scholarly journals Social and emotion dimensional organizations in the abstract semantic space: the neuropsychological evidence

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaosha Wang ◽  
Guochao Li ◽  
Gang Zhao ◽  
Yunqian Li ◽  
Bijun Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Semantic Space ◽  
Abstract Word ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Neural Organization ◽  
Semantic Judgment ◽  
Neuropsychological Evidence

AbstractAn essential aspect of human cognition is supported by a rich reservoir of abstract concepts without tangible external referents (e.g., “honor”, “relationship”, “direction”). While decades of research showed that the neural organization of conceptual knowledge referring to concrete words respects domains of evolutionary salience and sensorimotor attributes, the organization principles of abstract word meanings are poorly understood. Here, we provide neuropsychological evidence for a domain (sociality) and attribute (emotion) structure in abstract word processing. Testing 34 brain-damaged patients on a word-semantic judgment task, we observed double dissociations between social and nonsocial words and a single dissociation of sparing of emotional (relative to non-emotional) words. The lesion profiles of patients with specific dissociations suggest potential neural correlates positively or negatively associated with each dimension. These results unravel a general domain-attribute architecture of word meanings and highlight the roles of the social domain and the emotional attribute in the non-object semantic space.

scholarly journals Corroborating behavioral evidence for the interplay of representational richness and semantic control in semantic word processing

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Bechtold ◽  
Christian Bellebaum ◽  
Paul Hoffman ◽  
Marta Ghio
Keyword(s):  
Word Processing ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Abstract Word ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Healthy Adults ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Contextual Cues ◽  
Semantic Judgment ◽  
Behavioral Evidence

AbstractThis 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.

scholarly journals Neural Correlates of Abstract Verb Processing

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Rodríguez-Ferreiro ◽  
Silvia P. Gennari ◽  
Robert Davies ◽  
Fernando Cuetos
Keyword(s):  
Active Regions ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Abstract Word ◽  
Semantic Retrieval ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Property Integration ◽  
Verb Processing ◽  
Abstract Words ◽  
Extensive Body ◽  
Abstract Verbs

The present study investigated the neural correlates of the processing of abstract (low imageability) verbs. An extensive body of literature has investigated concrete versus abstract nouns but little is known about how abstract verbs are processed. Spanish abstract verbs including emotion verbs (e.g., amar, “to love”; molestar, “to annoy”) were compared to concrete verbs (e.g., llevar, “to carry”; arrastrar, “to drag”). Results indicated that abstract verbs elicited stronger activity in regions previously associated with semantic retrieval such as inferior frontal, anterior temporal, and posterior temporal regions, and that concrete and abstract activation networks (compared to that of pseudoverbs) were partially distinct, with concrete verbs eliciting more posterior activity in these regions. In contrast to previous studies investigating nouns, verbs strongly engage both left and right inferior frontal gyri, suggesting, as previously found, that right prefrontal cortex aids difficult semantic retrieval. Together with previous evidence demonstrating nonverbal conceptual roles for the active regions as well as experiential content for abstract word meanings, our results suggest that abstract verbs impose greater demands on semantic retrieval or property integration, and are less consistent with the view that abstract words recruit left-lateralized regions because they activate verbal codes or context, as claimed by proponents of the dual-code theory. Moreover, our results are consistent with distributed accounts of semantic memory because distributed networks may coexist with varying retrieval demands.

scholarly journals Distinct activated cortical areas and volumes in Uygur-Chinese bilinguals

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 227-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei Jiang ◽  
Li-Xia Yang ◽  
Lin Jia ◽  
Xin Shi ◽  
Hong Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Specific Pattern ◽  
Cortical Activation ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Semantic Judgment ◽  
Significant Difference

AbstractObjective: The aim of this study is to evaluate variations in cortical activation in early and late Uygur-Chinese bilinguals from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. Methodology: During a semantic judgment task with visual stimulation by a single Chinese or Uygur word, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed. The fMRI data regarding activated cortical areas and volumes by both languages were analyzed. Results: The first language (L1) and second language (L2) activated language-related hemispheric regions, including the left inferior frontal and parietal cortices, and L1 specifically activated the left middle temporal gyrus. For both L1 and L2, cortical activation was greater in the left hemisphere, and there was no significant difference in the lateralization index (LI) between the two languages (p > 0.05). Although the total activated cortical areas were larger in early than late bilinguals, the activation volumes were not significantly different. Conclusion: Activated brains areas in early and late fluent bilinguals largely overlapped. However, these areas were more scattered upon presentation of L2 than L1, and L1 had a more specific pattern of activation than L2. For both languages, the left hemisphere was dominant. We found that L2 proficiency level rather than age of acquisition had a greater influence on which brain areas were activated with semantic processing.

scholarly journals Multiple spatial codes for navigating 2-D semantic spaces

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Viganò ◽  
Valerio Rubino ◽  
Antonio Di Soccio ◽  
Marco Buiatti ◽  
Manuela Piazza
Keyword(s):  
Physical Space ◽  
Semantic Space ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Head Direction ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Neuronal Coding ◽  
Coding Schemes ◽  
Direction Of Movement ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
The Right

SummaryWhen mammals navigate in the physical environment, specific neurons such as grid-cells, head-direction cells, and place-cells activate to represent the navigable surface, the faced direction of movement, and the specific location the animal is visiting. Here we test the hypothesis that these codes are also activated when humans navigate abstract language-based representational spaces. Human participants learnt the meaning of novel words as arbitrary signs referring to specific artificial audiovisual objects varying in size and sound. Next, they were presented with sequences of words and asked to process them semantically while we recorded the activity of their brain using fMRI. Processing words in sequence was conceivable as movements in the semantic space, thus enabling us to systematically search for the different types of neuronal coding schemes known to represent space during navigation. By applying a combination of representational similarity and fMRI-adaptation analyses, we found evidence of i) a grid-like code in the right postero-medial entorhinal cortex, representing the general bidimensional layout of the novel semantic space; ii) a head-direction-like code in parietal cortex and striatum, representing the faced direction of movements between concepts; and iii) a place-like code in medial prefrontal, orbitofrontal, and mid cingulate cortices, representing the Euclidean distance between concepts. We also found evidence that the brain represents 1-dimensional distances between word meanings along individual sensory dimensions: implied size was encoded in secondary visual areas, and implied sound in Heschl’s gyrus/Insula. These results reveal that mentally navigating between 2D word meanings is supported by a network of brain regions hosting a variety of spatial codes, partially overlapping with those recruited for navigation in physical space.

scholarly journals Neuro-Cognitive Differences in Semantic Processing Between Native Speakers and Proficient Learners of Mandarin Chinese

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-Ho Lai ◽  
Shu-Kai Hsieh ◽  
Chia-Lin Lee ◽  
Lily I-Wen Su ◽  
Te-Hsin Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learners ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Fusiform Gyrus ◽  
Chinese Adult ◽  
Semantic Judgment ◽  
Ventral Pathway

The present study aimed to investigate the neural mechanism underlying semantic processing in Mandarin Chinese adult learners, focusing on the learners who were Indo-European language speakers with advanced levels of proficiency in Mandarin Chinese. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging technique and a semantic judgment task to test 24 Mandarin Chinese adult learners (L2 group) and 26 Mandarin Chinese adult native speakers (L1 group) as a control group. In the task, participants were asked to indicate whether two-character pairs were related in meaning. Compared to the L1 group, the L2 group had greater activation in the bilateral occipital regions, including the fusiform gyrus and middle occipital gyrus, as well as the right superior parietal lobule. On the other hand, less activation in the bilateral temporal regions was found in the L2 group relative to the L1 group. Correlation analysis further revealed that, within the L2 group, increased activation in the left middle temporal gyrus/superior temporal gyrus (M/STG, BA 21) was correlated with higher accuracy in the semantic judgment task as well as better scores in the two vocabulary tests, the Assessment of Chinese character list for grade 3 to grade 9 (A39) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised. In addition, functional connectivity analysis showed that connectivity strength between the left fusiform gyrus and left ventral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG, BA 47) was modulated by the accuracy in the semantic judgment task in the L1 group. By contrast, this modulation effect was weaker in the L2 group. Taken together, our study suggests that Mandarin Chinese adult learners rely on greater recruitment of the bilateral occipital regions to process orthographic information to access the meaning of Chinese characters. Also, our correlation results provide convergent evidence that the left M/STG (BA 21) plays a crucial role in the storage of semantic knowledge for readers to access to conceptual information. Moreover, the connectivity results indicate that the left ventral pathway (left fusiform gyrus-left ventral IFG) is associated with orthographic-semantic processing in Mandarin Chinese. However, this semantic-related ventral pathway might require more time and language experience to be developed, especially for the late adult learners of Mandarin Chinese.

scholarly journals Toward a speech-motor account of the effect of Age of Pacifier Withdrawal

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Barca
Keyword(s):  
Word Processing ◽  
Motor Program ◽  
Abstract Word ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Proprioceptive Information ◽  
Speech Acquisition ◽  
Emotional Words ◽  
Abstract Stimuli ◽  
Effect Of Age ◽  
Speech Motor

Overusing the pacifier in infancy affects abstract word processing later in life. In previous studies, we showed that using the pacifier for more than 3 years of age affects the conceptual relations used to define the meaning of words at age 6. Similarly, in semantically categorizing a set of abstract, concrete and emotional words, 8-years old children who used the pacifier for a longer period were slower in processing abstract stimuli, but not concrete and emotional ones. Children of both studies have a typical development and no diagnosis of cognitive or linguistic disorders. Here, we propose an account of the effect of Age of Pacifier Withdrawal (APW) within the DIVA neurocomputational model of speech development and production (Guenther, F.H., & Vladusich, T. (2013). A Neural Theory of speech acquisition and production. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 25 (5), 408-422.). Using the pacifier for a longer period during social interaction might hinder proprioceptive information and speech-motor program (limiting the co-articulation of speech) as well as auditory input (as the child receives an inaccurate input of his/her own speech). We suggest that auditory speech representation might be worth exploring in children using the pacifier for more than three years of age.

scholarly journals Language Processing at Its Trickiest: Grammatical Illusions and Heuristics of Judgment

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Evelina Leivada
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Two Populations ◽  
Acceptability Judgment

Humans are intuitively good at providing judgments about what forms part of their native language and what does not. Although such judgments are robust, consistent, and reliable, human cognition is demonstrably fallible to illusions of various types. Language is no exception. In the linguistic domain, several types of sentences have been shown to trick the parser into giving them a high acceptability judgment despite their ill-formedness. One example is the so-called comparative illusion (‘More people have been to Tromsø than I have’). To this day, comparative illusions have been tested mainly with monolingual, neurotypical speakers of English. The present research aims to broaden our understanding of this phenomenon by putting it to test in two populations that differ in one crucial factor: the number of languages they speak. A timed acceptability judgment task was administered to monolingual speakers of Standard Greek and bi(dia)lectal speakers of Standard and Cypriot Greek. The results are not fully in line with any of the semantic re-analyses proposed for the illusion so far, hence a new proposal is offered about what interpretation induces the illusion, appreciating the influence of both grammatical processing and cognitive heuristics. Second, the results reveal an effect of developmental trajectory. This effect may be linked to an enhanced ability to spot the illusion in bi(dia)lectals, but several factors can be identified as possible culprits behind this result. After discussing each of them, it is argued that having two grammars may facilitate the setting of a higher processing threshold, something that would entail decreased fallibility to grammatical illusions.

Neural Processing of What and Who Information in Speech

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 2690-2700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bharath Chandrasekaran ◽  
Alice H. D. Chan ◽  
Patrick C. M. Wong
Keyword(s):  
Word Processing ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Lexical Information ◽  
Strongly Coupled ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Auditory Word ◽  
Crucial Component ◽  
Types Of Information

Human speech is composed of two types of information, related to content (lexical information, i.e., “what” is being said [e.g., words]) and to the speaker (indexical information, i.e., “who” is talking [e.g., voices]). The extent to which lexical versus indexical information is represented separately or integrally in the brain is unresolved. In the current experiment, we use short-term fMRI adaptation to address this issue. Participants performed a loudness judgment task during which single or multiple sets of words/pseudowords were repeated with single (repeat) or multiple talkers (speaker-change) conditions while BOLD responses were collected. As reflected by adaptation fMRI, the left posterior middle temporal gyrus, a crucial component of the ventral auditory stream performing sound-to-meaning computations (“what” pathway), showed sensitivity to lexical as well as indexical information. Previous studies have suggested that speaker information is abstracted during this stage of auditory word processing. Here, we demonstrate that indexical information is strongly coupled with word information. These findings are consistent with a plethora of behavioral results that have demonstrated that changes to speaker-related information can influence lexical processing.

scholarly journals At the Edge of Semantic Space: The Breakdown of Coherent Concepts in Semantic Dementia Is Constrained by Typicality and Severity but Not Modality

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 2240-2251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily J. Mayberry ◽  
Karen Sage ◽  
Matthew A. Lambon Ralph
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Information Sources ◽  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Semantic Space ◽  
Semantic Dementia ◽  
Feature Integration ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Hub And Spoke ◽  
Invariant Representations ◽  
Multiple Modality

Hub-and-spoke models of semantic representation suggest that coherent concepts are formed from the integration of multiple, modality-specific information sources with additional modality-invariant representations—most likely stored in the ventrolateral anterior temporal lobe (vATL). As well as providing the necessary computational mechanisms for the complexities of feature integration, these modality-invariant representations also license a key aspect of semantic memory—semantic-based generalization. Semantic dementia allows us to investigate this aspect of conceptual knowledge because (a) the patients have a selective and progressive semantic degradation and (b) this is associated with profound ventrolateral ATL atrophy. Specifically, the boundaries between concepts become degraded in semantic dementia and, when tested using the appropriate materials, the patients make simultaneous under- and overgeneralization errors. We found that the rate of these errors were a function of typicality and psuedotypicality of the items as well as the severity of the patients' semantic impairment. Following the modality-invariant nature of the vATL hub representation, we also confirmed that the patients were impaired on both verbal- and picture-based versions of the same task.

The Word Processing Deficit in Semantic Dementia: All Categories Are Equal, but Some Categories Are More Equal than Others

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 2027-2041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friedemann Pulvermüller ◽  
Elisa Cooper-Pye ◽  
Clare Dine ◽  
Olaf Hauk ◽  
Peter J. Nestor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Case Series ◽  
Specific Pattern ◽  
Semantic Dementia ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Topography Model ◽  
Semantic Hub ◽  
Action Verbs

It has been claimed that semantic dementia (SD), the temporal variant of fronto-temporal dementia, is characterized by an across-the-board deficit affecting all types of conceptual knowledge. We here confirm this generalized deficit but also report differential degrees of impairment in processing specific semantic word categories in a case series of SD patients (N = 11). Within the domain of words with strong visually grounded meaning, the patients' lexical decision accuracy was more impaired for color-related than for form-related words. Likewise, within the domain of action verbs, the patients' performance was worse for words referring to face movements and speech acts than for words semantically linked to actions performed with the hand and arm. Psycholinguistic properties were matched between the stimulus groups entering these contrasts; an explanation for the differential degrees of impairment must therefore involve semantic features of the words in the different conditions. Furthermore, this specific pattern of deficits cannot be captured by classic category distinctions such as nouns versus verbs or living versus nonliving things. Evidence from previous neuroimaging research indicates that color- and face/speech-related words, respectively, draw most heavily on anterior-temporal and inferior-frontal areas, the structures most affected in SD. Our account combines (a) the notion of an anterior-temporal amodal semantic “hub” to explain the profound across-the-board deficit in SD word processing, with (b) a semantic topography model of category-specific circuits whose cortical distributions reflect semantic features of the words and concepts represented.

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