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Cao L, Han K, Lin L, Hing J, Ooi V, Huang N, Yu J, Ng TKS, Feng L, Mahendran R, Kua EH, Bao Z. Reversal of the concreteness effect can be detected in the natural speech of older adults with amnestic, but not non-amnestic, mild cognitive impairment. ALZHEIMER'S & DEMENTIA (AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS) 2024; 16:e12588. [PMID: 38638800 PMCID: PMC11024957 DOI: 10.1002/dad2.12588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2023] [Revised: 03/12/2024] [Accepted: 03/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Patients with Alzheimer's disease present with difficulty in lexical retrieval and reversal of the concreteness effect in nouns. Little is known about the phenomena before the onset of symptoms. We anticipate early linguistic signs in the speech of people who suffer from amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Here, we report the results of a corpus-linguistic approach to the early detection of cognitive impairment. METHODS One hundred forty-eight English-speaking Singaporeans provided natural speech data, on topics of their choice; 74 were diagnosed with single-domain MCI (38 amnestic, 36 non-amnestic), 74 cognitively healthy. The recordings yield 267,310 words, which are tagged for parts of speech. We calculate the per-minute word counts and concreteness scores of all tagged words, nouns, and verbs in the dataset. RESULTS Compared to controls, subjects with amnestic MCI produce fewer but more abstract nouns. Verbs are not affected. DISCUSSION Slower retrieval of nouns and the reversal of the concreteness effect in nouns are manifested in natural speech and can be detected early through corpus-based analysis. Highlights Reversal of the concreteness effect is manifested in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and semantic dementia.The paper reports a corpus-based analysis of natural speech by people with amnestic and non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and cognitively healthy controls.People with amnestic MCI produce fewer and more abstract nouns than people with non-amnestic MCI and healthy controls. Verbs appear to be unaffected.The imageability problem can be detected in natural everyday speech by people with amnestic MCI, which carries a higher risk of conversion to AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luwen Cao
- Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre StudiesNational University of SingaporeSingaporeSingapore
| | - Kunmei Han
- Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre StudiesNational University of SingaporeSingaporeSingapore
| | - Li Lin
- Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre StudiesNational University of SingaporeSingaporeSingapore
- School of Foreign StudiesEast China University of Political Science and LawShanghaiChina
| | - Jiawen Hing
- Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre StudiesNational University of SingaporeSingaporeSingapore
| | - Vincent Ooi
- Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre StudiesNational University of SingaporeSingaporeSingapore
| | - Nick Huang
- Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre StudiesNational University of SingaporeSingaporeSingapore
| | - Junhong Yu
- Cognitive and Brain Health LaboratorySchool of Social SciencesNanyang Technological UniversitySingaporeSingapore
| | - Ted Kheng Siang Ng
- Department of Psychological MedicineYong Loo Lin School of MedicineNational University of SingaporeSingaporeSingapore
- Rush Institute for Healthy Aging, Department of Internal MedicineRush University Medical CenterChicagoIllinoisUSA
| | - Lei Feng
- Department of Psychological MedicineYong Loo Lin School of MedicineNational University of SingaporeSingaporeSingapore
- Healthy Longevity Translational Research Program, Yong Loo Lin School of MedicineNational University of SingaporeSingaporeSingapore
- Centre for Healthy Longevity, Clinic LAlexandra HospitalSingaporeSingapore
| | - Rathi Mahendran
- Department of Psychological MedicineYong Loo Lin School of MedicineNational University of SingaporeSingaporeSingapore
| | - Ee Heok Kua
- Department of Psychological MedicineYong Loo Lin School of MedicineNational University of SingaporeSingaporeSingapore
| | - Zhiming Bao
- Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre StudiesNational University of SingaporeSingaporeSingapore
- Institute of Corpus Studies and ApplicationsShanghai International Studies UniversityShanghaiChina
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Gerwien J, Filip M, Smolík F. Noun imageability and the processing of sensory-based information. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2023:17470218231216304. [PMID: 37953293 DOI: 10.1177/17470218231216304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2023]
Abstract
The aim of this study was to test whether the availability of internal imagery elicited by words is related to ratings of word imageability. Participants are presented with target words and, after a delay allowing for processing of the word, answer questions regarding the size or weight of the word referents. Target words differ with respect to imageability. Results show faster responses to questions for high imageability words than for low imageability words. The type of question (size/weight) modulates reaction times suggesting a dominance of the visual domain over the physical-experience domain in concept representation. Results hold across two different languages (Czech/German). These findings provide further insights into the representations underlying word meaning and the role of word imageability in language acquisition and processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Gerwien
- Institute for German as a Foreign Language Philology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Maroš Filip
- Institute of Psychology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Filip Smolík
- Institute of Psychology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
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3
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Mancano M, Papagno C. Concrete and Abstract Concepts in Primary Progressive Aphasia and Alzheimer's Disease: A Scoping Review. Brain Sci 2023; 13:brainsci13050765. [PMID: 37239237 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13050765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2023] [Revised: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
The concreteness effect (CE), namely a better performance with concrete compared to abstract concepts, is a constant feature in healthy people, and it usually increases in persons with aphasia (PWA). However, a reversal of the CE has been reported in patients affected by the semantic variant of Primary Progressive Aphasia (svPPA), a neurodegenerative disease characterized by anterior temporal lobe (ATL) atrophy. The present scoping review aims at identifying the extent of evidence regarding the abstract/concrete contrast in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and svPPA and associated brain atrophy. Five online databases were searched up to January 2023 to identify papers where both concrete and abstract concepts were investigated. Thirty-one papers were selected and showed that while in patients with AD, concrete words were better processes than abstract ones, in most svPPA patients, there was a reversal of the CE, with five studies correlating the size of this effect with ATL atrophy. Furthermore, the reversal of CE was associated with category-specific impairments (living things) and with a selective deficit of social words. Future work is needed to disentangle the role of specific portions of the ATL in concept representation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Mancano
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
| | - Costanza Papagno
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
- CISMed Interdepartmental Center for Medical Sciences, University of Trento, 38122 Trento, Italy
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4
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Roelofs A. Word production and comprehension in frontotemporal degeneration: A neurocognitive computational Pickian account. Cortex 2023; 163:42-56. [PMID: 37058880 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2022] [Revised: 01/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/09/2023] [Indexed: 04/03/2023]
Abstract
Over a century ago, Arnold Pick reported deterioration of word production and comprehension in frontotemporal degeneration, now a common finding. Individuals with semantic dementia (SD) and behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) present with word retrieval difficulty, while their comprehension is less affected. Computational models have illuminated naming and comprehension in poststroke and progressive aphasias, including SD, but there are no simulations for bvFTD. Here, the WEAVER++/ARC model, previously applied to poststroke and progressive aphasias, is extended to bvFTD. Simulations tested the hypothesis of a loss of activation capacity in semantic memory in SD and bvFTD, caused by network atrophy (Pick, 1908a). The outcomes revealed that capacity loss explains 97% of the variance in naming and comprehension of 100 individual patients. Moreover, capacity loss correlates with individual ratings of atrophy in the left anterior temporal lobe. These results support a unified account of word production and comprehension in SD and bvFTD.
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Bechtold L, Bellebaum C, Ghio M. When a Sunny Day Gives You Butterflies: An Electrophysiological Investigation of Concreteness and Context Effects in Semantic Word Processing. J Cogn Neurosci 2023; 35:241-258. [PMID: 36378899 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Theories on controlled semantic cognition assume that word concreteness and linguistic context interact during semantic word processing. Methodological approaches and findings on how this interaction manifests at the electrophysiological and behavioral levels are heterogeneous. We measured ERPs and RTs applying a validated cueing paradigm with 19 healthy participants, who performed similarity judgments on concrete or abstract words (e.g., "butterfly" or "tolerance") after reading contextual and irrelevant sentential cues. Data-driven analyses showed that concreteness increased and context decreased negative-going deflections in broadly distributed bilateral clusters covering the N400 and N700/late positive component time range, whereas both reduced RTs. Crucially, within a frontotemporal cluster in the N400 time range, contextual (vs. irrelevant) information reduced negative-going amplitudes in response to concrete but not abstract words, whereas a contextual cue reduced RTs only in response to abstract but not concrete words. The N400 amplitudes did not explain additional variance in the RT data, which showed a stronger contextual facilitation for abstract than concrete words. Our results support separate but interacting effects of concreteness and context on automatic and controlled stages of contextual semantic processing and suggest that effects on the electrophysiological versus behavioral level obtained with this paradigm are dissociated.
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Abstract
In this chapter, the literature concerning the dissociation between concrete and abstract words is reviewed, with a specific focus on the role of the temporal lobes. A number of studies have demonstrated the so-called "concreteness effect," that is, the superior processing of concrete versus abstract words. However, some neuropsychological patients have been described with a reversal of concreteness effect, namely, a better performance with abstract than concrete words. Available data suggest that the most frequent causes of this reversed effect are herpes simplex encephalitis and semantic dementia, which typically affect bilaterally anterior temporal regions. Direct electrical stimulation of the left temporal pole further supports this correlation, while the neuroimaging literature is more controversial. In fact, data from neuroimaging studies show either that abstract and concrete noun processing at least partly relies on the activation of a common left-lateralized network, or that abstract word processing is supported by the activation of networks within the left inferior frontal gyrus and the middle temporal gyrus. In between abstract and concrete concepts are idioms, which are represented by concrete actions conveying abstract mental states and events. The involvement of the temporal lobes in processing this particular figure of language is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Costanza Papagno
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences - CIMeC and Center for Neurocognitive Rehabilitation, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy.
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7
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Riello M, Frangakis CE, Ficek B, Webster KT, Desmond JE, Faria AV, Hillis AE, Tsapkini K. Neural Correlates of Letter and Semantic Fluency in Primary Progressive Aphasia. Brain Sci 2021; 12:1. [PMID: 35053745 PMCID: PMC8773895 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12010001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2021] [Revised: 12/15/2021] [Accepted: 12/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Verbal fluency (VF) is an informative cognitive task. Lesion and functional imaging studies implicate distinct cerebral areas that support letter versus semantic fluency and the understanding of neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying task performance. Most lesion studies include chronic stroke patients. People with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) provide complementary evidence for lesion-deficit associations, as different brain areas are affected in stroke versus PPA. In the present study we sought to determine imaging, clinical and demographic correlates of VF in PPA. Thirty-five patients with PPA underwent an assessment with letter and category VF tasks, evaluation of clinical features and an MRI scan for volumetric analysis. We used stepwise regression models to determine which brain areas are associated with VF performance while acknowledging the independent contribution of clinical and demographic factors. Letter fluency was predominantly associated with language severity (R2 = 38%), and correlated with the volume of the left superior temporal regions (R2 = 12%) and the right dorsolateral prefrontal area (R2 = 5%). Semantic fluency was predominantly associated with dementia severity (R2 = 47%) and correlated with the volume of the left inferior temporal gyrus (R2 = 7%). No other variables were significantly associated with performance in the two VF tasks. We concluded that, independently of disease severity, letter fluency is significantly associated with the volume of frontal and temporal areas whereas semantic fluency is associated mainly with the volume of temporal areas. Furthermore, our findings indicated that clinical severity plays a critical role in explaining VF performance in PPA, compared to the other clinical and demographic factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marianna Riello
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; (M.R.); (B.F.); (K.T.W.); (J.E.D.); (A.E.H.)
| | - Constantine E. Frangakis
- Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21227, USA;
- Department of Radiology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21227, USA;
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21227, USA
| | - Bronte Ficek
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; (M.R.); (B.F.); (K.T.W.); (J.E.D.); (A.E.H.)
| | - Kimberly T. Webster
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; (M.R.); (B.F.); (K.T.W.); (J.E.D.); (A.E.H.)
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21227, USA
| | - John E. Desmond
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; (M.R.); (B.F.); (K.T.W.); (J.E.D.); (A.E.H.)
| | - Andreia V. Faria
- Department of Radiology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21227, USA;
| | - Argye E. Hillis
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; (M.R.); (B.F.); (K.T.W.); (J.E.D.); (A.E.H.)
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Kyrana Tsapkini
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; (M.R.); (B.F.); (K.T.W.); (J.E.D.); (A.E.H.)
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
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8
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Persichetti AS, Denning JM, Gotts SJ, Martin A. A Data-Driven Functional Mapping of the Anterior Temporal Lobes. J Neurosci 2021; 41:6038-6049. [PMID: 34083253 PMCID: PMC8276737 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0456-21.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2021] [Revised: 05/03/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Although the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) comprises several anatomic and functional subdivisions, it is often reduced to a homogeneous theoretical entity, such as a domain-general convergence zone, or "hub," for semantic information. Methodological limitations are largely to blame for the imprecise mapping of function to structure in the ATL. There are two major obstacles to using fMRI to identify the precise functional organization of the ATL: the difficult choice of stimuli and tasks to activate, and dissociate, specific regions within the ATL; and poor signal quality because of magnetic field distortions near the sinuses. To circumvent these difficulties, we developed a data-driven parcellation routine using resting-state fMRI data (24 females, 64 males) acquired using a sequence that was optimized to enhance signal in the ATL. Focusing on patterns of functional connectivity between each ATL voxel and the rest of the brain, we found that the ATL comprises at least 34 distinct functional parcels that are arranged into bands along the lateral and ventral cortical surfaces, extending from the posterior temporal lobes into the temporal poles. In addition, the anterior region of the fusiform gyrus, most often cited as the location of the semantic hub, was found to be part of a domain-specific network associated with face and social processing, rather than a domain-general semantic hub. These findings offer a fine-grained functional map of the ATL and offer an initial step toward using more precise language to describe the locations of functional responses in this heterogeneous region of human cortex.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The functional role of the anterior aspects of the temporal lobes (ATL) is a contentious issue. While it is likely that different regions within the ATL subserve unique cognitive functions, most studies revert to vaguely referring to particular functional regions as "the ATL," and, thus, the mapping of function to anatomy remains unclear. We used resting-state fMRI connectivity patterns between the ATL and the rest of the brain to reveal that the ATL comprises at least 34 distinct functional parcels that are organized into a three-level functional hierarchy. These results provide a detailed functional map of the anterior temporal lobes that can guide future research on how distinct regions within the ATL support diverse cognitive functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew S Persichetti
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892
| | - Joseph M Denning
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892
| | - Stephen J Gotts
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892
| | - Alex Martin
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892
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9
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Hwang YT, Strikwerda-Brown C, El-Omar H, Ramanan S, Hodges JR, Burrell JR, Piguet O, Irish M. "More than words" - Longitudinal linguistic changes in the works of a writer diagnosed with semantic dementia. Neurocase 2021; 27:243-252. [PMID: 34003713 DOI: 10.1080/13554794.2021.1924208] [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: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Leveraging recent advances in automated language analysis and anovel statistical approach utilizing an independent control group, we explored changes in lexical output across two published works of a man diagnosed with semantic dementia. We found significant increase in adverb usage and decline in familiarity, meaningfulness, age of acquisition and co-occurrence probability over 2 years. Collectively, these indices suggest that WR's narrative structure became progressively simpler, lexically less sophisticated, and that words commonly associated together no longer appeared in close proximity. Our study illustrates how degeneration of the semantic knowledge base impacts the production, content, and quality of literary works.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yun Tae Hwang
- Department is Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.,Department of Neurology, Gosford Hospital, Gosford, NSW, Australia.,MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Cherie Strikwerda-Brown
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Centre for Studies on the Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease (Stop-ad), Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Hashim El-Omar
- Department is Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.,MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Siddharth Ramanan
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - John R Hodges
- Department is Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.,MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - James R Burrell
- Department is Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.,MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,Department of Neurology, Concord General Hospital, Concord, NSW, Australia.,Concord Clinical School, The University of Sydney, Medical Education Centre, Concord General Hospital, Concord, NSW, Australia
| | - Olivier Piguet
- Department is Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.,MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
| | - Muireann Irish
- Department is Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.,MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
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10
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Bechtold L, Bellebaum C, Hoffman P, Ghio M. Corroborating behavioral evidence for the interplay of representational richness and semantic control in semantic word processing. Sci Rep 2021; 11:6184. [PMID: 33731839 PMCID: PMC7971068 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-85711-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2020] [Accepted: 03/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
This study aimed to replicate and validate concreteness and context effects on semantic word processing. In Experiment 1, we replicated the behavioral findings of Hoffman et al. (Cortex 63,250–266, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2014.09.001, 2015) by applying their cueing paradigm with their original stimuli translated into German. We found concreteness and contextual cues to facilitate word processing in a semantic judgment task with 55 healthy adults. The two factors interacted in their effect on reaction times: abstract word processing profited more strongly from a contextual cue, while the concrete words’ processing advantage was reduced but still present. For accuracy, the descriptive pattern of results suggested an interaction, which was, however, not significant. In Experiment 2, we reformulated the contextual cues to avoid repetition of the to-be-processed word. In 83 healthy adults, the same pattern of results emerged, further validating the findings. Our corroborating evidence supports theories integrating representational richness and semantic control mechanisms as complementary mechanisms in semantic word processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Bechtold
- Department of Biological Psychology, Institute for Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
| | - Christian Bellebaum
- Department of Biological Psychology, Institute for Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Paul Hoffman
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Marta Ghio
- CIMeC - Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
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11
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Borghi AM, Mazzuca C, Da Rold F, Falcinelli I, Fini C, Michalland AH, Tummolini L. Abstract Words as Social Tools: Which Necessary Evidence? Front Psychol 2021; 11:613026. [PMID: 33519634 PMCID: PMC7844197 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.613026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Accepted: 12/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Anna M Borghi
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.,Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research Council, Rome, Italy
| | - Claudia Mazzuca
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Federico Da Rold
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research Council, Rome, Italy
| | - Ilenia Falcinelli
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.,Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research Council, Rome, Italy
| | - Chiara Fini
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Arthur-Henri Michalland
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.,University of Montpellier-LIFAM, Montpellier, France
| | - Luca Tummolini
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Italian National Research Council, Rome, Italy
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12
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Words have a weight: language as a source of inner grounding and flexibility in abstract concepts. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2020; 86:2451-2467. [DOI: 10.1007/s00426-020-01438-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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13
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Ding J, Chen K, Liu H, Huang L, Chen Y, Lv Y, Yang Q, Guo Q, Han Z, Lambon Ralph MA. A unified neurocognitive model of semantics language social behaviour and face recognition in semantic dementia. Nat Commun 2020; 11:2595. [PMID: 32444620 PMCID: PMC7244491 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16089-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2019] [Accepted: 04/01/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The anterior temporal lobes (ATL) have become a key brain region of interest in cognitive neuroscience founded upon neuropsychological investigations of semantic dementia (SD). The purposes of this investigation are to generate a single unified model that captures the known cognitive-behavioural variations in SD and map these to the patients' distribution of frontotemporal atrophy. Here we show that the degree of generalised semantic impairment is related to the patients' total, bilateral ATL atrophy. Verbal production ability is related to total ATL atrophy as well as to the balance of left > right ATL atrophy. Apathy is found to relate positively to the degree of orbitofrontal atrophy. Disinhibition is related to right ATL and orbitofrontal atrophy, and face recognition to right ATL volumes. Rather than positing mutually-exclusive sub-categories, the data-driven model repositions semantics, language, social behaviour and face recognition into a continuous frontotemporal neurocognitive space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junhua Ding
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Keliang Chen
- Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Haoming Liu
- Department of Asian and North African Studies, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy
| | - Lin Huang
- Department of gerontology, Shanghai Jiaotong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai, China
| | - Yan Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yingru Lv
- Department of Radiology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Qing Yang
- Department of Rehabilitation, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Qihao Guo
- Department of gerontology, Shanghai Jiaotong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai, China.
| | - Zaizhu Han
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
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14
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Hoffman P. Divergent effects of healthy ageing on semantic knowledge and control: Evidence from novel comparisons with semantically impaired patients. J Neuropsychol 2019; 13:462-484. [PMID: 29667366 PMCID: PMC6766984 DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12159] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2017] [Revised: 03/26/2018] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Effective use of semantic knowledge requires a set of conceptual representations and control processes which ensure that currently relevant aspects of this knowledge are retrieved and selected. It is well-established that levels of semantic knowledge increase across the lifespan. However, the effects of ageing on semantic control processes have not been assessed. I addressed this issue by comparing the performance profiles of young and older people on a verbal comprehension test. Two sets of variables were used to predict accuracy and RT in each group: (1) the psycholinguistic properties of words probed in each trial and (2) the performance on each trial by two groups of semantically impaired neuropsychological patients. Young people demonstrated poor performance for low-frequency and abstract words, suggesting that they had difficulty processing words with intrinsically weak semantic representations. Indeed, performance in this group was strongly predicted by the performance of patients with semantic dementia, who suffer from degradation of semantic knowledge. In contrast, older adults performed poorly on trials where the target semantic relationship was weak and distractor relationships strong - conditions which require high levels of controlled processing. Their performance was not predicted by the performance of semantic dementia patients, but was predicted by the performance of patients with semantic control deficits. These findings indicate that the effects of ageing on semantic cognition are more complex than has previously been assumed. While older people have larger stores of knowledge than young people, they appear to be less skilled at exercising control over the activation of this knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Hoffman
- Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology (CCACE)Department of PsychologyUniversity of EdinburghUK
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15
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Efecto de concretud inverso en Afasia Progresiva Primaria-variante semántica: Estudio longitudinal de un paciente. REVISTA IBEROAMERICANA DE PSICOLOGÍA 2019. [DOI: 10.33881/2027-1786.rip.12205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
La Afasia Progresiva Primaria (APP) es una patología neurodegenerativa que se presenta con afectación insidiosa y progresiva del lenguaje. Los criterios diagnósticos actuales diferencian tres subtipos de APP, cada una con perfiles neurolingüísticos específicos. Diversas investigaciones han propuesto que un síntoma característico de la APP variante semántica (APP-vs) es un mayor compromiso en el procesamiento de conceptos concretos que de abstractos (Efecto de Concretud Inverso - ECI). Para explicar este ECI se han propuesto diferentes explicaciones: (a). el patrón de compromiso neural, (b). el nivel educativo de los pacientes, (c). el estadio de la enfermedad. El objetivo del presente trabajo es estudiar en forma longitudinal la progresión en el procesamiento de conceptos concretos y abstractos en un paciente diagnosticado con APP-vs. Para ello se utilizó una tarea de juicios de sinonimia donde se debe identificar si dos palabras son sinónimos o no. La tarea cuenta con pares de conceptos concretos y abstractos. Se evaluó al paciente en tres momentos (2014, 2015 y 2016). Se observó un mejor desempeño de conceptos abstractos en la primera evaluación. El ECI desaparece en la segunda evaluación. El patrón se revierte en la tercera. Estos resultados apoyan la propuesta de que el ECI observado en pacientes con APP-vs es un síntoma de los estadios iniciales de la enfermedad. Este ECI se relacionaría con la afectación temprana de las porciones del Lóbulo Temporal Anterior que procesan rasgos visuales, que serían más relevantes para los conceptos concretos.
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Neophytou K, Wiley RW, Rapp B, Tsapkini K. The use of spelling for variant classification in primary progressive aphasia: Theoretical and practical implications. Neuropsychologia 2019; 133:107157. [PMID: 31401078 PMCID: PMC6817413 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2019] [Revised: 07/16/2019] [Accepted: 08/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Currently, variant subtyping in primary progressive aphasia (PPA)
requires an expert neurologist and extensive language and cognitive testing.
Spelling impairments appear early in the development of the disorder, and the
three PPA variants (non-fluent - nfvPPA; semantic - svPPA; logopenic - lvPPA)
reportedly show fairly distinct spelling profiles. Given the theoretical and
empirical evidence indicating that spelling may serve as a proxy for spoken
language, the current study aimed to determine whether spelling performance
alone, when evaluated with advanced statistical analyses, allows for accurate
PPA variant classification. A spelling to dictation task (with real words and
pseudowords) was administered to 33 PPA individuals: 17 lvPPA, 10 nfvPPA, 6
svPPA. Using machine learning classification algorithms, we obtained pairwise
variant classification accuracies that ranged between 67 and 100%. In additional
analyses that assumed no prior knowledge of each case's variant,
classification accuracies ranged between 59 and 70%. To our knowledge, this is
the first time that all the PPA variants, including the most challenging
logopenic variant, have been classified with such high accuracy when using
information from a single language task. These results underscore the rich
structure of the spelling process and support the use of a spelling task in PPA
variant classification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyriaki Neophytou
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Robert W Wiley
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA
| | - Brenda Rapp
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Kyrana Tsapkini
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
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17
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Abstract
What role does language play in our thoughts? A longstanding proposal that has gained traction among supporters of embodied or grounded cognition suggests that it serves as a cognitive scaffold. This idea turns on the fact that language-with its ability to capture statistical regularities, leverage culturally acquired information, and engage grounded metaphors-is an effective and readily available support for our thinking. In this essay, I argue that language should be viewed as more than this; it should be viewed as a neuroenhancement. The neurologically realized language system is an important subcomponent of a flexible, multimodal, and multilevel conceptual system. It is not merely a source for information about the world but also a computational add-on that extends our conceptual reach. This approach provides a compelling explanation of the course of development, our facility with abstract concepts, and even the scope of language-specific influences on cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guy Dove
- Department of Philosophy, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA
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18
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Borghi AM, Barca L, Binkofski F, Castelfranchi C, Pezzulo G, Tummolini L. Words as social tools: Language, sociality and inner grounding in abstract concepts. Phys Life Rev 2019; 29:120-153. [DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2018.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2018] [Revised: 12/05/2018] [Accepted: 12/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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19
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Rice GE, Hoffman P, Binney RJ, Lambon Ralph MA. Concrete versus abstract forms of social concept: an fMRI comparison of knowledge about people versus social terms. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 373:rstb.2017.0136. [PMID: 29915004 PMCID: PMC6015823 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/10/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The anterior temporal lobes (ATLs) play a key role in conceptual knowledge representation. The hub-and-spoke theory suggests that the contribution of the ATLs to semantic representation is (a) transmodal, i.e. integrating information from multiple sensorimotor and verbal modalities, and (b) pan-categorical, representing concepts from all categories. Another literature, however, suggests that this region's responses are modality- and category-selective; prominent examples include category selectivity for socially relevant concepts and face recognition. The predictions of each approach have never been directly compared. We used data from three studies to compare category-selective responses within the ATLs. Study 1 compared ATL responses to famous people versus another conceptual category (landmarks) from visual versus auditory inputs. Study 2 compared ATL responses to famous people from pictorial and written word inputs. Study 3 compared ATL responses to a different kind of socially relevant stimuli, namely abstract non-person-related words, in order to ascertain whether ATL subregions are engaged for social concepts more generally or only for person-related knowledge. Across all three studies a dominant bilateral ventral ATL cluster responded to all categories in all modalities. Anterior to this ‘pan-category’ transmodal region, a second cluster responded more weakly overall yet selectively for people, but did so equally for spoken names and faces (Study 1). A third region in the anterior superior temporal gyrus responded selectively to abstract socially relevant words (Study 3), but did not respond to concrete socially relevant words (i.e. written names; Study 2). These findings can be accommodated by the graded hub-and-spoke model of concept representation. On this view, the ventral ATL is the centre point of a bilateral ATL hub, which contributes to conceptual representation through transmodal distillation of information arising from multiple modality-specific association cortices. Partial specialization occurs across the graded ATL hub as a consequence of gradedly differential connectivity across the region. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grace E Rice
- Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit (NARU), University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Paul Hoffman
- Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology (CCACE), Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
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20
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Hoffman P, McClelland JL, Lambon Ralph MA. Concepts, control, and context: A connectionist account of normal and disordered semantic cognition. Psychol Rev 2019; 125:293-328. [PMID: 29733663 PMCID: PMC5937916 DOI: 10.1037/rev0000094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Semantic cognition requires conceptual representations shaped by verbal and nonverbal experience and executive control processes that regulate activation of knowledge to meet current situational demands. A complete model must also account for the representation of concrete and abstract words, of taxonomic and associative relationships, and for the role of context in shaping meaning. We present the first major attempt to assimilate all of these elements within a unified, implemented computational framework. Our model combines a hub-and-spoke architecture with a buffer that allows its state to be influenced by prior context. This hybrid structure integrates the view, from cognitive neuroscience, that concepts are grounded in sensory-motor representation with the view, from computational linguistics, that knowledge is shaped by patterns of lexical co-occurrence. The model successfully codes knowledge for abstract and concrete words, associative and taxonomic relationships, and the multiple meanings of homonyms, within a single representational space. Knowledge of abstract words is acquired through (a) their patterns of co-occurrence with other words and (b) acquired embodiment, whereby they become indirectly associated with the perceptual features of co-occurring concrete words. The model accounts for executive influences on semantics by including a controlled retrieval mechanism that provides top-down input to amplify weak semantic relationships. The representational and control elements of the model can be damaged independently, and the consequences of such damage closely replicate effects seen in neuropsychological patients with loss of semantic representation versus control processes. Thus, the model provides a wide-ranging and neurally plausible account of normal and impaired semantic cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Hoffman
- Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit, University of Manchester
| | - James L McClelland
- Department of Psychology, Center for Mind, Brain and Computation, Stanford University
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21
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Fahimi Hnazaee M, Khachatryan E, Van Hulle MM. Semantic Features Reveal Different Networks During Word Processing: An EEG Source Localization Study. Front Hum Neurosci 2018; 12:503. [PMID: 30618684 PMCID: PMC6300518 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2018] [Accepted: 11/29/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The neural principles behind semantic category representation are still under debate. Dominant theories mostly focus on distinguishing concrete from abstract concepts but, in such theories, divisions into categories of concrete concepts are more developed than for their abstract counterparts. An encompassing theory on semantic category representation could be within reach when charting the semantic attributes that are capable of describing both concept types. A good candidate are the three semantic dimensions defined by Osgood (potency, valence, arousal). However, to show to what extent they affect semantic processing, specific neuroimaging tools are required. Electroencephalography (EEG) is on par with the temporal resolution of cognitive behavior and source reconstruction. Using high-density set-ups, it is able to yield a spatial resolution in the scale of millimeters, sufficient to identify anatomical brain parcellations that could differentially contribute to semantic category representation. Cognitive neuroscientists traditionally focus on scalp domain analysis and turn to source reconstruction when an effect in the scalp domain has been detected. Traditional methods will potentially miss out on the fine-grained effects of semantic features as they are possibly obscured by the mixing of source activity due to volume conduction. For this reason, we have developed a mass-univariate analysis in the source domain using a mixed linear effect model. Our analyses reveal distinct networks of sources for different semantic features that are active during different stages of lexico-semantic processing of single words. With our method we identified differences in the spatio-temporal activation patterns of abstract and concrete words, high and low potency words, high and low valence words, and high and low arousal words, and in this way shed light on how word categories are represented in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mansoureh Fahimi Hnazaee
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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22
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Montembeault M, Brambati SM, Gorno-Tempini ML, Migliaccio R. Clinical, Anatomical, and Pathological Features in the Three Variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia: A Review. Front Neurol 2018; 9:692. [PMID: 30186225 PMCID: PMC6110931 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2018.00692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 91] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2018] [Accepted: 07/31/2018] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Primary progressive aphasias (PPA) are neurodegenerative diseases clinically characterized by an early and relatively isolated language impairment. Three main clinical variants, namely the nonfluent/agrammatic variant (nfvPPA), the semantic variant (svPPA), and the logopenic variant (lvPPA) have been described, each with specific linguistic/cognitive deficits, corresponding anatomical and most probable pathological features. Since the discovery and the development of diagnostic criteria for the PPA variants by the experts in the field, significant progress has been made in the understanding of these diseases. This review aims to provide an overview of the literature on each of the PPA variant in terms of their clinical, anatomical and pathological features, with a specific focus on recent findings. In terms of clinical advancements, recent studies have allowed a better characterization and differentiation of PPA patients based on both their linguistic and non-linguistic profiles. In terms of neuroimaging, techniques such as diffusion imaging and resting-state fMRI have allowed a deeper understanding of the impact of PPA on structural and functional connectivity alterations beyond the well-defined pattern of regional gray matter atrophy. Finally, in terms of pathology, despite significant advances, clinico-pathological correspondence in PPA remains far from absolute. Nonetheless, the improved characterization of PPA has the potential to have a positive impact on the management of patients. Improved reliability of diagnoses and the development of reliable in vivo biomarkers for underlying neuropathology will also be increasingly important in the future as trials for etiology-specific treatments become available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxime Montembeault
- INSERM U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Universités, and Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, UMR S 1127, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Épinière (ICM), FrontLab, Paris, France.,Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.,Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Simona M Brambati
- Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.,Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini
- Memory and Aging Center, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Raffaella Migliaccio
- INSERM U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Universités, and Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, UMR S 1127, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Épinière (ICM), FrontLab, Paris, France.,Department of Neurology, Institut de la Mémoire et de la Maladie d'Alzheimer (IM2A), Paris, France
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23
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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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24
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Martínez-Cuitiño M, Soriano F, Formoso J, Borovinsky G, Ferrari J, Pontello N, Barreyro JP, Manes F. Procesamiento semántico de conceptos concretos y abstractos en Afasia Progresiva Primaria-variante semántica. REVISTA DE INVESTIGACIÓN EN LOGOPEDIA 2018. [DOI: 10.5209/rlog.59530] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
La Afasia Progresiva Primaria-variante semántica (APP-vs) se caracteriza por la afectación progresiva del conocimiento conceptual. Algunas investigaciones han reportado la mayor afectación de los conceptos abstractos en relación con los concretos, es decir, un efecto de concretud. No obstante, otros investigadores dan cuenta de un efecto de concretud inverso, es decir, un mejor desempeño con conceptos abstractos en relación con concretos. En esta investigación se compara el desempeño, por medio en una tarea de juicios de sinonimia, de un grupo de 8 pacientes diagnosticados con APP-vs y un grupo de 20 controles emparejados en edad y nivel educativo. Los resultados dan cuenta de un efecto de concretud, es decir, un mejor desempeño con conceptos concretos tanto con sustantivos como con verbos. Estos hallazgos se alinean con las investigaciones previas en las que se detecta un peor rendimiento de los pacientes con APP-vs con conceptos abstractos. El efecto de concretud encontrado apoyaría la hipótesis de un centro semántico amodal relevante para el procesamiento de conceptos concretos y abstractos. La menor afectación de los conceptos concretos observada podría explicarse por su mayor riqueza semántica.
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25
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Thompson HE, Almaghyuli A, Noonan KA, Barak O, Lambon Ralph MA, Jefferies E. The contribution of executive control to semantic cognition: Convergent evidence from semantic aphasia and executive dysfunction. J Neuropsychol 2018; 12:312-340. [PMID: 29314772 PMCID: PMC6001665 DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2017] [Revised: 11/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Semantic cognition, as described by the controlled semantic cognition (CSC) framework (Rogers et al., 2015, Neuropsychologia, 76, 220), involves two key components: activation of coherent, generalizable concepts within a heteromodal ‘hub’ in combination with modality‐specific features (spokes), and a constraining mechanism that manipulates and gates this knowledge to generate time‐ and task‐appropriate behaviour. Executive–semantic goal representations, largely supported by executive regions such as frontal and parietal cortex, are thought to allow the generation of non‐dominant aspects of knowledge when these are appropriate for the task or context. Semantic aphasia (SA) patients have executive–semantic deficits, and these are correlated with general executive impairment. If the CSC proposal is correct, patients with executive impairment should not only exhibit impaired semantic cognition, but should also show characteristics that align with those observed in SA. This possibility remains largely untested, as patients selected on the basis that they show executive impairment (i.e., with ‘dysexecutive syndrome’) have not been extensively tested on tasks tapping semantic control and have not been previously compared with SA cases. We explored conceptual processing in 12 patients showing symptoms consistent with dysexecutive syndrome (DYS) and 24 SA patients, using a range of multimodal semantic assessments which manipulated control demands. Patients with executive impairments, despite not being selected to show semantic impairments, nevertheless showed parallel patterns to SA cases. They showed strong effects of distractor strength, cues and miscues, and probe–target distance, plus minimal effects of word frequency on comprehension (unlike semantic dementia patients with degradation of conceptual knowledge). This supports a component process account of semantic cognition in which retrieval is shaped by control processes, and confirms that deficits in SA patients reflect difficulty controlling semantic retrieval.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Azizah Almaghyuli
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
| | - Krist A Noonan
- School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, UK
| | - Ohr Barak
- Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust (BIRT), York, UK
| | - Matthew A Lambon Ralph
- Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit, Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, UK
| | - Elizabeth Jefferies
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
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26
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Thompson H, Davey J, Hoffman P, Hallam G, Kosinski R, Howkins S, Wooffindin E, Gabbitas R, Jefferies E. Semantic control deficits impair understanding of thematic relationships more than object identity. Neuropsychologia 2017; 104:113-125. [PMID: 28803767 PMCID: PMC5637130 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.08.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2017] [Revised: 06/13/2017] [Accepted: 08/07/2017] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Recent work has suggested a potential link between the neurocognitive mechanisms supporting the retrieval of events and thematic associations (i.e., knowledge about how concepts relate in a meaningful context) and semantic control processes that support the capacity to shape retrieval to suit the circumstances. Thematic associations and events are inherently flexible: the meaning of an item changes depending on the context (for example, lamp goes with reading, bicycle and police). Control processes might stabilise weak yet currently-relevant interpretations during event understanding. In contrast, semantic retrieval for objects (to understand what items are, and the categories they belong to) is potentially constrained by sensory-motor features (e.g., bright light) that change less across contexts. Semantic control and event understanding produce overlapping patterns of activation in healthy participants in left prefrontal and temporoparietal regions, but the potential causal link between these aspects of semantic cognition has not been examined. We predict that event understanding relies on semantic control, due to associations being necessarily context-dependent and variable. We tested this hypothesis in two ways: (i) by examining thematic associations and object identity in patients with semantic aphasia, who have well-documented deficits of semantic control following left frontoparietal stroke and (ii) using the same tasks in healthy controls under dual-task conditions that depleted the capacity for cognitive control. The patients were impaired on both identity and thematic matching tasks, and they showed particular difficulty on non-dominant thematic associations which required greater control over semantic retrieval. Healthy participants showed the same pattern under conditions of divided attention. These findings support the view that semantic control is necessary for organising and constraining the retrieval of thematic associations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - James Davey
- Department of Psychology, University of York, UK
| | - Paul Hoffman
- Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, UK
| | - Glyn Hallam
- Department of Psychology, University of York, UK
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27
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Joubert S, Vallet GT, Montembeault M, Boukadi M, Wilson MA, Laforce RJ, Rouleau I, Brambati SM. Comprehension of concrete and abstract words in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer's disease: A behavioral and neuroimaging study. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2017; 170:93-102. [PMID: 28432988 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2017.04.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2016] [Revised: 03/23/2017] [Accepted: 04/11/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the comprehension of concrete, abstract and abstract emotional words in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and healthy elderly adults (HE) Three groups of participants (9 svPPA, 12 AD, 11 HE) underwent a general neuropsychological assessment, a similarity judgment task, and structural brain MRI. The three types of words were processed similarly in the group of AD participants. In contrast, patients in the svPPA group were significantly more impaired at processing concrete words than abstract words, while comprehension of abstract emotional words was in between. VBM analyses showed that comprehension of concrete words relative to abstract words was significantly correlated with atrophy in the left anterior temporal lobe. These results support the view that concrete words are disproportionately impaired in svPPA, and that concrete and abstract words may rely upon partly dissociable brain regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sven Joubert
- Département de psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de recherche Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM), Montréal, QC, Canada.
| | - Guillaume T Vallet
- Département de psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de recherche Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM), Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Maxime Montembeault
- Département de psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de recherche Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM), Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Mariem Boukadi
- Département de psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de recherche Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM), Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Maximiliano A Wilson
- Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec (CRIUSMQ), Canada; Département de réadaptation, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Robert Jr Laforce
- Clinique Interdisciplinaire de Mémoire (CIME), CHU de Québec, QC, Canada; Département des Sciences Neurologiques, Université Laval, QC, Canada
| | - Isabelle Rouleau
- Département de psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Simona M Brambati
- Département de psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de recherche Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM), Montréal, QC, Canada
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Gainotti G. The Differential Contributions of Conceptual Representation Format and Language Structure to Levels of Semantic Abstraction Capacity. Neuropsychol Rev 2017; 27:134-145. [DOI: 10.1007/s11065-016-9339-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2016] [Accepted: 12/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Hoffman P. The meaning of 'life' and other abstract words: Insights from neuropsychology. J Neuropsychol 2016; 10:317-43. [PMID: 25708527 PMCID: PMC5026063 DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2014] [Revised: 01/09/2015] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
There are a number of long-standing theories on how the cognitive processing of abstract words, like 'life', differs from that of concrete words, like 'knife'. This review considers current perspectives on this debate, focusing particularly on insights obtained from patients with language disorders and integrating these with evidence from functional neuroimaging studies. The evidence supports three distinct and mutually compatible hypotheses. (1) Concrete and abstract words differ in their representational substrates, with concrete words depending particularly on sensory experiences and abstract words on linguistic, emotional, and magnitude-based information. Differential dependence on visual versus verbal experience is supported by the evidence for graded specialization in the anterior temporal lobes for concrete versus abstract words. In addition, concrete words have richer representations, in line with better processing of these words in most aphasic patients and, in particular, patients with semantic dementia. (2) Abstract words place greater demands on executive regulation processes because they have variable meanings that change with context. This theory explains abstract word impairments in patients with semantic-executive deficits and is supported by neuroimaging studies showing greater response to abstract words in inferior prefrontal cortex. (3) The relationships between concrete words are governed primarily by conceptual similarity, while those of abstract words depend on association to a greater degree. This theory, based primarily on interference and priming effects in aphasic patients, is the most recent to emerge and the least well understood. I present analyses indicating that patterns of lexical co-occurrence may be important in understanding these effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Hoffman
- Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit (NARU)University of ManchesterUK
- Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology (CCACE)Department of PsychologyUniversity of EdinburghUK
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A Neuropsychological Perspective on Abstract Word Representation: From Theory to Treatment of Acquired Language Disorders. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 2016; 16:79. [PMID: 27443646 DOI: 10.1007/s11910-016-0683-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Natural languages are rife with words that describe feelings, introspective states, and social constructs (e.g., liberty, persuasion) that cannot be directly observed through the senses. Effective communication demands linguistic competence with such abstract words. In clinical neurological settings, abstract words are especially vulnerable to the effects of stroke and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. A parallel literature in cognitive neuroscience suggests that abstract and concrete words are at least partially neuroanatomically dissociable. Much remains to be learned about the nature of lexical-semantic deficits of abstract words and how best to promote their recovery. Here, we review contemporary theoretical approaches to abstract-concrete word representation with an aim toward contextualizing patient-based dissociations for abstract words. We then describe a burgeoning treatment approach for targeting abstract words and suggest a number of potential strategies for future interventions. We argue that a deeper understanding of is essential for informing language rehabilitation.
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Danguecan AN, Buchanan L. Semantic Neighborhood Effects for Abstract versus Concrete Words. Front Psychol 2016; 7:1034. [PMID: 27458422 PMCID: PMC4933712 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2016] [Accepted: 06/24/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies show that semantic effects may be task-specific, and thus, that semantic representations are flexible and dynamic. Such findings are critical to the development of a comprehensive theory of semantic processing in visual word recognition, which should arguably account for how semantic effects may vary by task. It has been suggested that semantic effects are more directly examined using tasks that explicitly require meaning processing relative to those for which meaning processing is not necessary (e.g., lexical decision task). The purpose of the present study was to chart the processing of concrete versus abstract words in the context of a global co-occurrence variable, semantic neighborhood density (SND), by comparing word recognition response times (RTs) across four tasks varying in explicit semantic demands: standard lexical decision task (with non-pronounceable non-words), go/no-go lexical decision task (with pronounceable non-words), progressive demasking task, and sentence relatedness task. The same experimental stimulus set was used across experiments and consisted of 44 concrete and 44 abstract words, with half of these being low SND, and half being high SND. In this way, concreteness and SND were manipulated in a factorial design using a number of visual word recognition tasks. A consistent RT pattern emerged across tasks, in which SND effects were found for abstract (but not necessarily concrete) words. Ultimately, these findings highlight the importance of studying interactive effects in word recognition, and suggest that linguistic associative information is particularly important for abstract words.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lori Buchanan
- Department of Psychology, University of Windsor, WindsorON, Canada
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Holland R, Johns SL, Woollams AM. The impact of phonological versus semantic repetition training on generalisation in chronic stroke aphasia reflects differences in dorsal pathway connectivity. Neuropsychol Rehabil 2016; 28:548-567. [DOI: 10.1080/09602011.2016.1190384] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Rachel Holland
- Division of Language and Communication Science, City University London, London, England
| | - Sasha L. Johns
- Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, England
| | - Anna M. Woollams
- Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, England
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Bonner MF, Price AR, Peelle JE, Grossman M. Semantics of the Visual Environment Encoded in Parahippocampal Cortex. J Cogn Neurosci 2015; 28:361-78. [PMID: 26679216 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00908] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Semantic representations capture the statistics of experience and store this information in memory. A fundamental component of this memory system is knowledge of the visual environment, including knowledge of objects and their associations. Visual semantic information underlies a range of behaviors, from perceptual categorization to cognitive processes such as language and reasoning. Here we examine the neuroanatomic system that encodes visual semantics. Across three experiments, we found converging evidence indicating that knowledge of verbally mediated visual concepts relies on information encoded in a region of the ventral-medial temporal lobe centered on parahippocampal cortex. In an fMRI study, this region was strongly engaged by the processing of concepts relying on visual knowledge but not by concepts relying on other sensory modalities. In a study of patients with the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia (semantic dementia), atrophy that encompassed this region was associated with a specific impairment in verbally mediated visual semantic knowledge. Finally, in a structural study of healthy adults from the fMRI experiment, gray matter density in this region related to individual variability in the processing of visual concepts. The anatomic location of these findings aligns with recent work linking the ventral-medial temporal lobe with high-level visual representation, contextual associations, and reasoning through imagination. Together, this work suggests a critical role for parahippocampal cortex in linking the visual environment with knowledge systems in the human brain.
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Zannino GD, Caltagirone C, Carlesimo GA. The contribution of neurodegenerative diseases to the modelling of semantic memory: A new proposal and a review of the literature. Neuropsychologia 2015; 75:274-90. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.06.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2015] [Revised: 06/15/2015] [Accepted: 06/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Jackson RL, Lambon Ralph MA, Pobric G. The Timing of Anterior Temporal Lobe Involvement in Semantic Processing. J Cogn Neurosci 2015; 27:1388-96. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00788] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Abstract
Despite indications that regions within the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) might make a crucial contribution to pan-modal semantic representation, to date there have been no investigations of when during semantic processing the ATL plays a critical role. To test the timing of the ATL involvement in semantic processing, we studied the effect of double-pulse TMS on behavioral responses in semantic and difficulty-matched control tasks. Chronometric TMS was delivered over the left ATL (10 mm from the tip of the temporal pole along the middle temporal gyrus). During each trial, two pulses of TMS (40 msec apart) were delivered either at baseline (before stimulus presentation) or at one of the experimental time points 100, 250, 400, and 800 msec poststimulus onset. A significant disruption to performance was identified from 400 msec on the semantic task but not on the control assessment. Our results not only reinforce the key role of the left ATL in semantic representation but also indicate that its contribution is especially important around 400 msec poststimulus onset. Together, these facts suggest that the ATL may be one of the neural sources of the N400 ERP component.
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Converging evidence from fMRI and aphasia that the left temporoparietal cortex has an essential role in representing abstract semantic knowledge. Cortex 2015; 69:104-20. [PMID: 26026619 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.04.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2014] [Revised: 01/30/2015] [Accepted: 04/25/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
While the neural underpinnings of concrete semantic knowledge have been studied extensively, abstract conceptual knowledge remains enigmatic. We present two experiments that provide converging evidence for the involvement of key regions in the temporoparietal cortex (TPC) in abstract semantic representations. First, we carried out a neuroimaging study in which participants thought deeply about abstract and concrete words. A functional connectivity analysis revealed a cortical network, including portions of the TPC, that showed coordinated activity specific to abstract word processing. In a second experiment, we tested participants with lesions involving the left TPC on a spoken-to-written word matching task using abstract and concrete target words presented in arrays of related or unrelated distractors. The results revealed an interaction between concreteness and relatedness: participants with TPC lesions were significantly less accurate for abstract words presented in related arrays than in unrelated arrays, but exhibited no effect of relatedness for concrete words. These results confirm that the TPC plays an important role in abstract concept representation and that it is part of a larger network of functionally cooperative regions needed for abstract word processing.
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Three symbol ungrounding problems: Abstract concepts and the future of embodied cognition. Psychon Bull Rev 2015; 23:1109-21. [DOI: 10.3758/s13423-015-0825-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Hoffman P, Woollams AM. Opposing effects of semantic diversity in lexical and semantic relatedness decisions. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2015; 41:385-402. [PMID: 25751041 PMCID: PMC4378535 DOI: 10.1037/a0038995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2014] [Revised: 01/06/2015] [Accepted: 01/23/2015] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Semantic ambiguity has often been divided into 2 forms: homonymy, referring to words with 2 unrelated interpretations (e.g., bark), and polysemy, referring to words associated with a number of varying but semantically linked uses (e.g., twist). Typically, polysemous words are thought of as having a fixed number of discrete definitions, or "senses," with each use of the word corresponding to one of its senses. In this study, we investigated an alternative conception of polysemy, based on the idea that polysemous variation in meaning is a continuous, graded phenomenon that occurs as a function of contextual variation in word usage. We quantified this contextual variation using semantic diversity (SemD), a corpus-based measure of the degree to which a particular word is used in a diverse set of linguistic contexts. In line with other approaches to polysemy, we found a reaction time (RT) advantage for high SemD words in lexical decision, which occurred for words of both high and low imageability. When participants made semantic relatedness decisions to word pairs, however, responses were slower to high SemD pairs, irrespective of whether these were related or unrelated. Again, this result emerged irrespective of the imageability of the word. The latter result diverges from previous findings using homonyms, in which ambiguity effects have only been found for related word pairs. We argue that participants were slower to respond to high SemD words because their high contextual variability resulted in noisy, underspecified semantic representations that were more difficult to compare with one another. We demonstrated this principle in a connectionist computational model that was trained to activate distributed semantic representations from orthographic inputs. Greater variability in the orthography-to-semantic mappings of high SemD words resulted in a lower degree of similarity for related pairs of this type. At the same time, the representations of high SemD unrelated pairs were less distinct from one another. In addition, the model demonstrated more rapid semantic activation for high SemD words, thought to underpin the processing advantage in lexical decision. These results support the view that polysemous variation in word meaning can be conceptualized in terms of graded variation in distributed semantic representations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Hoffman
- Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology (CCACE), Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh
| | - Anna M Woollams
- Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit (NARU), School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester
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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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Hoffman P, Binney RJ, Lambon Ralph MA. Differing contributions of inferior prefrontal and anterior temporal cortex to concrete and abstract conceptual knowledge. Cortex 2015; 63:250-66. [PMID: 25303272 PMCID: PMC4317194 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2014.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 121] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2014] [Revised: 07/21/2014] [Accepted: 09/07/2014] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Semantic cognition is underpinned by regions involved in representing conceptual knowledge and executive control areas that provide regulation of this information according to current task requirements. Using distortion-corrected fMRI, we investigated the contributions of these two systems to abstract and concrete word comprehension. We contrasted semantic decisions made either with coherent contextual support, which encouraged retrieval of a rich conceptual representation, or with irrelevant contextual information, which instead maximised demands on control processes. Inferior prefrontal cortex was activated more when decisions were made in the presence of irrelevant context, suggesting that this region is crucial for the semantic control functions required to select appropriate aspects of meaning in the face of competing information. It also exhibited greater activation for abstract words, which reflects the fact that abstract words tend to have variable, context-dependent meanings that place higher demands on control processes. In contrast, anterior temporal regions (ATL) were most active when decisions were made with the benefit of a coherent context, suggesting a representational role. There was a graded shift in concreteness effects in this region, with dorsolateral areas particularly active for abstract words and ventromedial areas preferentially activated by concrete words. This supports the idea that concrete concepts are closely associated with visual experience and abstract concepts with auditory-verbal information; and that sub-regions of the ATL display graded specialisation for these two types of knowledge. Between these two extremes, we identified significant activations for both word types in ventrolateral ATL. This area is known to be involved in representing knowledge for concrete concepts; here we established that it is also activated by abstract concepts. These results converge with data from rTMS and neuropsychological investigations in demonstrating that representational content and task demands influence recruitment of different areas in the semantic network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Hoffman
- Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit (NARU), University of Manchester, UK.
| | - Richard J Binney
- Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit (NARU), University of Manchester, UK; Eleanor M. Saffran Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
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41
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Catricalà E, Della Rosa PA, Plebani V, Vigliocco G, Cappa SF. Abstract and concrete categories? Evidences from neurodegenerative diseases. Neuropsychologia 2014; 64:271-81. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.09.041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2013] [Revised: 08/10/2014] [Accepted: 09/24/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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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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43
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Kertesz A, Harciarek M. Primary progressive aphasia. Scand J Psychol 2014; 55:191-201. [DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2013] [Accepted: 01/05/2014] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Kertesz
- Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences; Western University; London Ontario Canada
| | - Michał Harciarek
- Division of Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology; Institute of Psychology; University of Gdańsk; Gdańsk Poland
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Skipper LM, Olson IR. Semantic memory: distinct neural representations for abstractness and valence. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2014; 130:1-10. [PMID: 24561187 PMCID: PMC3998709 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2014.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2013] [Revised: 12/06/2013] [Accepted: 01/01/2014] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
The hypothesis that abstract words are grounded in emotion has been supported by behavioral research and corpus studies of English words. A recent neuroimaging study reported that a single brain region, the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC), is responsive to abstract words, and is furthermore modulated by the emotional valence. This finding is surprising because the rACC is not commonly associated with semantic processing. It is possible that the effects observed were driven not by abstractness, but rather by valence, since the abstract words used in that study were significantly more emotional than the concrete words. We tested this hypothesis by presenting participants with words that were abstract/concrete, as well as emotionally valenced/neutral in a 2×2 factorial design. Activations to emotional words overlapped with both abstract and concrete activations throughout the brain. An ROI analysis revealed that the rACC was responsive to valence, not abstractness, when concreteness and valence unconfounded.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura M Skipper
- Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, United States
| | - Ingrid R Olson
- Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, United States.
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Hoffman P, Evans GAL, Lambon Ralph MA. The anterior temporal lobes are critically involved in acquiring new conceptual knowledge: evidence for impaired feature integration in semantic dementia. Cortex 2014; 50:19-31. [PMID: 24268323 PMCID: PMC3884130 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2013.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2013] [Revised: 09/03/2013] [Accepted: 10/18/2013] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
Recent evidence from multiple neuroscience techniques indicates that regions within the anterior temporal lobes (ATLs) are a critical node in the neural network for representing conceptual knowledge, yet their function remains elusive. The hub-and-spoke model holds that ATL regions act as a transmodal conceptual hub, distilling the various sensory-motor features of objects and words into integrated, coherent conceptual representations. Single-cell recordings in monkeys suggest that the ATLs are critically involved in visual associative learning; however, investigations of this region in humans have focused on existing knowledge rather than learning. We studied acquisition of new concepts in semantic dementia patients, who have cortical damage centred on the ventrolateral aspects of the ATLs. Patients learned to assign abstract visual stimuli to two categories. The categories conformed to a family resemblance structure in which no individual stimulus features were fully diagnostic; thus the task required participants to form representations that integrate multiple features into a single concept. Patients were unable to do this, instead responding only on the basis of individual features. The study reveals that integrating disparate sources of information into novel coherent concepts is a critical computational function of the ATLs. This explains the central role of this region in conceptual representation and the catastrophic breakdown of concepts in semantic dementia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Hoffman
- Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit (NARU), University of Manchester, UK.
| | - Gemma A L Evans
- Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit (NARU), University of Manchester, UK
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When the zebra loses its stripes but is still in the savannah: Results from a semantic priming paradigm in semantic dementia. Neuropsychologia 2014; 53:221-32. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.11.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2013] [Revised: 11/26/2013] [Accepted: 11/27/2013] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Frings L, Dressel K, Abel S, Mader I, Glauche V, Weiller C, Hüll M. Longitudinal cerebral diffusion changes reflect progressive decline of language and cognition. Psychiatry Res 2013; 214:395-401. [PMID: 24144508 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2013.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2012] [Revised: 08/08/2013] [Accepted: 08/09/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Language deficits are regularly found in cortical neurodegenerative diseases. The progression of language deficits shows a considerable inter-individual variability even within one diagnostic group. We aimed at detecting patterns of altered diffusion as well as atrophy of cerebral gray and white matter which underlie ongoing language-related deterioration in patients with cortical neurodegenerative diseases. Diffusion tensor imaging and T1-weighted MRI data of 26 patients with clinically diagnosed neurodegenerative disorders were acquired at baseline and 14 months later in this prospective study. Language functions were assessed with a confrontation naming test and the Token Test. Diffusion and voxel-based morphometric measures were calculated and correlates of language performance were evaluated. Across all patients, the naming impairment was related to diffusion (false discovery rate-corrected P<0.05 at baseline) and atrophy abnormalities (family-wise error (FWE)-corrected P<0.05 at follow-up) primarily in the left temporal lobe. Deficits in the Token Test were correlated with predominantly left frontal MRI abnormalities (FWE-corrected P<0.05). The Token Test performance decline over 14 months was accompanied by further increasing abnormalities in the frontal cortex, left caudate, parietal cortex (all FWE-corrected P<0.05), and posterior callosal body (FWE-corrected P=0.055). Both diffusion and structural MRI were apt to elucidate the underpinnings of inter-individual differences in language-related deficits and to detect longitudinal changes that accompanied ongoing cognition and language decline, with mean diffusivity appearing most sensitive. This might indicate the usefulness of diffusion measures as markers for successful intervention in therapy studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lars Frings
- Center of Geriatrics and Gerontology Freiburg, University Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Germany; Section of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, University Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Germany; Department of Radiation Oncology, University Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Germany.
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Libon DJ, Rascovsky K, Powers J, Irwin DJ, Boller A, Weinberg D, McMillan CT, Grossman M. Comparative semantic profiles in semantic dementia and Alzheimer's disease. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2013; 136:2497-509. [PMID: 23824492 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awt165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Patients with the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia, also known as semantic dementia, and Alzheimer's disease have deficits in semantic memory. However, few comparative studies have been performed to determine whether these patient groups have distinct semantic memory impairments. We asked 15 patients with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia and 57 patients with Alzheimer's disease to judge semantic category membership of coloured photos and printed words that are members of familiar natural and manufactured categories, and we related performance to grey matter atrophy. We found that both semantic variant primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer's disease are significantly impaired on this task. Moreover, patients with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia had a significantly more prominent deficit for natural objects than their own deficit judging manufactured objects. Both semantic variant primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer's disease had atrophy that included portions of the left temporal lobe. Regression analyses related performance in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia to ventral and medial portions of the left temporal lobe, while regression analyses in Alzheimer's disease related performance to these ventral and medial temporal areas as well as lateral temporal-parietal regions in the left hemisphere. We conclude that both semantic variant primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer's disease are significantly impaired in a simple category membership judgement task and the selective impairment for natural kinds in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia is related in part to disease in visual association cortex in ventral-medial portions of the left temporal lobe. We discuss factors that may contribute to the semantic memory deficit in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J Libon
- Department of Neurology, Drexel University, 245 North 15th Street, 7th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA
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Shallice T, Cooper RP. Is there a semantic system for abstract words? Front Hum Neurosci 2013; 7:175. [PMID: 23658539 PMCID: PMC3647111 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2012] [Accepted: 04/18/2013] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Two views on the semantics of concrete words are that their core mental representations are feature-based or are reconstructions of sensory experience. We argue that neither of these approaches is capable of representing the semantics of abstract words, which involve the representation of possibly hypothetical physical and mental states, the binding of entities within a structure, and the possible use of embedding (or recursion) in such structures. Brain based evidence in the form of dissociations between deficits related to concrete and abstract semantics corroborates the hypothesis. Neuroimaging evidence suggests that left lateral inferior frontal cortex supports those processes responsible for the representation of abstract words.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tim Shallice
- Cognitive Neuroscience Sector, SISSA Trieste, Italy ; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London London, UK
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Hoffman P, Jones RW, Lambon Ralph MA. Be concrete to be comprehended: Consistent imageability effects in semantic dementia for nouns, verbs, synonyms and associates. Cortex 2013; 49:1206-18. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2012.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2012] [Revised: 04/11/2012] [Accepted: 05/16/2012] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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