Evidence for the Concreteness of Abstract Language: A Meta-Analysis of Neuroimaging Studies

Syntax matters in shaping sensorimotor activation driven by nouns

Existing evidence has shown that adjectives modulate the grasp-compatibility effect elicited by object nouns. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of syntax on the sensorimotor activation elicited by nouns in a grasp-compatibility task. We assessed two languages with different syntactic rules, Italian in Experiment 1 and English in Experiment 2. In both experiments, an adjective-noun pair was shown on the screen. The adjective was always in a pre-nominal position and denoted either a disadvantageous quality of the object graspability (e.g., sharp) or the object colour (e.g., reddish). Participants had to categorize the object nouns as natural or artifact, performing a precision or a power reach-to-grasp movement. On different trials, the grasp response was compatible or incompatible with the grip typically used to manipulate the object indicated by the noun. In Experiment 1 (Italian language) the adjective-noun order violated the syntactic order and no difference emerged between reaction times on compatible and incompatible trials (no grasp compatibility effect). In Experiment 2 (English language), the adjective-noun order followed the syntactic rule. Results showed a grasp-compatibility effect when a colour adjective was presented before a natural object noun. When a disadvantageous adjective preceded an artifact or a natural object noun, an inverted grasp-compatibility effect emerged with slower responses on compatible than incompatible trials. Taken together, these findings suggest that adjectives can shape the sensorimotor activation elicited by nouns of graspable objects only when the syntax is correct. Results are discussed with respect to embodied cognition theories.

Neurocognitive correlates of semantic memory navigation in Parkinson's disease

Cognitive studies on Parkinson's disease (PD) reveal abnormal semantic processing. Most research, however, fails to indicate which conceptual properties are most affected and capture patients' neurocognitive profiles. Here, we asked persons with PD, healthy controls, and individuals with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD, as a disease control group) to read concepts (e.g., 'sun') and list their features (e.g., hot). Responses were analyzed in terms of ten word properties (including concreteness, imageability, and semantic variability), used for group-level comparisons, subject-level classification, and brain-behavior correlations. PD (but not bvFTD) patients produced more concrete and imageable words than controls, both patterns being associated with overall cognitive status. PD and bvFTD patients showed reduced semantic variability, an anomaly which predicted semantic inhibition outcomes. Word-property patterns robustly classified PD (but not bvFTD) patients and correlated with disease-specific hypoconnectivity along the sensorimotor and salience networks. Fine-grained semantic assessments, then, can reveal distinct neurocognitive signatures of PD.

Icono: a universal language that shows what it says

This article lays out the foundation of a new language for easier written communication that is inherently reader-friendly and inherently international. Words usually consist of strings of sounds or squiggles whose meanings are merely a convention. In Icono, instead, they typically are strings of icons that illustrate what they stand for. "Train," for example, is expressed with the icon of a train, "future" with the icon of a clock surrounded by a clockwise arrow, and "mammal" with the icons of a cow and a mouse-their combination's meaning given by what they have in common. Moreover, Icono reveals sentence structure graphically before, rather than linguistically after, one begins reading. On smartphones and computers, writing icons can now be faster than writing alphabetic words. And using simple pictures as words helps those who struggle with conditions like dyslexia, aphasia, cerebral palsy, and autism with speech impairment. Because learning its pronunciation or phonetic spelling is optional rather than a prerequisite, and because it shows what it says, Icono is bound to be easier to learn to read-and then easier to read-than any other language, including our own.

The relevance of the unique anatomy of the human prefrontal operculum to the emergence of speech

Identifying the evolutionary origins of human speech remains a topic of intense scientific interest. Here we describe a unique feature of adult human neuroanatomy compared to chimpanzees and other primates that may provide an explanation of changes that occurred to enable the capacity for speech. That feature is the Prefrontal extent of the Frontal Operculum (PFOp) region, which is located in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, adjacent and ventromedial to the classical Broca's area. We also show that, in chimpanzees, individuals with the most human-like PFOp, particularly in the left hemisphere, have greater oro-facial and vocal motor control abilities. This critical discovery, when combined with recent paleontological evidence, suggests that the PFOp is a recently evolved feature of human cortical structure (perhaps limited to the genus Homo) that emerged in response to increasing selection for cognitive and motor functions evident in modern speech abilities.

Word production and comprehension in frontotemporal degeneration: A neurocognitive computational Pickian account

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.

Influence of language on perception and concept formation in a brain-constrained deep neural network model

A neurobiologically constrained model of semantic learning in the human brain was used to simulate the acquisition of concrete and abstract concepts, either with or without verbal labels. Concept acquisition and semantic learning were simulated using Hebbian learning mechanisms. We measured the network's category learning performance, defined as the extent to which it successfully (i) grouped partly overlapping perceptual instances into a single (abstract or concrete) conceptual representation, while (ii) still distinguishing representations for distinct concepts. Co-presence of linguistic labels with perceptual instances of a given concept generally improved the network's learning of categories, with a significantly larger beneficial effect for abstract than concrete concepts. These results offer a neurobiological explanation for causal effects of language structure on concept formation and on perceptuo-motor processing of instances of these concepts: supplying a verbal label during concept acquisition improves the cortical mechanisms by which experiences with objects and actions along with the learning of words lead to the formation of neuronal ensembles for specific concepts and meanings. Furthermore, the present results make a novel prediction, namely, that such 'Whorfian' effects should be modulated by the concreteness/abstractness of the semantic categories being acquired, with language labels supporting the learning of abstract concepts more than that of concrete ones. This article is part of the theme issue 'Concepts in interaction: social engagement and inner experiences'.

Grasping the semantic of actions: a combined behavioral and MEG study

There is experimental evidence that the brain systems involved in action execution also play a role in action observation and understanding. Recently, it has been suggested that the sensorimotor system is also involved in language processing. Supporting results are slower response times and weaker motor-related MEG Beta band power suppression in semantic decision tasks on single action verbs labels when the stimulus and the motor response involve the same effector. Attenuated power suppression indicates decreased cortical excitability and consequent decreased readiness to act. The embodied approach forwards that the simultaneous involvement of the sensorimotor system in the processing of the linguistic content and in the planning of the response determines this language-motor interference effect. Here, in a combined behavioral and MEG study we investigated to what extent the processing of actions visually presented (i.e., pictures of actions) and verbally described (i.e., verbs in written words) share common neural mechanisms. The findings demonstrated that, whether an action is experienced visually or verbally, its processing engages the sensorimotor system in a comparable way. These results provide further support to the embodied view of semantic processing, suggesting that this process is independent from the modality of presentation of the stimulus, including language.