scholarly journals Interoception: the forgotten modality in perceptual grounding of abstract and concrete concepts

2018 ◽  
Vol 373 (1752) ◽  
pp. 20170143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Connell ◽  
Dermot Lynott ◽  
Briony Banks
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Conceptual Content ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Perceptual Modalities ◽  
Five Senses ◽  
Concrete Concepts ◽  
Taste And Smell ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Emotion Concepts

Conceptual representations are perceptually grounded, but when investigating which perceptual modalities are involved, researchers have typically restricted their consideration to vision, touch, hearing, taste and smell. However, there is another major modality of perceptual information that is distinct from these traditional five senses; that is, interoception, or sensations inside the body. In this paper, we use megastudy data (modality-specific ratings of perceptual strength for over 32 000 words) to explore how interoceptive information contributes to the perceptual grounding of abstract and concrete concepts. We report how interoceptive strength captures a distinct form of perceptual experience across the abstract–concrete spectrum, but is markedly more important to abstract concepts (e.g. hungry , serenity ) than to concrete concepts (e.g. capacity , rainy ). In particular, interoception dominates emotion concepts, especially negative emotions relating to fear and sadness , moreso than other concepts of equivalent abstractness and valence. Finally, we examine whether interoceptive strength represents valuable information in conceptual content by investigating its role in concreteness effects in word recognition, and find that it enhances semantic facilitation over and above the traditional five sensory modalities. Overall, these findings suggest that interoception has comparable status to other modalities in contributing to the perceptual grounding of abstract and concrete concepts. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain'.

scholarly journals Hand size underestimation grows during childhood

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucilla Cardinali ◽  
Andrea Serino ◽  
Monica Gori
Keyword(s):  
Motor Behavior ◽  
Sensory Modality ◽  
The Body ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Cognitive Representations ◽  
Hand Size ◽  
Infancy And Childhood ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Sensory Maps ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Cortical body size representations are distorted in the adult, from low-level motor and sensory maps to higher levels multisensory and cognitive representations. Little is known about how such representations are built and evolve during infancy and childhood. Here we investigated how hand size is represented in typically developing children aged 6 to 10. Participants were asked to estimate their hand size using two different sensory modalities (visual or haptic). We found a distortion (underestimation) already present in the youngest children. Crucially, such distortion increases with age and regardless of the sensory modality used to access the representation. Finally, underestimation is specific for the body as no bias was found for object estimation. This study suggests that the brain does not keep up with the natural body growth. However, since motor behavior nor perception were impaired, the distortion seems functional and/or compensated for, for proper interaction with the external environment.

scholarly journals Body models in humans, animals, and robots: mechanisms and plasticity

2021 ◽  
pp. 152-180
Author(s):  
Matej Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Body Image ◽  
Body Schema ◽  
Internal Representation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Representations ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Human Animal ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Combining Information

Humans and animals excel in combining information from multiple sensory modalities, controlling their complex bodies, adapting to growth or failures, or using tools. The key foundation is an internal representation of the body that the agent—human, animal, or robot—has developed. In the biological realm, evidence has been accumulating in diverse disciplines, giving rise to the concepts of body image, body schema, and others. In robotics, a model of the robot is an indispensable component that enables to control the machine. This chapter compares the character of body representations in biology with their robotic counterparts and relates that to the differences in performance observed. Conclusions are drawn about how robots can inform the biological sciences dealing with body representations and which of the features of the ‘body in the brain’ should be transferred to robots, giving rise to more adaptive and resilient self-calibrating machines.

scholarly journals Body Representation in Anorexia Nervosa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anouk Keizer ◽  
Manja Engel
Keyword(s):  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Body Representation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Size Perception ◽  
Tactile Stimuli ◽  
Body Experiences ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Multisensory Information ◽  
The Brain

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder that mainly affects young women. One of the most striking symptoms of this disorder is the distorted experience of body size and shape. Patients are by definition underweight, but experience and perceive their body as bigger than it in reality is. This body representation disturbance has fascinated scientists for many decades, leading to a rich and diverse body of literature on this topic. Research shows that AN patients do not only think that their body is bigger than reality, and visually perceive it as such, but that other sensory modalities also play an important role in oversized body experiences. Patients for example have an altered (enlarged) size perception of tactile stimuli, and move their body as if it is larger than it actually is. Moreover, patients with AN appear to process and integrate multisensory information differently than healthy individuals, especially in relation to body size. This leads to the conclusion that the representation of the size of the body in the brain is enlarged. This conclusion has important implications for the treatment of body representation disturbances in AN. Traditionally treatment of AN is very cognitive in nature, it is possible however that changed cognitions with respect to body size experiences do not lead to actual changes in metric representations of body size stored in the brain. Recently a few studies have been published in which a multisensory approach in treatment of body representation disturbance in AN has been found to be effective in treating this symptom of AN.

scholarly journals Dynamic grounding of emotion concepts

2018 ◽  
Vol 373 (1752) ◽  
pp. 20170127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Winkielman ◽  
Seana Coulson ◽  
Paula Niedenthal
Keyword(s):  
Embodied Cognition ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Sensorimotor Systems ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Emotion Concepts

Emotion concepts are important. They help us to understand, experience and predict human behaviour. Emotion concepts also link the realm of the abstract with the realm of bodily experience and actions. Accordingly, the key question is how such concepts are created, represented and used. Embodied cognition theories hold that concepts are grounded in neural systems that produce experiential and motor states. Concepts are also contextually situated and thus engage sensorimotor resources in a dynamic, flexible way. Finally, on that framework, conceptual understanding unfolds in time, reflecting embodied as well as linguistic and cultural influences. In this article, we review empirical work on emotion concepts and show how it highlights their grounded, yet dynamic and context-sensitive nature. The conclusions are consistent with recent developments in embodied cognition that allow concepts to be linked to sensorimotor systems, yet be flexibly sensitive to current representational and action needs. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain’.

D'Aversa et al., (2021). Categorization of Chinese words_preprint

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Mayo D'Aversa ◽  
Luisa Lugli ◽  
Anna M. Borghi ◽  
Laura Barca
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Content ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Mixed Structure ◽  
Conceptual Content ◽  
Concreteness Effect ◽  
Computer Mouse ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Concrete Concepts ◽  
Concrete Component

This study extends the examination of the difference between abstract concepts to the Chinese language and its peculiar characteristics in word formation, where components with different semantic content might be aggregated within a word. Chinese students categorized abstract and concrete words by moving the computer mouse towards the selected choice. Stimuli with a ‘semantically simple structure’ (i.e., abstract-abstract/concrete-concrete) were compared with those with a ‘mixed structure’ (i.e., abstract-concrete/concrete-abstract) to test for an effect of the conceptual content of the stimulus’s components on its overall processing. Response time and kinematic parameters revealed that: a) the semantic content of the components affected the processing of abstract but not concrete concepts, b) concepts differed when they have a semantically mixed structure, not a simple one. We extend the concreteness effect also to logographic script and provide evidence that the presence of concrete component within an abstract concept is elaborated and affects its processing.

scholarly journals How do blind people represent rainbows? Disentangling components of conceptual representations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ella Striem-Amit ◽  
Xiaoying Wang ◽  
Yanchao Bi ◽  
Alfonso Caramazza
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Information ◽  
Neural Representation ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Medial Dorsal ◽  
Sensory Features ◽  
Pattern Similarity ◽  
Temporal Pole ◽  
Concrete Concepts ◽  
The Brain

AbstractHow do we represent information that has no sensory features? How are abstract concepts like “freedom”, devoid of external perceptible referents, represented in the brain? To address the role of sensory information in the neural representation of concepts, we investigated how people born blind process concepts whose referents are imperceptible to them because of their visual nature (e.g. “rainbow”, or “red”). We find that the left dorsal anterior temporal lobe (ATL) shows preference both to typical abstract concepts (“freedom”) and to concepts whose referents are not sensorially-available to the blind (“rainbow”), as compared to partially sensorially-perceptible referents (e.g. “rain”). Activation pattern similarity in dorsal ATL is related to the sensorial-accessibility ratings of the concepts in the blind. Parts of inferior-lateral aspects of ATL and the temporal pole responded preferentially to abstract concepts devoid of any external referents (“freedom”) relative to imperceptible objects, in effect distinguishing between object and non-object concepts. The medial ATL showed a preference for concrete concepts (“cup”), along with a preference for partly perceptible items to the blind (“rain”, as compared with “rainbow”), indicating this region’s role in representing concepts with sensory referents beyond vision. The findings point to a new division of labor among medial, dorsal and lateral aspects of ATL in representing different properties of object and non-object concepts.

scholarly journals THE STUDY OF CONCEPTUAL COMPOSITION OF SOVIET POETRY DEVOTED TO THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR

2017 ◽  
pp. 208-216
Author(s):  
E. V. Shelestyuk
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Conceptual Structure ◽  
The Body ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Civilian Life ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
Objective Representation ◽  
Concrete Concepts ◽  
Basic Level

The article describes the conceptual structure of the body of Soviet poetry, dedicated to the Great Patriotic War, identified by the automatic semantic analysis, cluster analysis and contextual interpretation of semantic core. We specify the central lexis (the semantic weight ≥20), the near peripheral lexis (19-6) and the far peripheral lexis (5-2) and hence the nuclear, auxiliary and peripheral concepts. We also determine the ratio of generalized or abstract concepts and concrete, basic-level concepts; the former somewhat prevail over the latter. The abstract concepts include "intellective" (war, waiting, return, death, memory, hope, glory, grand, terrible, Motherland, victory, come to life, soul, etc.) and "emotive" (grief, sadness, guilt, love, fear, fatigue, courage, duty, power, pain, conscience, etc.). The concrete concepts provide detailed profiling of the ground against which particular figures are represented, here we find the realities of the front (soldiers, trench, track, wet, drag, move, attack, run, boom, etc.), and the realities of the civilian life (yard, childhood, garden, village, hut, etc.); the realities of military and civilian life are closely intertwined. Based on R. Langacker’s tenet that the greater the attention upon the ground, the greater the objectivity of construal, we conclude on the objective representation of the wartime by the Soviet poets.

scholarly journals Boundaries to grounding abstract concepts

2018 ◽  
Vol 373 (1752) ◽  
pp. 20170132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Pecher ◽  
René Zeelenberg
Keyword(s):  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Concept Representation ◽  
Motor Processing ◽  
Image Schemas ◽  
Sensory Motor ◽  
Concrete Concepts ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Concrete Representations ◽  
Processing Language

Grounded theories of cognition claim that concept representation relies on the systems for perception and action. The sensory-motor grounding of abstract concepts presents a challenge for these theories. Some accounts propose that abstract concepts are indirectly grounded via image schemas or situations. Recent research, however, indicates that the role of sensory-motor processing for concrete concepts may be limited, providing evidence against the idea that abstract concepts are grounded via concrete concepts. Hybrid models that combine language and sensory-motor experience may provide a more viable account of abstract and concrete representations. We propose that sensory-motor grounding is important during acquisition and provides structure to concepts. Later activation of concepts relies on this structure but does not necessarily involve sensory-motor processing. Language is needed to create coherent concepts from diverse sensory-motor experiences. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain’.

The Human Body: Lift the Flap and Learn by P. Hédelin

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Trish Chatterley
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Dental Health ◽  
The Body ◽  
Simple Explanation ◽  
Body Lift ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Early Readers ◽  
Five Senses ◽  
The University ◽  
The Brain

Hédelin, Pascale, Robert Barborini, and Katherine Dearlove. The Human Body: Lift the Flap and Learn. Toronto: Owlkids, 2010. Print. This book provides an introduction to the human body and its functions. It is one book in the (so far) three part “Lift the Flap and Learn” series published by Owl Kids. Intended for children aged four and up, the flaps, pull tabs, rotating wheels, and sliding pieces make for an interactive reading experience. Beginning readers will definitely need help with some of the terminology. Some of the tabs were a bit sticky at first, especially the ones manipulating multiple slats, but overall the tabs seem fairly sturdy. The book begins with a simple explanation of how babies are created and born. It then progresses through descriptions and visuals of the muscular, skeletal, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, and nervous systems. The two-page section about the nervous system provides an overview of the brain, but provides limited reference to nerves in the rest of the body. The book also covers the five senses, dental health and sickness. There are messages scattered throughout about how to stay healthy; these messages encourage brushing your teeth, eating well, and getting a good night’s sleep. The cartoon-like illustrations would appeal to children, as the simplified images will not overwhelm them with anatomical detail. There is a good text to image ratio. The text is in a sufficiently large font size, and most images are quite colourful. Some true anatomical names are used.  Several have pronunciations indicated in parentheses but others (such as the term bronchial) do not. These terms may pose problems for early readers. In general, this book provides a simple and accurate introduction to the human body. Recommended: 3 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Trish ChatterleyTrish is a Public Services Librarian for the John W. Scott Health Sciences Library at the University of Alberta. In her free time she enjoys dancing, gardening, and reading books of all types. 

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