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12 - Neural foundations for conceptual representations: Evidence from functional brain imaging

from Part VI - Conceptual Models of Semantics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2009

By
Alex Martin
Edited by
John Hart  and
Michael A. Kraut
Alex Martin
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health
John Hart
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Dallas
Michael A. Kraut
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
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Summary

Overview

Semantic memory refers to a major division of declarative memory that includes knowledge of the meaning of objects and words. This chapter will focus on one aspect of the functional neuroanatomy of semantic memory: the representation of the meaning of concrete objects and object properties. The initial motivation for our work on this topic was reports of patients with so-called category-specific knowledge disorders – specifically, patients with relatively selective impaired knowledge about animals and other animate objects, and those with relatively selective impairments for man-made, inanimate objects such as tools. Since the publication of the seminal case studies by Warrington and colleagues (Warrington & McCarthy, 1983; Warrington & Shallice, 1984), well over 100 patients have been reported with a category-specific deficit for biological categories (living things, especially four-legged animals), relative to inanimate objects (especially tools and other artifacts), and more than 25 cases with the opposite pattern of deficit (Capitani et al., 2003). Our work has been motivated by an appreciation of the importance of these clinical cases for understanding the organization of conceptual knowledge, object recognition, and storage of long-term memories. In this chapter I shall outline a model of how conceptual knowledge about concrete entities (objects) is organized in the brain based on functional brain imaging studies of normal, intact individuals. From a theoretical perspective, the model attempts to incorporate the main features of property-based models that have dominated thinking about category-specific disorders for over one hundred years, and the challenge to this view from the Domain Specific theory (Caramazza & Shelton, 1998; for an overview of recent theories of the organization of conceptual knowledge in the brain see Caramazza, 1998; Martin & Caramazza, 2003).

Keywords

brain imagingconceptual knowledgefunctional neuroanatomyparahippocampal cortexsemantic memory
Type
Chapter
Information
Neural Basis of Semantic Memory , pp. 302 - 330
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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