the drawings of healthy volunteers to build a scoring scheme. RESULTS Turtle, strawberry, train, and envelope were the items of each category that best discriminated between groups and were selected for the Brief drawing task. The discriminatory power of the Brief drawing task between SD versus AD and bvFTD patients, estimated through the area under the curve was 0.84 (95% CI = 0.72-0.96, p = 0.000007). In a logistic model, the Brief drawing task (p = 0.003) and VOSP "number location" subtest (p = 0.016) were significant predictors of the diagnosis of SD versus AD and bvFTD after adjustment by the main covariates. The Brief drawing task provided clinically useful qualitative information. SD drawings were characterized by loss of the distinctive features, intrusions, tendency to prototype, and answers like "I don't know what this is". CONCLUSION The Brief drawing task appears to reveal deficits in semantic knowledge among patients with SD that may assist in the differential diagnosis with other neurodegenerative diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Pozueta
- Neurology Service and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), 'Marqués de Valdecilla' University Hospital, University of Cantabria, Institute for Research 'Marqués de Valdecilla' (IDIVAL), Santander, Spain
| | - Carmen Lage
- Neurology Service and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), 'Marqués de Valdecilla' University Hospital, University of Cantabria, Institute for Research 'Marqués de Valdecilla' (IDIVAL), Santander, Spain
| | - María García Martínez
- Neurology Service and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), 'Marqués de Valdecilla' University Hospital, University of Cantabria, Institute for Research 'Marqués de Valdecilla' (IDIVAL), Santander, Spain
| | - Martha Kazimierczak
- Neurology Service and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), 'Marqués de Valdecilla' University Hospital, University of Cantabria, Institute for Research 'Marqués de Valdecilla' (IDIVAL), Santander, Spain
| | - María Bravo
- Neurology Service and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), 'Marqués de Valdecilla' University Hospital, University of Cantabria, Institute for Research 'Marqués de Valdecilla' (IDIVAL), Santander, Spain
| | - Sara López-García
- Neurology Service and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), 'Marqués de Valdecilla' University Hospital, University of Cantabria, Institute for Research 'Marqués de Valdecilla' (IDIVAL), Santander, Spain
| | - Javier Riancho
- Neurology Service and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), 'Hospital Sierrallana, Institute for Research 'Marqués de Valdecilla' (IDIVAL), Santander, Spain
| | - Andrea González-Suarez
- Neurology Service and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), 'Marqués de Valdecilla' University Hospital, University of Cantabria, Institute for Research 'Marqués de Valdecilla' (IDIVAL), Santander, Spain
| | - José Luis Vázquez-Higuera
- Neurology Service and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), 'Marqués de Valdecilla' University Hospital, University of Cantabria, Institute for Research 'Marqués de Valdecilla' (IDIVAL), Santander, Spain
| | - María de Arcocha-Torres
- Nuclear Medicine Department, University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, University of Cantabria, Molecular imaging Group - IDIVAL, Santander, Spain
| | - Ignacio Banzo
- Nuclear Medicine Department, University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, University of Cantabria, Molecular imaging Group - IDIVAL, Santander, Spain
| | - Julio Jimenez Bonilla
- Nuclear Medicine Department, University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, University of Cantabria, Molecular imaging Group - IDIVAL, Santander, Spain
| | - José Berciano
- Neurology Service and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), 'Marqués de Valdecilla' University Hospital, University of Cantabria, Institute for Research 'Marqués de Valdecilla' (IDIVAL), Santander, Spain
| | - Eloy Rodríguez-Rodríguez
- Neurology Service and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), 'Marqués de Valdecilla' University Hospital, University of Cantabria, Institute for Research 'Marqués de Valdecilla' (IDIVAL), Santander, Spain
| | - Pascual Sánchez-Juan
- Neurology Service and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), 'Marqués de Valdecilla' University Hospital, University of Cantabria, Institute for Research 'Marqués de Valdecilla' (IDIVAL), Santander, Spain
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Macoir J, Pilote-Paradis S, Lacoste L, Proulx M, Auclair-Ouellet N. Of logos and men: semantic memory impairment for unique entities in a case of semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia. Neurocase 2020; 26:188-196. [PMID: 32615858 DOI: 10.1080/13554794.2020.1772311] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
In this study, an individual (NG) with the semantic varient of primary progressive aphasis (svPPA) was assessed with tasks designed to investigate the recognition and activation of semantic knowledge about unique entities. NG had significant difficulties in the recognition of brand names and famous names but was largely unimpaired in the recognition of logos and famous faces. However, she was impaired in tasks requiring the activation of semantic representations of logos, brand names, famous faces, and famous names. These results suggest that the recognition of unique entities results from the interaction of perceptual and conceptual processes and, that the ability to activate semantic information about these entities can be affected in svPPA.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Macoir
- Faculté de Médecine, Département de Réadaptation, Université Laval , Québec, Canada.,Centre De Recherche CERVO - Brain Research Centre , Québec, Canada
| | - S Pilote-Paradis
- Faculté de Médecine, Département de Réadaptation, Université Laval , Québec, Canada
| | - L Lacoste
- Faculté de Médecine, Département de Réadaptation, Université Laval , Québec, Canada
| | - M Proulx
- Faculté de Médecine, Département de Réadaptation, Université Laval , Québec, Canada
| | - N Auclair-Ouellet
- School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University , Montreal, Canada.,Language and Music, Centre for Research on Brain , Montreal, Canada.,Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal , Montreal, Canada
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Cope TE, Shtyrov Y, MacGregor LJ, Holland R, Pulvermüller F, Rowe JB, Patterson K. Anterior temporal lobe is necessary for efficient lateralised processing of spoken word identity. Cortex 2020; 126:107-118. [PMID: 32065956 PMCID: PMC7253293 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.12.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2019] [Revised: 10/22/2019] [Accepted: 12/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
In the healthy human brain, the processing of language is strongly lateralised, usually to the left hemisphere, while the processing of complex non-linguistic sounds recruits brain regions bilaterally. Here we asked whether the anterior temporal lobes, strongly implicated in semantic processing, are critical to this special treatment of spoken words. Nine patients with semantic dementia (SD) and fourteen age-matched controls underwent magnetoencephalography and structural MRI. Voxel based morphometry demonstrated the stereotypical pattern of SD: severe grey matter loss restricted to the anterior temporal lobes, with the left side more affected. During magnetoencephalography, participants listened to word sets in which identity and meaning were ambiguous until word completion, for example PLAYED versus PLATE. Whereas left-hemispheric responses were similar across groups, patients demonstrated increased right hemisphere activity 174-294 msec after stimulus disambiguation. Source reconstructions confirmed recruitment of right-sided analogues of language regions in SD: atrophy of anterior temporal lobes was associated with increased activity in right temporal pole, middle temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus. Overall, the results indicate that anterior temporal lobes are necessary for normal and efficient lateralised processing of word identity by the language network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas E Cope
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, UK; MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, UK.
| | - Yury Shtyrov
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, UK; Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Denmark; Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, NRU Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
| | - Lucy J MacGregor
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, UK
| | - Rachel Holland
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, UK; Division of Language and Communication Science, City University London, UK
| | - Friedemann Pulvermüller
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, UK; Brain Language Laboratory, Department of Philosophy and Humanities, WE4, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
| | - James B Rowe
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, UK; MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, UK
| | - Karalyn Patterson
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, UK; MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, UK
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Teichmann M, Sanches C, Moreau J, Ferrieux S, Nogues M, Dubois B, Cacouault M, Sharifzadeh S. Does surface dyslexia/dysgraphia relate to semantic deficits in the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia? Neuropsychologia 2019; 135:107241. [PMID: 31682928 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107241] [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] [Received: 08/13/2019] [Revised: 10/06/2019] [Accepted: 10/28/2019] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
The semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia (sv-PPA) is a degenerative condition which causes surface dyslexia/dysgraphia, resulting in reading/writing errors of irregular words with non-transparent grapheme-to-phoneme correspondences (e.g., 'plaid') as opposed to regular words (e.g., 'cat'). According to connectionist models, most authors have attributed this deficit to semantic impairments, but this assumption is at odds with symbolic models, such as the DRC account, stating that the reading/writing of irregulars relies on the mental lexicon. Our study investigated whether sv-PPA affects the lexicon in addition to the semantic system, and whether semantic or lexical deficits cause surface dyslexia/dysgraphia, while challenging the two major models of written language. We explored a cohort of 12 sv-PPA patients and 25 matched healthy controls using a reading and writing task, a semantic task (category decision: living vs. non-living), and a lexical task (lexical decision: word vs. no-neighbor non-word). Correlation analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between reading/writing scores of irregulars and semantic vs. lexical performance. Furthermore, item-by-item analyses explored the consistency of reading/writing errors with item-specific semantic and lexical errors. Results showed that sv-PPA patients are impaired at reading and writing irregular words, and that they have impaired performance in both the semantic and the lexical task. Reading/writing scores with irregulars correlated significantly with performance in the lexical but not the semantic task. Item-by-item analyses revealed that failure in the lexical task on a given irregular word is a good predictor of reading/writing errors with that item (positive predictive value: 77.5%), which was not the case for the semantic task (positive predictive value: 42.5%). Our findings show that sv-PPA is not restricted to semantic damage but that it also comprises damage to the mental lexicon, which appears to be the major factor for surface dyslexia/dysgraphia. Our data support symbolic models whereas they challenge connectionist accounts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Teichmann
- Department of Neurology, Institute of Memory and of Alzheimer's Disease, National Reference Center for "PPA and Rare Dementias", Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, AP-HP, Paris, France; Brain and Spine Institute (ICM), ICM-INSERM 1127, FrontLab, Paris, France.
| | - Clara Sanches
- Brain and Spine Institute (ICM), ICM-INSERM 1127, FrontLab, Paris, France
| | - Julia Moreau
- Department of Neurology, Institute of Memory and of Alzheimer's Disease, National Reference Center for "PPA and Rare Dementias", Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, AP-HP, Paris, France
| | - Sophie Ferrieux
- Department of Neurology, Institute of Memory and of Alzheimer's Disease, National Reference Center for "PPA and Rare Dementias", Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, AP-HP, Paris, France
| | - Marie Nogues
- Department of Neurology, Institute of Memory and of Alzheimer's Disease, National Reference Center for "PPA and Rare Dementias", Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, AP-HP, Paris, France
| | - Bruno Dubois
- Department of Neurology, Institute of Memory and of Alzheimer's Disease, National Reference Center for "PPA and Rare Dementias", Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, AP-HP, Paris, France; Brain and Spine Institute (ICM), ICM-INSERM 1127, FrontLab, Paris, France
| | - Meggane Cacouault
- Department of Neurology, Institute of Memory and of Alzheimer's Disease, National Reference Center for "PPA and Rare Dementias", Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, AP-HP, Paris, France
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Vonk JMJ, Borghesani V, Battistella G, Younes K, DeLeon J, Welch A, Hubbard HI, Miller ZA, Miller BL, Gorno-Tempini ML. Verbal Semantics and the Left Dorsolateral Anterior Temporal Lobe: A Longitudinal Case of Bilateral Temporal Degeneration. APHASIOLOGY 2019; 34:865-885. [PMID: 33012947 PMCID: PMC7529336 DOI: 10.1080/02687038.2019.1659935] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2019] [Accepted: 08/19/2019] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA), a clinical syndrome characterized by loss of semantic knowledge, is associated with neurodegeneration that starts in the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) and gradually spreads towards posterior temporal and medial frontal areas. At the earliest stages, atrophy may be predominantly lateralized to either the left or right ATL, leading to different clinical profiles with greatest impairment of word comprehension or visual/social semantics, respectively. METHODS & PROCEDURES We report the in-depth longitudinal investigation of cognitive and neuroanatomical features of JB, an unusual case of ATL neurodegeneration with relative sparing of left lateral ATL regions. OUTCOMES & RESULTS Over the course of nine years, neurodegeneration progressed to involve bilateral temporo-lateral and frontal regions, resulting in a relatively symmetric and diffuse frontotemporal atrophy pattern. In parallel, JB developed greater behavioral, cognitive, and language impairments, as well as signs of motor neuron disease at her last evaluation. Episodic memory and socio-emotional processing deficits arose, likely secondary to semantic verbal deficits, while visuospatial processing, executive function, and non-semantic language abilities remained largely unaffected throughout the course of the disease. CONCLUSIONS The details of this rare case of early medial more than lateral ATL degeneration are consistent with a bilateral organization of the semantic system and, crucially, with a functional dissociation between medial paralimbic and lateral neocortical temporal regions. Cases of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) such as JB, who initially do not meet current clinical criteria for svPPA and instead present with some features of behavioral variant FTD, highlight the need for specific criteria for the right temporal variant of FTD that we propose could be called semantic variant FTD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jet M. J. Vonk
- Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, Department of Neurology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
- Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Valentina Borghesani
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Giovanni Battistella
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Kyan Younes
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Jessica DeLeon
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Ariane Welch
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - H. Isabel Hubbard
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States
| | - Zachary A. Miller
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Bruce L. Miller
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
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10
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Macoir J, Laforce R, Wilson MA, Tremblay MP, Hudon C. The role of semantic memory in the recognition of emotional valence conveyed by written words. AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2019; 27:270-288. [PMID: 31088253 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2019.1606890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
The main goal of this study was to examine the role of semantic memory in the recognition of emotional valence conveyed by words. Eight participants presenting with the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia (svPPA) and 33 healthy control participants were administered three tasks designed to investigate the formal association between the recognition of emotional valence conveyed by words and the lexical and semantic processing of these words. Results revealed that individuals with svPPA showed deficits in the recognition of negative emotional valence conveyed by words. Moreover, results evidenced that their performance in the recognition of emotional valence was better for correctly than for incorrectly retrieved lexical entries of words, while their performance was comparable for words that were correctly or incorrectly associated with semantic concepts. These results suggest that the recognition of emotional valence conveyed by words relies on the retrieval of lexical, but not semantic, representations of words.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Macoir
- Faculté de médecine, Département de réadaptation, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada.,Centre de recherche CERVO - Brain Research Centre, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - R Laforce
- Département des sciences neurologiques, Clinique Interdisciplinaire de Mémoire (CIME) du CHU de Québec, Québec, QC, Canada.,Faculté de médecine, Département de médecine, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - M A Wilson
- Faculté de médecine, Département de réadaptation, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada.,Centre de recherche CERVO - Brain Research Centre, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - M-P Tremblay
- Centre de recherche CERVO - Brain Research Centre, Québec, QC, Canada.,École de psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - C Hudon
- Centre de recherche CERVO - Brain Research Centre, Québec, QC, Canada.,École de psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
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11
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Macoir J, Hudon C, Tremblay MP, Laforce RJ, Wilson MA. The contribution of semantic memory to the recognition of basic emotions and emotional valence: Evidence from the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia. Soc Neurosci 2019; 14:705-716. [PMID: 30714843 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2019.1577295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
There is compelling evidence that semantic memory is involved in emotion recognition. However, its contribution to the recognition of emotional valence and basic emotions remains unclear. We compared the performance of 10 participants with the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia (svPPA), a clinical model of semantic memory impairment, to that of 33 healthy participants using three experimental tasks assessing the recognition of: 1) emotional valence conveyed by photographic scenes, 2) basic emotions conveyed by facial expressions, and 3) basic emotions conveyed by prosody sounds. Individuals with svPPA showed significant deficits in the recognition of emotional valence and basic emotions (except happiness and surprise conveyed by facial expressions). However, the performance of the two groups was comparable when the performance on tests assessing semantic memory was added as a covariate in the analyses. Altogether, these results suggest that semantic memory contributes to the recognition of emotional valence and basic emotions. By examining the recognition of emotional valence and basic emotions in individuals with selective semantic memory loss, our results contribute to the refinement of current theories on the role of semantic memory in emotion recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joël Macoir
- Faculté de médecine, Département de réadaptation, Université Laval , Québec , QC , Canada.,Centre de recherche CERVO - Brain Research Centre , Québec , QC , Canada
| | - Carol Hudon
- Centre de recherche CERVO - Brain Research Centre , Québec , QC , Canada.,École de psychologie, Université Laval , Québec , QC , Canada
| | - Marie-Pier Tremblay
- Centre de recherche CERVO - Brain Research Centre , Québec , QC , Canada.,École de psychologie, Université Laval , Québec , QC , Canada
| | - Robert Jr Laforce
- Département des sciences neurologiques, Clinique interdisciplinaire de mémoire du CHU de Québec , Québec , QC , Canada.,Faculté de médecine, Département de médecine, Université Laval , Québec , QC , Canada
| | - Maximiliano A Wilson
- Faculté de médecine, Département de réadaptation, Université Laval , Québec , QC , Canada.,Centre de recherche CERVO - Brain Research Centre , Québec , QC , Canada
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12
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Abstract
Current models and theories of semantic knowledge primarily capture taxonomic relationships (DOG and WOLF) and largely do not address the role of thematic relationships in semantic knowledge (DOG and LEASH). Recent evidence suggests that processing or representation of thematic relationships may be distinct from taxonomic relationships. If taxonomic and thematic relations are distinct, then there should be a cost associated with switching between them even when the task remains constant. This hypothesis was tested using two different semantic-relatedness judgment tasks: Experiment 1 used a triads task and Experiment 2 used an oddball task. In both experiments, participants were faster to respond when the same relationship appeared on consecutive trials than when the relationship types were different, even though the task remained the same and the specific relations were different on each trial. These results are consistent with the theory that taxonomic and thematic relations rely on distinct processes or representations.
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13
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Distinctive semantic features in the healthy adult brain. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2018; 19:296-308. [PMID: 30426310 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-018-00668-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The role of semantic features, which are distinctive (e.g., a zebra's stripes) or shared (e.g. has four legs) for accessing a concept, has been studied in detail in early neurodegenerative disease such as semantic dementia (SD). However, potential neural underpinnings of such processing have not been studied in healthy adults. The current study examines neural activation patterns using fMRI while participants completed a feature verification task, in which they identified shared or distinctive semantic features for a set of natural kinds and man-made artifacts. The results showed that the anterior temporal lobe bilaterally is an important area for processing distinctive features, and that this effect is stronger within natural kinds than man-made artifacts. These findings provide converging evidence from healthy adults that is consistent with SD research, and support a model of semantic memory in which patterns of specificity of semantic information can partially explain differences in neural activation between categories.
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14
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Rice GE, Caswell H, Moore P, Hoffman P, Lambon Ralph MA. The Roles of Left Versus Right Anterior Temporal Lobes in Semantic Memory: A Neuropsychological Comparison of Postsurgical Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Patients. Cereb Cortex 2018; 28:1487-1501. [PMID: 29351584 PMCID: PMC6093325 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhx362] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2017] [Revised: 12/20/2017] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The presence and degree of specialization between the anterior temporal lobes (ATLs) is a key issue in debates about the neural architecture of semantic memory. Here, we comprehensively assessed multiple aspects of semantic cognition in a large group of postsurgical temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients with left versus right anterior temporal lobectomy (n = 40). Both subgroups showed deficits in expressive and receptive verbal semantic tasks, word and object recognition, naming and recognition of famous faces and perception of faces and emotions. Graded differences in performance between the left and right groups were secondary to the overall mild semantic impairment; primarily, left resected TLE patients showed weaker performance on tasks that required naming or accessing semantic information from a written word. Right resected TLE patients were relatively more impaired at recognizing famous faces as familiar, although this effect was observed less consistently. These findings unify previous partial, inconsistent results and also align directly with fMRI and transcranial magnetic stimulation results in neurologically intact participants. Taken together, these data support a model in which the 2 ATLs act as a coupled bilateral system for the representation of semantic knowledge, and in which graded hemispheric specializations emerge as a consequence of differential connectivity to lateralized speech production and face perception regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grace E Rice
- Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit (NARU), University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Helen Caswell
- Department of Clinical Neuropsychology, Salford Royal Hospital, Manchester, UK
| | - Perry Moore
- Department of Clinical Neuropsychology, The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, UK
| | - Paul Hoffman
- Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology (CCACE), Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
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15
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Playfoot D, Billington J, Tree JJ. Reading and visual word recognition ability in semantic dementia is not predicted by semantic performance. Neuropsychologia 2018; 111:292-306. [PMID: 29432768 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.02.011] [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] [Received: 08/14/2017] [Revised: 01/27/2018] [Accepted: 02/08/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
This paper describes longitudinal testing of two Semantic Dementia (SD) cases. It is common for patients with SD to present with deficits in reading aloud irregular words (i.e. surface dyslexia), and in lexical decision. Theorists from the connectionist tradition (e.g. Woollams et al., 2007) argue that in SD cases with concurrent surface dyslexia, the deterioration of irregular word reading and recognition performance is related to the extent of the deterioration of the semantic system. The Dual Route Cascaded model (DRC; Coltheart et al., 2001) makes no such prediction. We examined this issue using a battery of cognitive tests and two structural scans undertaken at different points in each cases time course. Across both cases, our behavioural testing found little evidence of a key putative link between semantic impairment and the decline of irregular word reading or lexical decision. In addition, our neuroimaging analyses suggested that it may be the emergence of atrophy to key neural regions both inside and outside the anterior temporal lobes that may best capture the emergence of impairments of irregular word reading, and implicated inferior temporal cortex in surface dyslexia.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Playfoot
- Department of Psychology, Sociology and Politics, Sheffield Hallam University, Collegiate Crescent, Sheffield S10 2BQ, United Kingdom.
| | - Jac Billington
- School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom.
| | - Jeremy J Tree
- Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, United Kingdom.
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16
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Hoffman P, Lambon Ralph MA. From percept to concept in the ventral temporal lobes: Graded hemispheric specialisation based on stimulus and task. Cortex 2018; 101:107-118. [PMID: 29475076 PMCID: PMC5885984 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.01.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2017] [Revised: 11/29/2017] [Accepted: 01/17/2018] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
The left and right ventral anterior temporal lobes (vATL) have been implicated as key regions for the representation of conceptual knowledge. However, the nature and degree of hemispheric specialisation in their function is unclear. To address this issue, we investigated hemispheric specialisation in the ventral temporal lobes using a distortion-corrected spin-echo fMRI protocol that enhanced signal in vATL. We employed an orthogonal manipulation of stimulus (written words vs pictured objects) and task (naming vs recognition). Words elicited left-lateralised vATL activation while objects elicited bilateral activation with no hemispheric bias. In contrast, posterior ventral temporal cortex exhibited a rightward bias for objects as well as a leftward bias for words. Naming tasks produced left-lateralised activation in vATL while activity for recognition was equal in left and right vATLs. These findings are incompatible with proposals that left and right ATLs are strongly modular in function, since these predict rightward as well as leftward biases. Instead, they support an alternative model in which (a) left and right ATL together form a bilateral, integrated system for the representation of concepts and (b) within this system, graded hemispheric specialisation emerges as a consequence of differential connectivity with other neural systems. On this view, greater left vATL activation for written word processing develops as a consequence of the inputs this region receives from left-lateralised visual word processing system in posterior temporal cortex. Greater left vATL activation during naming tasks is most likely due to connectivity with left-lateralised speech output systems in prefrontal and motor cortices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Hoffman
- Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology (CCACE), Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, UK; Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit (NARU), Division of Neuroscience & Experimental Psychology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, UK.
| | - Matthew A Lambon Ralph
- Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit (NARU), Division of Neuroscience & Experimental Psychology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, UK
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17
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Sanches C, Routier A, Colliot O, Teichmann M. The structure of the mental lexicon: What primary progressive aphasias reveal. Neuropsychologia 2018; 109:107-115. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.12.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2017] [Revised: 10/11/2017] [Accepted: 12/09/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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18
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Reilly M, Desai RH. Effects of semantic neighborhood density in abstract and concrete words. Cognition 2017; 169:46-53. [PMID: 28818790 PMCID: PMC5612894 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2016] [Revised: 08/03/2017] [Accepted: 08/08/2017] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Concrete and abstract words are thought to differ along several psycholinguistic variables, such as frequency and emotional content. Here, we consider another variable, semantic neighborhood density, which has received much less attention, likely because semantic neighborhoods of abstract words are difficult to measure. Using a corpus-based method that creates representations of words that emphasize featural information, the current investigation explores the relationship between neighborhood density and concreteness in a large set of English nouns. Two important observations emerge. First, semantic neighborhood density is higher for concrete than for abstract words, even when other variables are accounted for, especially for smaller neighborhood sizes. Second, the effects of semantic neighborhood density on behavior are different for concrete and abstract words. Lexical decision reaction times are fastest for words with sparse neighborhoods; however, this effect is stronger for concrete words than for abstract words. These results suggest that semantic neighborhood density plays a role in the cognitive and psycholinguistic differences between concrete and abstract words, and should be taken into account in studies involving lexical semantics. Furthermore, the pattern of results with the current feature-based neighborhood measure is very different from that with associatively defined neighborhoods, suggesting that these two methods should be treated as separate measures rather than two interchangeable measures of semantic neighborhoods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan Reilly
- University of South Carolina, 220 Discovery I, 915 Greene St., Columbia, SC 29208, United States
| | - Rutvik H Desai
- University of South Carolina, 220 Discovery I, 915 Greene St., Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
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19
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Tree JJ, Playfoot D. Declining object recognition performance in semantic dementia: A case for stored visual object representations. Cogn Neuropsychol 2017; 32:412-26. [PMID: 27355607 DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2016.1164679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The role of the semantic system in recognizing objects is a matter of debate. Connectionist theories argue that it is impossible for a participant to determine that an object is familiar to them without recourse to a semantic hub; localist theories state that accessing a stored representation of the visual features of the object is sufficient for recognition. We examine this issue through the longitudinal study of two cases of semantic dementia, a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a progressive degradation of the semantic system. The cases in this paper do not conform to the "common" pattern of object recognition performance in semantic dementia described by Rogers, T. T., Lambon Ralph, M. A., Hodges, J. R., & Patterson, K. (2004). Natural selection: The impact of semantic impairment on lexical and object decision. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 21, 331-352., and show no systematic relationship between severity of semantic impairment and success in object decision. We argue that these data are inconsistent with the connectionist position but can be easily reconciled with localist theories that propose stored structural descriptions of objects outside of the semantic system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy J Tree
- a Department of Psychology , Swansea University , Swansea , UK
| | - David Playfoot
- b Department of Psychology, Sociology and Politics , Sheffield Hallam University , Sheffield , UK
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20
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St-Hilaire A, Blackburn MC, Wilson MA, Laforce R, Hudon C, Macoir J. Object decision test (BORB): normative data for the adult Quebec population and performance in Alzheimer’s disease and the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia. AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2017; 25:427-442. [DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2017.1319901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Alexandre St-Hilaire
- École de psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
- Centre de recherche de l’Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Marie-Claude Blackburn
- École de psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
- Centre de recherche de l’Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Maximiliano A. Wilson
- Centre de recherche de l’Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, Québec, QC, Canada
- Département de réadaptation, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Robert Laforce
- Clinique Interdisciplinaire de Mémoire (CIME), CHU de Québec, Québec, QC, Canada
- Département des Sciences Neurologiques, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Carol Hudon
- École de psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
- Centre de recherche de l’Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Joël Macoir
- Centre de recherche de l’Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, Québec, QC, Canada
- Département de réadaptation, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
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21
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Boukadi M, Potvin K, Macoir J, Jr Laforce R, Poulin S, Brambati SM, Wilson MA. Lexical decision with pseudohomophones and reading in the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia: A double dissociation. Neuropsychologia 2016; 86:45-56. [PMID: 27091585 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.04.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2015] [Revised: 04/13/2016] [Accepted: 04/15/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The co-occurrence of semantic impairment and surface dyslexia in the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia (svPPA) has often been taken as supporting evidence for the central role of semantics in visual word processing. According to connectionist models, semantic access is needed to accurately read irregular words. They also postulate that reliance on semantics is necessary to perform the lexical decision task under certain circumstances (for example, when the stimulus list comprises pseudohomophones). In the present study, we report two svPPA cases: M.F. who presented with surface dyslexia but performed accurately on the lexical decision task with pseudohomophones, and R.L. who showed no surface dyslexia but performed below the normal range on the lexical decision task with pseudohomophones. This double dissociation between reading and lexical decision with pseudohomophones is in line with the dual-route cascaded (DRC) model of reading. According to this model, impairments in visual word processing in svPPA are not necessarily associated with the semantic deficits characterizing this disease. Our findings also call into question the central role given to semantics in visual word processing within the connectionist account.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariem Boukadi
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec (CRIUSMQ), Québec, Canada.
| | - Karel Potvin
- Département de réadaptation, Faculté de médecine, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
| | - Joël Macoir
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec (CRIUSMQ), Québec, Canada; Département de réadaptation, Faculté de médecine, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
| | - Robert Jr Laforce
- Clinique interdisciplinaire de mémoire (CIME), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) de Québec, Québec, Canada; Département des Sciences Neurologiques, Faculté de médecine, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
| | - Stéphane Poulin
- Clinique interdisciplinaire de mémoire (CIME), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) de Québec, Québec, Canada
| | - Simona M Brambati
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM), Montréal, Canada
| | - Maximiliano A Wilson
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec (CRIUSMQ), Québec, Canada; Département de réadaptation, Faculté de médecine, Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
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22
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Auclair-Ouellet N, Fossard M, Houde M, Laforce R, Macoir J. Production of morphologically derived words in the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia: preserved decomposition and composition but impaired validation. Neurocase 2016; 22:170-8. [PMID: 26304677 DOI: 10.1080/13554794.2015.1081391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Although there is growing interest in inflectional morphology in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA), derivational morphology has rarely been studied in this population. This study reports the performance of N.G., a 72-year-old-woman with svPPA in a verb production task designed to entail morphological processing (composition, decomposition) and self-appraisal of her productions. N.G. demonstrated an over-reliance on morphological processing and failures in her appraisal of root/affix combinations that resulted in the production of morphological paraphasias and neologisms. Her performance in lexical decision of verbs and pseudo-verbs points to the involvement of semantic impairment in these difficulties.
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Affiliation(s)
- N Auclair-Ouellet
- a Faculté de médecine , Université Laval , Québec , Canada.,b Axe des Neurosciences cliniques et cognitives , Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec , Québec , Canada.,c Institut des sciences du langage et de la communication, Faculté des Lettres et Sciences humaines , Université de Neuchâtel , Neuchâtel , Switzerland
| | - M Fossard
- c Institut des sciences du langage et de la communication, Faculté des Lettres et Sciences humaines , Université de Neuchâtel , Neuchâtel , Switzerland
| | - M Houde
- d Clinique interdisciplinaire de mémoire , Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec , Québec , Canada
| | - R Laforce
- d Clinique interdisciplinaire de mémoire , Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec , Québec , Canada
| | - J Macoir
- a Faculté de médecine , Université Laval , Québec , Canada.,b Axe des Neurosciences cliniques et cognitives , Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec , Québec , Canada
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23
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Abstract
The present research investigates semantic priming with an adapted version of the word fragment completion task. In this task, which we refer to as the speeded word fragment completion task, participants need to complete words such as lett_ce (lettuce), from which one letter was omitted, as quickly as possible. This paradigm has some interesting qualities in comparison with the traditionally used lexical decision task. That is, it requires no pseudowords, it is more engaging for participants, and most importantly, it allows for a more fine-grained investigation of semantic activation. In two studies, we found that words were completed faster when the preceding trial comprised a semantically related fragment such as tom_to (tomato) than when it comprised an unrelated fragment such as guit_r (guitar). A third experiment involved a lexical decision task, to compare both paradigms. The results showed that the magnitude of the priming effect was similar, but item-level priming effects were inconsistent over tasks. Crucially, the speeded word fragment completion task obtained strong priming effects for highly frequent, central words, such as work, money, and warm, whereas the lexical decision task did not. In a final experiment featuring only short, highly frequent words, the lexical decision task failed to find a priming effect, whereas the fragment completion task did obtain a robust effect. Taken together, these results suggest that the speeded word fragment completion task may prove a viable alternative for examining semantic priming.
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24
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Rogers TT, Patterson K, Jefferies E, Ralph MAL. Disorders of representation and control in semantic cognition: Effects of familiarity, typicality, and specificity. Neuropsychologia 2015; 76:220-39. [PMID: 25934635 PMCID: PMC4582808 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.04.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 90] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2014] [Revised: 04/14/2015] [Accepted: 04/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
We present a case-series comparison of patients with cross-modal semantic impairments consequent on either (a) bilateral anterior temporal lobe atrophy in semantic dementia (SD) or (b) left-hemisphere fronto-parietal and/or posterior temporal stroke in semantic aphasia (SA). Both groups were assessed on a new test battery designed to measure how performance is influenced by concept familiarity, typicality and specificity. In line with previous findings, performance in SD was strongly modulated by all of these factors, with better performance for more familiar items (regardless of typicality), for more typical items (regardless of familiarity) and for tasks that did not require very specific classification, consistent with the gradual degradation of conceptual knowledge in SD. The SA group showed significant impairments on all tasks but their sensitivity to familiarity, typicality and specificity was more variable and governed by task-specific effects of these factors on controlled semantic processing. The results are discussed with reference to theories about the complementary roles of representation and manipulation of semantic knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy T Rogers
- MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK; Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
| | - Karalyn Patterson
- MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK; Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, UK
| | | | - Matthew A Lambon Ralph
- Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, UK
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25
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Patterson K, Kopelman MD, Woollams AM, Brownsett SL, Geranmayeh F, Wise RJ. Semantic memory: Which side are you on? Neuropsychologia 2015; 76:182-91. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.11.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2014] [Revised: 11/10/2014] [Accepted: 11/20/2014] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
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26
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Taylor JSH, Duff FJ, Woollams AM, Monaghan P, Ricketts J. How Word Meaning Influences Word Reading. CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2015. [DOI: 10.1177/0963721415574980] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Understanding how we read is a fundamental question for psychology, with critical implications for education. Studies of word reading tend to focus on the mappings between the written and spoken forms of words. In this article, we review evidence from developmental, neuroimaging, neuropsychological, and computational studies that show that knowledge of word meanings is inextricably involved in word reading. Consequently, models of reading must better specify the role of meaning in skilled reading and its acquisition. Further, our review paves the way for educationally realistic research to confirm whether explicit teaching of oral vocabulary improves word reading.
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Affiliation(s)
- J. S. H. Taylor
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London
| | - Fiona J. Duff
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford
| | | | | | - Jessie Ricketts
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London
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27
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De Marco D, De Stefani E, Gentilucci M. Gesture and word analysis: the same or different processes? Neuroimage 2015; 117:375-85. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.05.080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2014] [Revised: 04/22/2015] [Accepted: 05/27/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
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28
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Rogers TT, Graham KS, Patterson K. Reprint of: Semantic impairment disrupts perception, memory, and naming of secondary but not primary colours. Neuropsychologia 2015; 76:276-88. [PMID: 26051501 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.05.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2014] [Revised: 12/24/2014] [Accepted: 01/07/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
To investigate how basic aspects of perception are shaped by acquired knowledge about the world, we assessed colour perception and cognition in patients with semantic dementia (SD), a disorder that progressively erodes conceptual knowledge. We observed a previously undocumented pattern of impairment to colour perception and cognition characterized by: (i) a normal ability to discriminate between only subtly different colours but an impaired ability to group different colours into categories, (ii) normal perception and memory for the colours red, green, and blue but impaired perception and memory for colours lying between these regions of a fully-saturated and luminant spectrum, and (iii) normal naming of polar colours in the opponent-process colour system (red, green, blue, yellow, white, and black) but impaired naming of other basic colours (brown, gray, pink, and orange). The results suggest that fundamental aspects of perception can be shaped by acquired knowledge about the world, but only within limits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy T Rogers
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 524 WJ Brogden Hall, 1202W Johnson Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
| | - Kim S Graham
- Wales Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, 70 Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK
| | - Karalyn Patterson
- University of Cambridge, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Neurology Unit, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge CB2 0SZ, UK; MRC Cognition and Brain Science Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK
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Woollams AM. Lexical is as lexical does: computational approaches to lexical representation. LANGUAGE, COGNITION AND NEUROSCIENCE 2015; 30:395-408. [PMID: 25893204 PMCID: PMC4396497 DOI: 10.1080/23273798.2015.1005637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
In much of neuroimaging and neuropsychology, regions of the brain have been associated with 'lexical representation', with little consideration as to what this cognitive construct actually denotes. Within current computational models of word recognition, there are a number of different approaches to the representation of lexical knowledge. Structural lexical representations, found in original theories of word recognition, have been instantiated in modern localist models. However, such a representational scheme lacks neural plausibility in terms of economy and flexibility. Connectionist models have therefore adopted distributed representations of form and meaning. Semantic representations in connectionist models necessarily encode lexical knowledge. Yet when equipped with recurrent connections, connectionist models can also develop attractors for familiar forms that function as lexical representations. Current behavioural, neuropsychological and neuroimaging evidence shows a clear role for semantic information, but also suggests some modality- and task-specific lexical representations. A variety of connectionist architectures could implement these distributed functional representations, and further experimental and simulation work is required to discriminate between these alternatives. Future conceptualisations of lexical representations will therefore emerge from a synergy between modelling and neuroscience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna M. Woollams
- Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Zochonis Building, Brunswick Street, ManchesterM13 9PL, UK
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30
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For richer or poorer? Imageability effects in semantic dementia patients' reading aloud. Neuropsychologia 2015; 76:254-63. [PMID: 25804665 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.03.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2014] [Revised: 03/17/2015] [Accepted: 03/20/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The degree to which a word's meaning evokes a mental image exerts an influence on performance across a variety of conceptual and linguistic tasks. In normal healthy participants, this effect takes the form of an advantage for high over low imageability words. Consideration of the influence of imageability on performance of patients with semantic dementia can provide information concerning its cognitive and neural bases. Semantic dementia patients show deficits in conceptual processing tasks, and an associated enhancement of the advantage for high over low imageability words. Semantic dementia patients also show deficits in linguistic processing tasks, including reading aloud words with inconsistent spelling-sound correspondences. This study provides the first systematic exploration of the influence of imageability on semantic dementia patients' reading aloud performance. Over 10 cases, the imageability effect seen for inconsistent words was actually reversed in reaction times, with faster performance for low than high imageability items. The same reversal was observed for inconsistent words when the frequency of legitimate alternative reading of components errors was considered, and this reversed effect grew larger with increasing semantic impairment. This result is interpreted in terms of the development of stronger connections along the direct pathway between spelling and sound for low than high imageability items that are then revealed under diminished semantic activation. This interpretation emphasises the interaction between form and meaning that occurs throughout learning in connectionist models.
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31
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Zhang L, Pylkkänen L. The interplay of composition and concept specificity in the left anterior temporal lobe: an MEG study. Neuroimage 2015; 111:228-40. [PMID: 25703829 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.02.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2014] [Revised: 12/15/2014] [Accepted: 02/11/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
A fundamental function of natural language is to focus the interlocutor's attention to specific entities and circumstances from the vast set of possibilities in the environment. In other words, as an utterance progresses, the narrower its reference typically becomes. Intriguingly, there is substantial convergence in the neural localization of conceptual specificity effects at the single word level and combinatory effects at the phrasal level, both systematically affecting the left anterior temporal lobe (LATL). However, the relationship between these two types of effects is not well understood. The current study used MEG to characterize the temporal progression of both types of effects in minimal two-word phrases (e.g., tomato soup), where single word specificity was varied in both first and second position (e.g., tomato vs. vegetable; soup vs. dish). These combinatory phrases were further compared to non-combinatory single nouns of high and low specificity. Our most robust result was an effect of the specificity of the first word while processing the second word: responses to the second word were the largest when it was being composed with a more specific as opposed to a more general modifier. In the modifier position, specificity had no reliable effects, while non-combinatory single nouns did show a subtle LATL increase when specific. In all, our findings show that when non-semantic factors such as frequency are controlled for, conceptual specificity weakly modulates LATL activity in non-combinatory situations (i.e., at a single noun), but robustly affects the size of the LATL composition effect. Thus LATL activity appears to be most strongly driven by the composition of concepts as opposed to access to single concepts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linmin Zhang
- Department of Linguistics, New York University, 10 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003, USA.
| | - Liina Pylkkänen
- Department of Linguistics, New York University, 10 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003, USA; Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003, USA; NYUAD Institute, New York University Abu Dhabi, PO Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, UAE
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32
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Semantic impairment disrupts perception, memory, and naming of secondary but not primary colours. Neuropsychologia 2015; 70:296-308. [PMID: 25637227 PMCID: PMC4415904 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.01.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2014] [Revised: 12/24/2014] [Accepted: 01/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
To investigate how basic aspects of perception are shaped by acquired knowledge about the world, we assessed colour perception and cognition in patients with semantic dementia (SD), a disorder that progressively erodes conceptual knowledge. We observed a previously undocumented pattern of impairment to colour perception and cognition characterized by: (i) a normal ability to discriminate between only subtly different colours but an impaired ability to group different colours into categories, (ii) normal perception and memory for the colours red, green, and blue but impaired perception and memory for colours lying between these regions of a fully-saturated and luminant spectrum, and (iii) normal naming of polar colours in the opponent-process colour system (red, green, blue, yellow, white, and black) but impaired naming of other basic colours (brown, gray, pink, and orange). The results suggest that fundamental aspects of perception can be shaped by acquired knowledge about the world, but only within limits. Study of colour perception and cognition in patients with semantic dementia. Colour discrimination is normal but categorization is impaired. Patients and controls show opposing accuracy patterns in memory and perception. Naming is more impaired for secondary than primary colours.
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33
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Sanjuán A, Hope TMH, Jones 'ŌP, Prejawa S, Oberhuber M, Guerin J, Seghier ML, Green DW, Price CJ. Dissociating the semantic function of two neighbouring subregions in the left lateral anterior temporal lobe. Neuropsychologia 2014; 76:153-62. [PMID: 25496810 PMCID: PMC4582806 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2014] [Revised: 11/14/2014] [Accepted: 12/04/2014] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
We used fMRI in 35 healthy participants to investigate how two neighbouring subregions in the lateral anterior temporal lobe (LATL) contribute to semantic matching and object naming. Four different levels of processing were considered: (A) recognition of the object concepts; (B) search for semantic associations related to object stimuli; (C) retrieval of semantic concepts of interest; and (D) retrieval of stimulus specific concepts as required for naming. During semantic association matching on picture stimuli or heard object names, we found that activation in both subregions was higher when the objects were semantically related (mug-kettle) than unrelated (car-teapot). This is consistent with both LATL subregions playing a role in (C), the successful retrieval of amodal semantic concepts. In addition, one subregion was more activated for object naming than matching semantically related objects, consistent with (D), the retrieval of a specific concept for naming. We discuss the implications of these novel findings for cognitive models of semantic processing and left anterior temporal lobe function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Sanjuán
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom; Neuropsychology and Functional Imaging Group, Departamento de Psicología Básica, Clínica y Psicobiología, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain.
| | - Thomas M H Hope
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom
| | - 'Ōiwi Parker Jones
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom; Wolfson College, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6UD, United Kingdom
| | - Susan Prejawa
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom
| | - Marion Oberhuber
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom
| | - Julie Guerin
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom
| | - Mohamed L Seghier
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom
| | - David W Green
- Experimental Psychology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Cathy J Price
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom
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34
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Playfoot D, Izura C. Spelling-to-sound correspondences affect acronym recognition processes. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2014; 68:1026-39. [PMID: 25337636 DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2014.977304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
A large body of research has examined the factors that affect the speed with which words are recognized in lexical decision tasks. Nothing has yet been reported concerning the important factors in differentiating acronyms (e.g., BBC, HIV, NASA) from nonwords. It appears that this task poses little problem for skilled readers, in spite of the fact that acronyms have uncommon, even illegal, spellings in English. We used regression techniques to examine the role of a number of lexical and nonlexical variables known to be important in word processing in relation to lexical decision for acronym targets. Findings indicated that acronym recognition is affected by age of acquisition and imageability. In a departure from findings in word recognition, acronym recognition was not affected by frequency. Lexical decision responses for acronyms were also affected by the relationship between spelling and sound-a pattern not usually observed in word recognition. We argue that the complexity of acronym recognition means that the process draws phonological information in addition to semantics.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Playfoot
- a Department of Psychology, Sociology and Politics , Sheffield Hallam University , Sheffield , UK
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35
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Abstract
In this review, we synthesize the existing literature demonstrating the dynamic interplay between conceptual knowledge and visual perceptual processing. We consider two theoretical frameworks that demonstrate interactions between processes and brain areas traditionally considered perceptual or conceptual. Specifically, we discuss categorical perception, in which visual objects are represented according to category membership, and highlight studies showing that category knowledge can penetrate early stages of visual analysis. We next discuss the embodied account of conceptual knowledge, which holds that concepts are instantiated in the same neural regions required for specific types of perception and action, and discuss the limitations of this framework. We additionally consider studies showing that gaining abstract semantic knowledge about objects and faces leads to behavioral and electrophysiological changes that are indicative of more efficient stimulus processing. Finally, we consider the role that perceiver goals and motivation may play in shaping the interaction between conceptual and perceptual processing. We hope to demonstrate how pervasive such interactions between motivation, conceptual knowledge, and perceptual processing are in our understanding of the visual environment, and to demonstrate the need for future research aimed at understanding how such interactions arise in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica A Collins
- Department of Psychology, Temple University, Weiss Hall, 1701 North 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA,
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36
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Broadly speaking: Vocabulary in semantic dementia shifts towards general, semantically diverse words. Cortex 2014; 55:30-42. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2012.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2012] [Revised: 08/17/2012] [Accepted: 11/07/2012] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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37
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Chen L, Rogers TT. Revisiting domain-general accounts of category specificity in mind and brain. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2014; 5:327-44. [PMID: 26308567 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2013] [Revised: 11/14/2013] [Accepted: 01/15/2014] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
UNLABELLED Theories about the neural basis of semantic knowledge have been strongly influenced by reports that particular semantic categories can be differentially impaired by neuropathology and can differentially activate particular regions of cortex in brain imaging studies. One well-known interpretation of these data is that the brain has evolved distinct functional and anatomical modules for storing and retrieving knowledge about different kinds of things. We review the evidence supporting an alternative view: that category specificity arises from many heterogeneous factors and so tells us little directly about the cognitive and neural architecture of semantic memory. We consider four general hypotheses about domain-general causes of category-specific patterns, their roots in early work, and their reemergence in contemporary research. We argue that there is compelling evidence supporting each hypothesis, and that the different hypotheses together can explain most of the interesting data. We further suggest that such a multifactor domain-general approach to category specificity is appealing partly because it explains the important findings with reference to theoretical claims that are already widely accepted, and partly because it resolves several puzzles that arise under the alternative view. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. CONFLICT OF INTEREST The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lang Chen
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Timothy T Rogers
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
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38
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Ueno T, Saito S, Saito A, Tanida Y, Patterson K, Lambon Ralph MA. Not lost in translation: generalization of the primary systems hypothesis to Japanese-specific language processes. J Cogn Neurosci 2014; 26:433-46. [PMID: 24047379 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00467] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
The emergentist-connectionist approach assumes that language processing reflects interaction between primary neural systems (Primary Systems Hypothesis). This idea offers an overarching framework that generalizes to various kinds of (English) language and nonverbal cognitive activities. The current study advances this approach with respect to language in two new and important ways. The first is the provision of a neuroanatomically constrained implementation of the theory. The second is a test of its ability to generalize to a language other than English (in this case Japanese) and, in particular, to a feature of that language (pitch accent) for which there is no English equivalent. A corpus analysis revealed the presence and distribution of typical and atypical accent forms in Japanese vocabulary, forming a quasiregular domain. Consequently, according to the Primary Systems Hypothesis, there should be a greater semantic impact on the processing of words with an atypical pitch accent. In turn, when word meaning is intrinsically less rich (e.g., abstract words), speakers should be prone to regularization errors of pitch accent. We explored these semantic-phonological interactions, first, in a neuroanatomically constrained, parallel-distributed processing model of spoken language processing. This model captured the accent typicality effect observed in nonword repetition in Japanese adults and children and exhibited the predicted semantic impact on repetition of words with atypical accent patterns. Second, also as predicted, in word repetition and immediate serial recall of spoken words, human participants exhibited reduced pitch-accent accuracy and/or slower RT for low imageability words with atypical accent patterns, and they generated accent errors reflecting the more typical accent patterns found in Japanese.
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39
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Zannino GD, Perri R, Monaco M, Caltagirone C, Luzzi S, Carlesimo GA. The special status of verbal knowledge in semantic memory: evidence from performance of semantically impaired subjects on verbalizable and non-verbalizable versions of the object decision task. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2014; 128:9-17. [PMID: 24300660 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2013.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2013] [Revised: 10/07/2013] [Accepted: 11/01/2013] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
According to the semantic hub hypothesis, a supramodal semantic hub is equally needed to deal with verbal and extraverbal "surface" representations. Damage to the supramodal hub is thought to underlie the crossmodal impairment observed in selective semantic deficits. In the present paper, we provide evidence supporting an alternative view: we hold that semantic impairment is not equal across domains but affects verbal behavior disproportionately. We investigated our hypothesis by manipulating the verbal load in an object decision task. Two pathological groups showing different levels of semantic impairment were enrolled together with their normal controls. The severe group included 10 subjects with semantic dementia and the mild group 10 subjects with Alzheimer's disease. In keeping with our hypothesis, when shifting from the low verbal load to the high verbal load condition, brain-damaged individuals, as compared to controls, showed a disproportionate impairment as a function of the severity of their semantic deficit.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Carlo Caltagirone
- I.R.C.C.S. Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy; Clinica Neurologica, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Italy.
| | - Simona Luzzi
- Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Clinica-Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy.
| | - Giovanni A Carlesimo
- I.R.C.C.S. Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy; Clinica Neurologica, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Italy.
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40
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Are acronyms really irregular? Preserved acronym reading in a case of semantic dementia. Neuropsychologia 2013; 51:1673-83. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.05.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2012] [Revised: 05/20/2013] [Accepted: 05/22/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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41
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Jefferies E. The neural basis of semantic cognition: Converging evidence from neuropsychology, neuroimaging and TMS. Cortex 2013; 49:611-25. [PMID: 23260615 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2012.10.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 310] [Impact Index Per Article: 28.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2011] [Revised: 10/24/2011] [Accepted: 01/09/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Hoffman P, Jones RW, Ralph MAL. The degraded concept representation system in semantic dementia: damage to pan-modal hub, then visual spoke. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2013; 135:3770-80. [PMID: 23250888 DOI: 10.1093/brain/aws282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
The core clinical feature of semantic dementia is a progressive yet selective degradation of conceptual knowledge. Understanding the cognitive and neuroanatomical basis for this deficit is a key challenge for both clinical and basic science. Some researchers attribute the deficit to damage to pan-modal conceptual representations that are independent of any particular sensory-motor modality and are represented in the ventrolateral anterior temporal lobes. Others claim that damage to modality-specific visual feature representations in the occipitotemporal 'ventral stream' is responsible. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that concept degradation in semantic dementia involves a combination of these pan-modal and modality-specific elements. We investigated factors influencing knowledge of object concepts by analysing 43 sets of picture-naming data from patients with semantic dementia. We found a strong influence of two pan-modal factors: highly familiar and typical items were named more accurately than less familiar/atypical items at all stages of the disorder. Items associated with rich sensory-motor information were also named more successfully at all stages, and this effect was present for sound/motion knowledge and tactile/action knowledge when these modalities were studied separately. However, there was no advantage for items rich in visual colour/form characteristics; instead, this factor had an increasingly negative impact in the later stages of the disorder. We propose that these results are best explained by a combination of (i) degradation of modality-independent conceptual representations, which is present throughout the disorder and is a consequence of atrophy focused on the ventrolateral anterior temporal lobes; and (ii) a later additional deficit for concepts that depend heavily on visual colour/form information, caused by the spreading of atrophy to posterior ventral temporal regions specialized for representing this information. This explanation is consistent with a graded hub-and-spoke model of conceptual knowledge, in which there is a gradual convergence of information along the temporal lobes, with visual attributes represented in the posterior cortex giving way to pan-modal representations in the anterior areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Hoffman
- Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit (NARU), Zochonis Building, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK.
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43
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Jefferies E, Jones RW, Bateman D, Ralph MAL. A semantic contribution to nonword recall? Evidence for intact phonological processes in semantic dementia. Cogn Neuropsychol 2012; 22:183-212. [PMID: 21038246 DOI: 10.1080/02643290442000068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Patients with semantic dementia make numerous phonological errors in their immediate serial recall of words that they understand poorly. Previous studies have argued that these errors result from a reduction in the normal contribution made by semantics to the coherence of items in the phonological system. It is possible, however, that the errors might reflect additional subtle phonological deficits. Six patients with semantic dementia were tested on a variety of phonological processing and short-term memory tasks, in order to explore these possibilities. For the most part, the patients showed normal performance in phonological awareness and discrimination tasks and normal effects of phonological similarity and word length in immediate serial recall. The more severely impaired patients, however, showed some weakness on tests of nonword repetition and recall. Every patient showed better recall of words that were still relatively well understood, compared with words that were more semantically degraded. This difference extended to nonwords that were phonologically similar to the known and degraded words, suggesting that the patients' semantic deficits could account for their impairments in nonword recall. The recall advantage for semantically known over degraded items also extended to a nonverbal delayed picture copying task, suggesting that the patients' immediate serial recall impairments were underpinned by a central semantic deficit, and not by a separable lexical deficit.
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44
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Passafiume D, De Federicis LS, Carbone G, Giacomo DD. Loss of Semantic Associative Categories in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease. APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY-ADULT 2012; 19:305-11. [DOI: 10.1080/09084282.2012.670160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Domenico Passafiume
- a Department of Internal Medicine and Public Health , University of L'Aquila , L'Aquila , Italy
- b Father A. Mileno Foundation , Vasto , Italy
| | | | - Gabriele Carbone
- c Alzheimer Center , Italian Hospital Group , Guidonia (Roma) , Italy
| | - Dina Di Giacomo
- a Department of Internal Medicine and Public Health , University of L'Aquila , L'Aquila , Italy
- b Father A. Mileno Foundation , Vasto , Italy
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45
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Binney RJ, Parker GJM, Lambon Ralph MA. Convergent connectivity and graded specialization in the rostral human temporal lobe as revealed by diffusion-weighted imaging probabilistic tractography. J Cogn Neurosci 2012; 24:1998-2014. [PMID: 22721379 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 150] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
In recent years, multiple independent neuroscience investigations have implicated critical roles for the rostral temporal lobe in auditory and visual perception, language, and semantic memory. Although arising in the context of different cognitive functions, most of these suggest that there is a gradual convergence of sensory information in the temporal lobe that culminates in modality- and perceptually invariant representations at the most rostral aspect. Currently, however, too little is known regarding connectivity within the human temporal lobe to be sure of exactly how and where convergence occurs; existing hypotheses are primarily derived on the basis of cross-species generalizations from invasive nonhuman primate studies, the validity of which is unclear, especially where language function is concerned. In this study, we map the connectivity of the human rostral temporal lobe in vivo for the first time using diffusion-weighted imaging probabilistic tractography. The results indicate that convergence of sensory information in the temporal lobe is in fact a graded process that occurs along both its longitudinal and lateral axes and culminates in the most rostral limits. We highlight the consistency of our results with those of prior functional neuroimaging, computational modeling, and patient studies. By going beyond simple fasciculus reconstruction, we systematically explored the connectivity of specific temporal lobe areas to frontal and parietal language regions. In contrast to the graded within-temporal lobe connectivity, this intertemporal connectivity was found to dissociate across caudal, mid, and rostral subregions. Furthermore, we identified a basal rostral temporal region with very limited connectivity to areas outside the temporal lobe, which aligns with recent evidence that this subregion underpins the extraction of modality- and context-invariant semantic representations.
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Close J, Pothos EM. “Object Categorization: Reversals and Explanations of the Basic-Level Advantage” (Rogers & Patterson, 2007): A simplicity account. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2012; 65:1615-32. [DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2012.660963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
T. T. Rogers and K. Patterson (2007), in their article “Object Categorization: Reversals and Explanations of the Basic-Level Advantage” ( Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136, 451–469), reported an impressive set of results demonstrating a reversal of the highly robust basic-level advantage both in patients with semantic dementia and in healthy individuals engaged in a speeded categorization task. To explain their results, as well as the usual basic-level advantage seen in healthy individuals, the authors employed a parallel distributed processing theory of conceptual knowledge. In this paper, we introduce an alternative way of explaining the results of Rogers and Patterson, which is premised on a more restricted set of assumptions born from standard categorization theory. Specifically, we provide evidence that their results can be accounted for based on the predictions of the simplicity model of unsupervised categorization.
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Affiliation(s)
- James Close
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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What's in a word? A parametric study of semantic influences on visual word recognition. Psychon Bull Rev 2012; 19:325-31. [PMID: 22258820 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-011-0213-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
To what extent does semantic information play a functional role in visual word recognition? Theories of word recognition vary in the importance assigned to semantic information in visual lexical decision, with past research suggesting that the nature of the foils is a crucial determinant of semantic reliance. Here, we explored the conditions under which semantic variables influence lexical decision. Normal readers performed visual lexical decision tasks in which imageability and semantic priming were manipulated, with nonword foils varying systematically in their orthographic and phonological similarity to the real words. The effects of imageability and semantic priming increased in magnitude as nonword foils became progressively more wordlike. These findings provide a clear illustration of the flexible use of semantic information to support normal visual word recognition.
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Paced reading in semantic dementia: Word knowledge contributes to phoneme binding in rapid speech production. Neuropsychologia 2012; 50:723-32. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2011] [Revised: 12/08/2011] [Accepted: 01/03/2012] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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Di Pietro M, Ptak R, Schnider A. Preserved visual language identification despite severe alexia. Neuropsychologia 2012; 50:1327-34. [PMID: 22401988 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.02.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2011] [Revised: 01/26/2012] [Accepted: 02/22/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Patients with letter-by-letter alexia may have residual access to lexical or semantic representations of words despite severely impaired overt word recognition (reading). Here, we report a multilingual patient with severe letter-by-letter alexia who rapidly identified the language of written words and sentences in French and English while he had great difficulty in reading them, judging their lexical status or extracting semantic information. Lexical decision was strongly influenced by the orthographic structure of stimuli: whereas he easily determined the lexical status of illegal nonwords (e.g., 'rsdo'), he had random performance with legal pseudowords (e.g., 'binus'). When asked to determine the language of meaningless letter trigrams with high frequency in the English or French orthography (e.g., 'oth' or 'iqu') his performance was significantly above chance. In contrast, similarly to healthy participants his language decision was at chance with low-frequency trigrams. These findings suggest that written language identification relies on sublexical processing of orthographic rules specific to each language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie Di Pietro
- Division of Neurorehabilitation, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
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Loiselle M, Rouleau I, Nguyen DK, Dubeau F, Macoir J, Whatmough C, Lepore F, Joubert S. Comprehension of concrete and abstract words in patients with selective anterior temporal lobe resection and in patients with selective amygdalo-hippocampectomy. Neuropsychologia 2012; 50:630-9. [PMID: 22245005 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.12.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2011] [Revised: 12/28/2011] [Accepted: 12/31/2011] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
The role of the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) in semantic memory is now firmly established. There is still controversy, however, regarding the specific role of this region in processing various types of concepts. There have been reports of patients suffering from semantic dementia (SD), a neurodegenerative condition in which the ATL is damaged bilaterally, who present with greater semantic impairment for concrete concepts than for abstract concepts, an effect known as reversal of the concreteness effect. This effect has previously been interpreted as reflecting degraded visual-perceptual features of objects due to damage to the inferior temporal lobes such as is observed in SD. Temporal lobe atrophy in SD, however, is bilateral even if it usually predominates to the left ATL, and it has been found to extend beyond the ATL, throughout the temporal lobes including medial and posterior temporal lobe regions. The question therefore remains whether greater impairment for concrete concepts results from damage to the ATL or from damage to the visual association cortex, and if unilateral damage can produce such a deficit. The aim of the present study was to investigate the processing of concrete and abstract words in rare patients who underwent a selective ATL surgical resection, and to compare their performance with that of patients with selective medial temporal lobe damage sparing the ATL region. Seven patients with a selective unilateral anterior temporal resection (ATL), 15 patients with a selective unilateral amygdalo-hippocampectomy (SeAH), and 15 healthy age- and education-matched controls underwent detailed neuropsychological assessment and carried out a semantic similarity judgment task evaluating their comprehension of concrete and abstract words. Results showed that both ATL and SeAH groups were significantly impaired on the semantic task relative to the control group. Within the patient groups, however, comprehension of concrete words was significantly more impaired than that of abstract words in the ATL group, while comprehension of abstract and concrete words was equally affected in the SeAH group. Results of this study suggest that the ATL region may play a critical role in processing concrete concepts, and that the reversal of the concreteness effect observed in ATL patients may result from damage to a categorical organization underlying the representation of concrete concepts.
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