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Regional brain activations differ for semantic features but not categories
Authors:
LEE, A.C.H., GRAHAM, K.S., Simons, J.S., HODGES, J.R., OWEN, A.M. & PATTERSON, K.
Reference:
Neuroreport 13(12), 1497-1501
Year of publication:
2002
CBU number:
5230
Abstract:
Is human semantic knowledge neurally organised according to either category (e.g. living versus non-living) or attribute type (e.g. perceptual versus non-perceptual information)? Normal subjects were scanned using Positron Emission Tomography during a novel semantic production task, in which they generated either perceptual or non-perceptual information in response to names of living or non-living concepts. Analyses of blood flow in the temporal lobes revealed no significant differences associated with responses to living versus non-living concepts. Comparisons between retrieval of perceptual versus non-perceptual information, however, revealed significantly greater blood flow in left posterior inferior temporal cortex and right fusiform cortex associated with perceptual information and in left middle temporal cortex with non-perceptual information. These findings support a primarily attribute-based neural organisation of semantic knowledge.
