Journal article
Category-specific activations during word generation reflect experiential sensorimotor modalities
NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.), Vol.48(4), pp.717-725
12/2009
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.06.042
PMCID: PMC2792988
PMID: 19559802
Abstract
According to the sensorimotor theory of lexicosemantic organization, semantic representations are neurally distributed and anatomically linked to category-specific sensory areas. Previous functional neuroimaging studies have demonstrated category specificity in lexicosemantic representations. However, little evidence is available from word generation paradigms, which provide access to semantic representations while minimizing confounds resulting from low-level perceptual features of stimulus presentation. In this study, 13 healthy young adults underwent fMRI scanning while performing a word generation task, generating exemplars to nine different semantic categories. Each semantic category was assigned to one of three superordinate category types, based upon sensorimotor modalities (visual, motor, somatosensory) presumed to predominate in lexical acquisition. For word generation overall, robust activation was seen in left inferior frontal cortex. Analyses by sensorimotor modality categories yielded activations in brain regions related to perceptual and motor processing: Visual categories activated extrastriate cortex, motor categories activated the intraparietal sulcus and posterior middle temporal cortex, and somatosensory categories activated postcentral and inferior parietal regions. Our results are consistent with the sensorimotor theory, according to which lexicosemantic representations are distributed across brain regions participating in sensorimotor processing associated with the experiential components of lexicosemantic acquisition.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Category-specific activations during word generation reflect experiential sensorimotor modalities
- Creators
- Kai Hwang - Brain Development Imaging Laboratory, Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, USAErica D PalmerSurina BashoJonathan R ZadraRalph-Axel Müller
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.), Vol.48(4), pp.717-725
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.06.042
- PMID
- 19559802
- PMCID
- PMC2792988
- NLM abbreviation
- Neuroimage
- ISSN
- 1053-8119
- eISSN
- 1095-9572
- Publisher
- United States
- Grant note
- R01-NS43999 / NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS043999 / NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS043999-02 / NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS043999-01 / NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS043999-03 / NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS043999-04 / NINDS NIH HHS
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/2009
- Academic Unit
- Psychiatry; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984002493702771
Metrics
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