scholarly journals When the Action to Be Performed at the Stage of Retrieval Enacts Memory of Action Verbs

2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-31
Author(s):  
Thibaut Brouillet ◽  
Arthur-Henri Michalland ◽  
Sophie Martin ◽  
Denis Brouillet
Keyword(s):  
Memory Performance ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Cued Recall ◽  
Motor Action ◽  
Real Objects ◽  
Verb Processing ◽  
Action Verbs ◽  
The Brain

Abstract. According to the embodied approach of language, concepts are grounded in sensorimotor mental states, and when we process language, the brain simulates some of the perceptions and actions that are involved when interacting with real objects. Moreover, several studies have highlighted that cognitive performances are dependent on the overlap between the motor action simulated and the motor action required by the task. On the other hand, in the field of memory, the role of action is under debate. The aim of this work was to show that performing an action at the stage of retrieval influences memory performance in a recognition task (experiment 1) and a cued recall task (experiment 2), even if the participants were never instructed to consider the implied action. The results highlighted an action-based memory effect at the retrieval stage. These findings contribute to the debate about the implication of motor system in action verb processing and its role for memory.

scholarly journals Interwoven functionality of the brain’s action and language systems

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Véronique Boulenger ◽  
Tatjana A. Nazir
Keyword(s):  
Word Meaning ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Action Perception ◽  
Semantic Retrieval ◽  
Motor Action ◽  
Electrophysiological Studies ◽  
Neuroimaging Study ◽  
Action Verbs ◽  
The Brain

Theories of embodied cognition consider language understanding as intimately linked to sensory and motor processes. Here we review evidence from kinematic and electrophysiological studies for the idea that processing of words referring to bodily actions, even when subliminally presented, recruits the same motor regions that are involved in motor control. We further discuss the functional role of the motor system in action word retrieval in light of neuropsychological data showing modulation of masked priming effects for action verbs in Parkinson’s patients as a function of dopaminergic treatment. Finally, a neuroimaging study revealing semantic somatotopy in the motor cortex during reading of idioms that include action words is presented. Altogether these findings provide strong arguments that semantic mechanisms are grounded in action-perception systems of the brain. They support the existence of common brain signatures to action words, even when embedded in idiomatic sentences, and motor action. They further suggest that motor schemata reflecting word meaning contribute to lexico-semantic retrieval of action words.

scholarly journals Dissociable electrophysiological correlates of semantic access of motor and non-motor concepts

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodika Sokoliuk ◽  
Sara Calzolari ◽  
Damian Cruse
Keyword(s):  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Specific Role ◽  
Cortical Activation ◽  
Motor Action ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Action Verbs ◽  
Healthy Participants

AbstractThe notion of semantic embodiment posits that concepts are represented in the same neural sensorimotor systems that were involved in their acquisition. However, evidence in support of embodied semantics – in particular the hypothesised contribution of motor and premotor cortex to the representation of action concepts – is varied. Here, we tested the hypothesis that, consistent with semantic embodiment, sensorimotor cortices will rapidly become active while healthy participants access the meaning of visually-presented motor and non-motor action verbs. Event-related potentials revealed early differential processing of motor and non-motor verbs (164-203ms) within distinct regions of cortex likely reflecting rapid cortical activation of differentially distributed semantic representations. However, we found no evidence for a specific role of sensorimotor cortices in supporting these representations. Moreover, we observed a later modulation of the alpha band (8-12Hz) from 555-785ms over central electrodes, with estimated generators within the left superior parietal lobule, which may reflect post-lexical activation of the object-directed features of the motor action concepts. In conclusion, we find no evidence for a specific role of sensorimotor cortices when healthy participants judge the meaning of visually-presented action verbs. However, the relative contribution of sensorimotor cortices to action comprehension may vary as a function of task goals.

scholarly journals Pattern separation is the key driver of expectation-modulated memory

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darya Frank ◽  
Daniela Montaldi
Keyword(s):  
Memory Performance ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Pattern Separation ◽  
Cognitive Factors ◽  
Previous Trial ◽  
Pattern Completion ◽  
Logical Deduction ◽  
Key Driver

AbstractThe hippocampus uses pattern separation and pattern completion in a continuous manner to successfully encode and retrieve memories1,2. However, whether and how cognitive factors might modulate the dynamics between these types of computation is not well understood. Here we examine the role of expectation in shifting the hippocampus to perform pattern separation. Expectation can be built up through multiple contextual exposures leading to prediction (as in a learnt contingency) or through logical deduction based on a previous mnemonic response. Participants first learned a contingency between a cue and an object’s category (man-made or natural). Then, at encoding, one third of the cues that preceded the to-be-memorised objects violated the studied rule. At test, participants performed an old/new recognition task with old items (targets) and a set of parametrically manipulated (very similar to dissimilar) new foils for each object. We explored the effects of both contextual expectation, manipulated at initial encoding, and mnemonic-attribution expectation, driven by the mnemonic decisions taken on previous retrieval trials. For example, a target would be unexpected if in a previous trial a similar foil had been erroneously accepted as old. Memory was found to be better for foils of high and mid similarity to contextually unexpected targets at encoding, compared to expected ones. Additionally, violations of mnemonic-attribution expectation also yielded improved memory performance when the level of foil similarity was high. These results suggest that violations of both contextual expectation and mnemonic-attribution expectation engage pattern separation, resulting in better discrimination performance for these items. Importantly, this mechanism is engaged when input differentiation is required in order to make a correct recognition decision.

The Investigation of Personality in Patients Treated by Prefrontal Leucotomy

1942 ◽  
Vol 88 (371) ◽  
pp. 275-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. L. Hutton
Keyword(s):  
Mental States ◽  
Clinical Results ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Empirical Methods ◽  
Early Results ◽  
Psychological Medicine ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Mere Addition

I have been fortunate in having the opportunity of studying several of the 15 patients treated by prefrontal leucotomy in connection with the Burden Neurological Institute. I do not propose to discuss the clinical results; it is much too early as yet for any authoritative opinion to be given, and a brief review of the literature and of the early results of the first 8 cases in this series was recently published in the Lancet. It may be mentioned, however, that the results are such as to justify the cautious adoption of this operation for therapeutic purposes. Although obviously any procedure of this kind is only justifiable on therapeutic grounds, its value for psychological medicine is far more than the mere addition of another effective therapeutic method, since for the first time in history an opportunity has been presented for the study of changes in personality produced by a relatively standardized local lesion of the brain, enabling us to investigate as never before the role of the frontal lobe in normal and abnormal mental states. This investigation involves the study and correlation of both neurological and psychological data, and encounters all the difficulties inherent in such correlation.I am only too well aware of the extremely hypothetical nature of much that follows, and of the crying need for experimental evidence to confirm or refute the view here propounded, but I believe that our knowledge of mental disorders would be immeasurably advanced could we but discover the rationale underlying our present empirical methods of therapy.

scholarly journals Developing a Semantic Similarity Judgment Test for Persian Action Verbs and Non-action Nouns in Patients With Brain Injury and Determining its Content Validity

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-181
Author(s):  
Tabassom Azimi ◽  
◽  
Zahra-Saddat Qoreishi ◽  
Reza Nilipour ◽  
Morteza Farazi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Similarity ◽  
Content Validity ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Similarity Judgment ◽  
Point Scale ◽  
Action Verb ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
Verb Processing ◽  
Action Verbs ◽  
The Brain

Objective: Brain trauma evidences suggest that the two grammatical categories of noun and verb are processed in different regions of the brain due to differences in the complexity of grammatical and semantic information processing. Studies have shown that the verbs belonging to different semantic categories lead to neural activity in different areas of the brain, and action verb processing is related to the activity of motor and pre-motor areas of the brain. Researchers use different tasks to evaluate action verb processing. The most common tasks are action naming and action fluency tasks. Although these types of tasks are sensitive to deficits in action verb processing, they do not specify the nature of the injury. To understand whether dysfunction in action verb processing is due to difficulty in lexical access or specific impairment in semantic processing, it is necessary to design a specific test to evaluate lexical-semantic processing. Semantic Similarity Judgment (SSJ) test targets the lexical-semantic encoding at a deep and controlled processing level. The purpose of the present study was to develop a SSJ test for Persian action verbs and non-action nouns and determine its content validity. Materials & Methods: In this methodological study, 70 Persian action concrete verbs and 80 Persian non-action concrete nouns were first selected. For each word, a semantically related word based on functional, physical, categorical features and similarity in action was selected according to the opinion of 4 experts (3 speech-language pathologists and one linguist) using a 7-point scale. For semantic similarity rating, only the pairs of words with a high semantic similarity score (5 to 7) remained and the rest were omitted. Then, for each pair of semantically related words, a semantically unrelated word was selected. After determining content validity qualitatively by three experts and removing inappropriate items, for matching the two sets of nouns and verbs, the lexical and psycholinguistic characteristics of the remaining words (207 nouns and 156 verbs) including frequency, number of syllables, phonemes, letters, phonological and orthographic neighbors, action association, imageability, familiarity and age of acquisition were extracted by 18 volunteers (13 speech-language pathologists and linguists and 5 parents selected by a convenience sampling method) based on a 7-point scale. The verbs with low action associations and the nouns with high action association were removed and then, the two sets of words were matched for other lexical and psycholinguistic characteristics. Finally, 34 triples of verbs with high action association and 34 triples of nouns with low action association were selected. In both noun and verb sets, the words were chosen in such a way that, in order to judge, the semantic features of the words need to be carefully considered. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and independent t-test.

scholarly journals Toddlers show sensorimotor activity during auditory verb processing

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Antognini ◽  
Moritz M. Daum
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Sensorimotor System ◽  
Mu Rhythm ◽  
Significant Suppression ◽  
Sensorimotor Activity ◽  
Verb Processing ◽  
Expressive Language Development ◽  
Verb Acquisition ◽  
Action Verbs

Language that describes actions, for instance verbs, can help to predict future actions of conspecifics in social interactions. Language and action are therefore interrelated. This interrelation has been described on a behavioral level for adults and toddlers. Furthermore, in adults, the sensorimotor system is involved in this interrelation. However, little is known about the early interrelation on the neural level at the onset of verb acquisition. In the present study, we examined the role of the sensorimotor system during the processing of acoustically presented verbs that describe dynamic actions and visually presented actions in toddlers, who are in the earliest stage of expressive language development. The activity of the sensorimotor system, in particular the suppression of the mu rhythm, was measured by means of electroencephalography (EEG). Results showed a significant suppression of the mu rhythm during both the processing of action verbs and observed actions, but not during the processing of pseudoverbs. This suggests that the sensorimotor system is already involved in the processing of action and language early in life.

Individual Differences in Conceptions of Soul, Mind, and Brain

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 157-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjaana Lindeman ◽  
Tapani Riekki ◽  
Annika M. Svedholm-Häkkinen
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Large Individual ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
Lay Conceptions ◽  
Paranormal Beliefs ◽  
Mind And Brain ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Brain

We examined how people see the role of the brain, the mind, and the soul in biological, psychobiological, and mental states. Three clusters of participants were identified. The monists attributed biological, psychobiological, and mental processes only to the brain, the emergentists attributed the processes to the brain and to the mind, and the spiritualists attributed the processes to the brain, the mind, and the soul. Most participants attributed all states more to the brain than to the mind or soul. Beliefs, desires, and emotions were thought of as more likely to continue after death than other states, but belief in immortal souls was rare and only found among those who also held religious and paranormal beliefs. The results indicate that laypeople may see beliefs, desires, and emotions as both states of the mind, of the soul, and of the brain; that there are large individual differences in how the concept of the soul is understood, and that in lay conceptions, the idea that the processes of mind are processes of brain does not exclude supernatural brain-soul dualism.

scholarly journals Deficits in Retention for Verbally Presented Medical Information

2012 ◽  
Vol 117 (4) ◽  
pp. 772-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth H. Sandberg ◽  
Ritu Sharma ◽  
Warren S. Sandberg
Keyword(s):  
Medical Information ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Cued Recall ◽  
Video Data ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Retrieval Cues ◽  
Information Giving ◽  
Institutional Review

Background Anesthesiologists deliver large quantities of verbal information to patients during preoperative teaching. Basic principles of cognitive psychology dictate that much of this information is likely to be forgotten. Exactly how much and what type of information can be retained and recalled remains an open question. Methods With Institutional Review Board approval, 98 healthy, educated volunteers viewed a brief video containing a preoperative explanation of anesthetic options and instructions. Subjects were then asked to engage in free and cued recall of information from the video, and to complete a recognition task. We developed a coding scheme to objectively score the free and cued recall tasks for the quantity of information recalled relative to the quantity presented in the video. Data are presented as descriptive statistics. Results Subjects spontaneously recalled less than 25% of the information presented. Providing retrieval cues greatly enhanced recall: Subjects recalled 67%, on average, of the material queried in the cued recall task. Performance was even stronger on the multiple-choice test (83% of items correctly answered), indicating that the information was initially encoded. The category of information that was consistently least-remembered was presurgical medication instructions. Conclusions Under realistic conditions for recall, most medical instruction given to patients will not be recalled, even if it is initially encoded. Given the limits of short-term memory, clinicians should carefully consider their patterns of information giving. Improvement of memory performance with cues for retrieval indicates that providing printed instructions for later review may be beneficial.

The Role of Mitochondria in the Genesis of Neuroaxonal Dystrophy in the Brains of Aging Mice

1975 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 372-373
Author(s):  
J.E. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Present Report ◽  
Light And Electron Microscopy ◽  
Dorsal Column ◽  
Neuroaxonal Dystrophy ◽  
Nucleus Gracilis ◽  
Dystrophic Axons ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Nucleus Cuneatus

Although neuroaxonal dystrophy (NAD) has been examined by light and electron microscopy for years, the nature of the components in the dystrophic axons is not well understood. The present report examines nucleus gracilis and cuneatus (the dorsal column nuclei) in the brain stem of aging mice.Mice (C57BL/6J) were sacrificed by aldehyde perfusion at ages ranging from 3 months to 23 months. Several brain areas and parts of other organs were processed for electron microscopy.At 3 months of age, very little evidence of NAD can be discerned by light microscopy. At the EM level, a few axons are found to contain dystrophic material. By 23 months of age, the entire nucleus gracilis is filled with dystrophic axons. Much less NAD is seen in nucleus cuneatus by comparison. The most recurrent pattern of NAD is an enlarged profile, in the center of which is a mass of reticulated material (reticulated portion; or RP).

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