A neurosemantic theory of concrete noun representation based on the underlying brain codes.

ABSTRACT: This article describes the discovery of a set of biologically-driven semantic dimensions underlying the neural representation of concrete nouns, and then demonstrates how a resulting theory of noun representation can be used to identify simple thoughts through their fMRI patterns. We use factor analysis of fMRI brain imaging data to reveal the biological representation of individual concrete nouns like apple, in the absence of any pictorial stimuli. From this analysis emerge three main semantic factors underpinning the neural representation of nouns naming physical objects, which we label manipulation, shelter, and eating. Each factor is neurally represented in 3-4 different brain locations that correspond to a cortical network that co-activates in non-linguistic tasks, such as tool use pa

SUBMITTER: Just MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2797630 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature