scholarly journals Shared and/or separate representations of animate/inanimate categories: An ERP study

Psihologija ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanja Kovic ◽  
Kim Plunkett ◽  
Gert Westermann
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Apparent Difference ◽  
Inanimate Object ◽  
Object Processing ◽  
Conceptual Processing ◽  
Semantic Organization ◽  
Conceptual Organization ◽  
Feature Based

This paper presents an ERP experiment examining the underlying nature of semantic representation of animate and inanimate objects. Time-locking ERP signatures to the onset of visual stimuli we found topological similarities in animate and inanimate object processing. Moreover, when mapping more general to more specific representation (auditory to visual stimuli) we found no difference between animates and in animates in the N400 amplitude either. This study provides further evidence for the theory of unitary semantic organization, but no support for the feature-based prediction of segregated conceptual organization. Surprisingly, it was also found that the P600 component, which has been thus far mostly related to syntactic processing to be a sensitive index of conceptual processing. The most apparent difference regarding P600 component was found between animate and inanimate matches, whereby animate matches elicited more positive ERP signatures in comparison to inanimate matches.

scholarly journals A unitary account of conceptual representations of animate/inanimate categories

Psihologija ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanja Kovic ◽  
Kim Plunkett ◽  
Gert Westermann
Keyword(s):  
Time Window ◽  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Inanimate Object ◽  
General Representation ◽  
Object Processing ◽  
Semantic Organization ◽  
Conceptual Organization ◽  
Feature Based ◽  
The Brain

In this paper we present an ERP study examining the underlying nature of semantic representation of animate and inanimate objects. Time-locking ERP signatures to the onset of auditory stimuli we found topological similarities in animate and inanimate object processing. Moreover, we found no difference between animates and inanimates in the N400 amplitude, when mapping more specific to more general representation (visual to auditory stimuli). These studies provide further evidence for the theory of unitary semantic organization, but no support for the feature-based prediction of segregated conceptual organization. Further comparisons of animate vs. inanimate matches and within-vs. between-category mismatches revealed following results: processing of animate matches elicited more positivity than processing of inanimates within the N400 time-window; also, inanimate mismatches elicited a stronger N400 than did animate mismatches. Based on these findings we argue that one of the possible explanations for finding different and sometimes contradictory results in the literature regarding processing and representations of animates and inanimates in the brain could lie in the variability of selected items within each of the categories, that is, homogeneity of the categories.

Weighting-based semantic similarity measure based on topological parameters in semantic taxonomy

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 861-886 ◽  
Author(s):  
ABDULGABBAR SAIF ◽  
UMMI ZAKIAH ZAINODIN ◽  
NAZLIA OMAR ◽  
ABDULLAH SAEED GHAREB
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Similarity ◽  
Similarity Measure ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Knowledge Engineering ◽  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Semantic Similarity Measure ◽  
Topological Parameters ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Comparison Results ◽  
Feature Based

AbstractSemantic measures are used in handling different issues in several research areas, such as artificial intelligence, natural language processing, knowledge engineering, bioinformatics, and information retrieval. Hierarchical feature-based semantic measures have been proposed to estimate the semantic similarity between two concepts/words depending on the features extracted from a semantic taxonomy (hierarchy) of a given lexical source. The central issue in these measures is the constant weighting assumption that all elements in the semantic representation of the concept possess the same relevance. In this paper, a new weighting-based semantic similarity measure is proposed to address the issues in hierarchical feature-based measures. Four mechanisms are introduced to weigh the degree of relevance of features in the semantic representation of a concept by using topological parameters (edge, depth, descendants, and density) in a semantic taxonomy. With the semantic taxonomy of WordNet, the proposed semantic measure is evaluated for word semantic similarity in four gold-standard datasets. Experimental results show that the proposed measure outperforms hierarchical feature-based semantic measures in all the datasets. Comparison results also imply that the proposed measure is more effective than information-content measures in measuring semantic similarity.

scholarly journals Perceptual and conceptual processing of visual objects across the adult lifespan

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rose Bruffaerts ◽  
◽  
Lorraine K. Tyler ◽  
Meredith Shafto ◽  
Kamen A. Tsvetanov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Semantic Information ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Object Processing ◽  
Adult Lifespan ◽  
Conceptual Processing ◽  
Mature Adults ◽  
Visual Objects ◽  
Age Related

Abstract Making sense of the external world is vital for multiple domains of cognition, and so it is crucial that object recognition is maintained across the lifespan. We investigated age differences in perceptual and conceptual processing of visual objects in a population-derived sample of 85 healthy adults (24–87 years old) by relating measures of object processing to cognition across the lifespan. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was recorded during a picture naming task to provide a direct measure of neural activity, that is not confounded by age-related vascular changes. Multiple linear regression was used to estimate neural responsivity for each individual, namely the capacity to represent visual or semantic information relating to the pictures. We find that the capacity to represent semantic information is linked to higher naming accuracy, a measure of task-specific performance. In mature adults, the capacity to represent semantic information also correlated with higher levels of fluid intelligence, reflecting domain-general performance. In contrast, the latency of visual processing did not relate to measures of cognition. These results indicate that neural responsivity measures relate to naming accuracy and fluid intelligence. We propose that maintaining neural responsivity in older age confers benefits in task-related and domain-general cognitive processes, supporting the brain maintenance view of healthy cognitive ageing.

scholarly journals A Semantic Representation of Map Projections Knowledge

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
E. Lynn Usery
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Appropriate Use ◽  
Easy Method ◽  
Map Projection ◽  
Map Projections ◽  
Semantic Organization ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Fundamental Part

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> A body of knowledge for cartography requires representing knowledge of the specific sub topics in the field. Map projections is a fundamental part of the knowledge base for cartography and a wealth of material exists on knowledge of map projections. Semantic organization of such knowledge is of primary importance to the access and use of map projections knowledge. This project builds a semantic representation for the fundamental parts of map projection knowledge. The semantics capture the concepts and relations between these concepts providing the user an easy method to access the knowledge and apply it to specific problems. The semantics represent classes of projections and the properties associated with those classes as well as the appropriate use. Such a representation can be accessed by humans or machines to arrive at appropriate selection and use of map projection theory.</p>

scholarly journals Variability driven animacy effects: Evidence of structural, not conceptual differences in processing animates and inanimates

Psihologija ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-83
Author(s):  
Vanja Kovic ◽  
Kim Plunkett ◽  
Gert Westermann
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Inanimate Object ◽  
Aquatic Animals ◽  
Single Study ◽  
Structural Differences ◽  
Processing Differences

The present eye-tracking study demonstrates that when animate and inanimate object pictures are presented within a single-study, there are no systematic differences between processing these two categories objects. Although participants were taking less time to initiate their first gaze towards animate than to inanimate objects, a result compatible with findings of Proverbio et al. (2007), it turned out that this quicker initiation of the first look in animates was driven by mammals and reptiles only and did not apply to insects or aquatic animals, most probably due to the structural differences within these subcategories. Fixations in this study do not cluster around certain features or areas of the objects for either animate or inanimate categories. Moreover, detailed analysis of looking behaviour does not reveal a clear animateinanimate distinction. Thus, given the failure of finding systematic differences between animates and inanimates when assessed using various looking behaviour measurements, the results do not support the prediction from modality specific conceptual account. In fact, these results are more in agreement with an alternative, distributed account of semantic representation that explains processing differences by structural differences between animate and inanimate objects.

scholarly journals The reign of typicality in semantic memory

2007 ◽  
Vol 362 (1481) ◽  
pp. 813-821 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karalyn Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Semantic Memory ◽  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Object Naming ◽  
Surface Representation ◽  
Object Processing ◽  
Conceptual Processing

This paper begins with a brief description of a theoretical framework for semantic memory, in which processing is inherently sensitive to the varying typicality of its representations. The approach is then elaborated with particular regard to evidence from semantic dementia, a disorder resulting in relatively selective deterioration of conceptual knowledge, in which cognitive performance reveals ubiquitous effects of typicality. This applies to frankly semantic tasks (like object naming), where typicality can be gauged by the extent to which an object or concept is characterized by shared features in its category. It also applies in tasks apparently requiring only access to a ‘surface’ representation (such as lexical decision) or translation from one surface representation to another (like reading words aloud), where typicality is defined in terms of the structure of the surface domain(s). The effects of surface-domain typicality also appear early in the time course of word and object processing by normal participants, as revealed in event-related potential studies. These results suggest that perceptual and conceptual processing form an interactive continuum rather than distinct stages, and that typicality effects reign throughout this continuum.

scholarly journals Visual features as stepping stones toward semantics: Explaining object similarity in IT and perception with non-negative least squares.

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamila M Jozwik ◽  
Nikolaus Kriegeskorte ◽  
Marieke Mur
Keyword(s):  
Least Squares ◽  
Object Representation ◽  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Visual Features ◽  
Stepping Stones ◽  
Combined Model ◽  
Categorical Model ◽  
Feature Based ◽  
Similarity Judgments ◽  
Object Similarity

Object similarity, in brain representations and conscious perception, must reflect a combination of the visual appearance of the objects on the one hand and the categories the objects belong to on the other. Indeed, visual object features and category membership have each been shown to contribute to the object representation in human inferior temporal (IT) cortex, as well as to object-similarity judgments. However, the explanatory power of features and categories has not been directly compared. Here, we investigate whether the IT object representation and similarity judgments are best explained by a categorical or a feature-based model. We use rich models (> 100 dimensions) generated by human observers for a set of 96 real-world object images. The categorical model consists of a hierarchically nested set of category labels (such as 'human', 'mammal', 'animal'). The feature model includes both object parts (such as 'eye', 'tail', 'handle') and other descriptive features (such as 'circular', 'green', 'stubbly'). We used non-negative least squares to fit the models to the brain representations (estimated from functional magnetic resonance imaging data) and to similarity judgments. Model performance was estimated on held-out images not used in fitting. Both models explained significant variance in IT and the amounts explained were not significantly different. The combined model did not explain significant additional IT variance, suggesting that it is the shared model variance (features correlated with categories, categories correlated with features) that best explains IT. The similarity judgments were almost fully explained by the categorical model, which explained significantly more variance than the feature-based model. The combined model did not explain significant additional variance in the similarity judgments. Our findings suggest that IT uses features that help to distinguish categories as stepping stones toward a semantic representation. Similarity judgments contain additional categorical variance that is not explained by visual features, reflecting a higher-level more purely semantic representation. Keywords: object vision, categories, features, human inferior temporal cortex, fMRI, representational similarity analysis

scholarly journals Coercion and Compositionality

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 2131-2140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giosuè Baggio ◽  
Travis Choma ◽  
Michiel van Lambalgen ◽  
Peter Hagoort
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Semantic Element

Research in psycholinguistics and in the cognitive neuroscience of language has suggested that semantic and syntactic processing are associated with different neurophysiologic correlates, such as the N400 and the P600 in the ERPs. However, only a handful of studies have investigated the neural basis of the syntax–semantics interface, and even fewer experiments have dealt with the cases in which semantic composition can proceed independently of the syntax. Here we looked into one such case—complement coercion—using ERPs. We compared sentences such as, “The journalist wrote the article” with “The journalist began the article.” The second sentence seems to involve a silent semantic element, which is expressed in the first sentence by the head of the verb phrase (VP) “wrote the article.” The second type of construction may therefore require the reader to infer or recover from memory a richer event sense of the VP “began the article,” such as began writing the article, and to integrate that into a semantic representation of the sentence. This operation is referred to as “complement coercion.” Consistently with earlier reading time, eye tracking, and MEG studies, we found traces of such additional computations in the ERPs: Coercion gives rise to a long-lasting negative shift, which differs at least in duration from a standard N400 effect. Issues regarding the nature of the computation involved are discussed in the light of a neurocognitive model of language processing and a formal semantic analysis of coercion.

scholarly journals On feature-based vocabulary selection mechanisms in late insertion: third person number agreement in the French future tense

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodica Frimu ◽  
Laurent Dekydtspotter
Keyword(s):  
Native Speaker ◽  
Conceptual Structure ◽  
Future Tense ◽  
Conceptual Processing ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Feature Structure ◽  
Information Scale ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Feature Based ◽  
Selection Mechanisms

We propose that feature bundles derived in syntactic computations activate congruent vocabulary entries inducing feature-based conceptual-structure processes in retrieval. Thus, for the French future tense, an inflectional node baring Number: Plural activates the forms mangera (EAT-FUT.3PS.SG) and mangeront (EAT-FUT.3PS.PL), which compete for insertion following the Subset Principle of Distributed Morphology. Indeed, the affix -a (3PS.SG) encodes Number with no further specification (notated Number: Ø), whereas -ont (3PS.PL) encodes Number: Plural, where Number: Ø is a subset of Number: Plural. This feature structure defines an information scale where plural-marked -ont is stronger. On this scale, informationally weaker -a (3PS.SG) is interpreted as [-Plural] in contrast with -ont via a scalar inference, becoming unsuitable for insertion. Thus, -ont (3PS.PL) is selected when -a (3PS.SG) is eliminated. We present evidence of conceptual-structure processing linked to underspecified morphology. In forced-pace reading and listening tasks, 19 native speaker subjects per task classified picture probes accompanying matching and mismatching subject-verb future tense agreement. Classification times for pictures semantically linked to the verb probed for an interaction between the processing of agreement morphology and the ongoing conceptual processing of the sentence. Classification times were modulated by the type of morphological mismatch. Singular verb form mangera (EAT-FUT.3PS.SG) slowed down picture classifications in plural contexts, whereas plural verb form mangeront (EAT-FUT.3PS.PL) in singular contexts did not. This interaction between purely formal agreement and conceptual-structure processing is unexplained by interface relations, frequency, information load, and phonological cohort activation. It suggests that domain-general principles of inference enrich domain-specific feature-based computations.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document