Spatio-temporal activity of brain electrical sources during processing of abstract social concepts.

concepts frequently refer to socialness, that is knowledge about interactions between people. Grounded cognition theories propose that such social concepts are represented in brain circuits involved in processing social interactions. The present event-related potential study investigated the time course of electrical brain activity in response to abstract social concepts compared to abstract control concepts presented during a lexical decision task.

Experiential grounding of abstract concepts: Processing of abstract mental state concepts engages brain regions involved in mentalizing, automatic speech, and lip movements.

concepts like mental state concepts lack a physical referent, which can be directly perceived. Classical theories therefore claim that abstract concepts require amodal representations detached from experiential brain systems. However, grounded cognition approaches suggest an involvement of modal experiential brain regions in the processing of abstract concepts.

Academic training increases grounding of scientific concepts in experiential brain systems.

Scientific concepts typically transcendent our sensory experiences. Traditional approaches to science education therefore assume a shift towards amodal or verbal knowledge representations during academic training. Grounded cognition approaches, in contrast, predict a maintenance of grounding of the concepts in experiential brain networks or even an increase.

Differential temporo-spatial pattern of electrical brain activity during the processing of abstract concepts related to mental states and verbal associations.

Refined grounded cognition accounts propose that abstract concepts might be grounded in brain circuits involved in mentalizing. In the present event-related potential (ERP) study, we compared the time course of neural processing in response to semantically predefined abstract mental states and verbal association concepts during a lexical decision task. In addition to scalp ERPs, source estimates of underlying volume brain activity were determined to reveal spatio-temporal clusters of greater electrical brain activity to abstract mental state vs.

Time course of brain activity during the processing of motor- and vision-related abstract concepts: flexibility and task dependency.

Grounded cognition theories assume that conceptual processing depends on modality-specific brain systems in a context-dependent fashion. Although the relation of abstract concepts to modality-specific systems is less obvious than for concrete concepts, recent behavioral and neuroimaging studies indicated a foundation of abstract concepts in vision and action. However, due to their poor temporal resolution, neuroimaging studies cannot determine whether sensorimotor activity reflects rapid access to conceptual information or later conceptual processes.

Brain Activation During Conceptual Processing of Action and Sound Verbs.

Grounded cognition approaches to conceptual representations postulate a close link between conceptual knowledge and the sensorimotor brain systems. The present fMRI study tested, whether a feature-specific representation of concepts, as previously demonstrated for nouns, can also be found for action- and sound-related verbs. Participants were presented with action- and soundrelated verbs along with pseudoverbs while performing a lexical decision task.

The grounding of abstract concepts in the motor and visual system: An fMRI study.

The grounding of concepts in the sensorimotor brain systems is controversially discussed. Grounded cognition models propose that concepts are represented in modality-specific sensorimotor, but also emotional and introspective brain areas depending on specific experiences during concept acquisition. Accumulating evidence suggests that concrete concepts are closely linked to modality-specific systems, whereas the mere existence of abstract concepts seems to contradict grounded cognition approaches.

Processing of Action and Sound Verbs in Context: An FMRI Study.

Recent theories propose a flexible recruitment of sensory and motor brain regions during conceptual processing depending on context and task. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging study investigated the influence of context and task on conceptual processing of action and sound verbs. Participants first performed an explicit semantic context decision task, in which action and sound verbs were presented together with a context noun.

Attentional modulation of masked semantic priming by visible and masked task cues.

In contrast to classical theories of cognitive control, recent evidence suggests that cognitive control and unconscious automatic processing influence each other. First, masked semantic priming, an index of unconscious automatic processing, depends on attention to semantics induced by a previously executed task. Second, cognitive control operations (e.

The Semantic Content of Abstract Concepts: A Property Listing Study of 296 Abstract Words.

The relation of abstract concepts to the modality-specific systems is discussed controversially. According to classical approaches, the semantic content of abstract concepts can only be coded by amodal or verbal-symbolic representations distinct from the sensory and motor systems, because abstract concepts lack a clear physical referent. Grounded cognition theories, in contrast, propose that abstract concepts do not depend only on the verbal system, but also on a variety of modal systems involving perception, action, emotion and internal states.

Functional reorganization of the conceptual brain system after deafness in early childhood.

The neurodevelopmental consequences of deafness on the functional neuroarchitecture of the conceptual system have not been intensively investigated so far. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we therefore identified brain areas involved in conceptual processing in deaf and hearing participants. Conceptual processing was probed by a pictorial animacy decision task.

Feature-Specific Event-Related Potential Effects to Action- and Sound-Related Verbs during Visual Word Recognition.

Grounded cognition theories suggest that conceptual representations essentially depend on modality-specific sensory and motor systems. Feature-specific brain activation across different feature types such as action or audition has been intensively investigated in nouns, while feature-specific conceptual category differences in verbs mainly focused on body part specific effects. The present work aimed at assessing whether feature-specific event-related potential (ERP) differences between action and sound concepts, as previously observed in nouns, can also be found within the word class of verbs.

Handwriting or Typewriting? The Influence of Pen- or Keyboard-Based Writing Training on Reading and Writing Performance in Preschool Children.

Digital writing devices associated with the use of computers, tablet PCs, or mobile phones are increasingly replacing writing by hand. It is, however, controversially discussed how writing modes influence reading and writing performance in children at the start of literacy. On the one hand, the easiness of typing on digital devices may accelerate reading and writing in young children, who have less developed sensory-motor skills.

Unconscious automatic brain activation of acoustic and action-related conceptual features during masked repetition priming.

Classical theories of semantic memory assume that concepts are represented in a unitary amodal memory system. In challenging this classical view, pure or hybrid modality-specific theories propose that conceptual representations are grounded in the sensory-motor brain areas, which typically process sensory and action-related information. Although neuroimaging studies provided evidence for a functional-anatomical link between conceptual processing of sensory or action-related features and the sensory-motor brain systems, it has been argued that aspects of such sensory-motor activation may not directly reflect conceptual processing but rather strategic imagery or postconceptual elaboration.

Masked priming of conceptual features reveals differential brain activation during unconscious access to conceptual action and sound information.

Previous neuroimaging studies suggested an involvement of sensory-motor brain systems during conceptual processing in support of grounded cognition theories of conceptual memory. However, in these studies with visible stimuli, contributions of strategic imagery or semantic elaboration processes to observed sensory-motor activity cannot be entirely excluded. In the present study, we therefore investigated the electrophysiological correlates of unconscious feature-specific priming of action- and sound-related concepts within a novel feature-priming paradigm to specifically probe automatic processing of conceptual features without the contribution of possibly confounding factors such as orthographic similarity or response congruency.

Losing the sound of concepts: damage to auditory association cortex impairs the processing of sound-related concepts.

Conceptual knowledge is classically supposed to be abstract and represented in an amodal unitary system, distinct from the sensory and motor brain systems. A more recent embodiment view of conceptual knowledge, however, proposes that concepts are grounded in distributed modality-specific brain areas which typically process sensory or action-related object information. Recent neuroimaging evidence suggested the significance of left auditory association cortex encompassing posterior superior and middle temporal gyrus in coding conceptual sound features of everyday objects.