The neural representation of abstract words: The role of emotion

Cerebral Cortex

Volumn 24, Issue 7, 2014, Pages 1767-1777

  Vigliocco, Gabriella ^a   Kousta, Stavroula Thaleia ^b   Della Rosa, Pasquale Anthony ^c   Vinson, David P ^a   Tettamanti, Marco ^c   Devlin, Joseph T ^a   Cappa, Stefano F ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

^b Trends in Cognitive Sciences   (United States)

^c VITA SALUTE SAN RAFFAELE UNIVERSITY   (Italy)

Author keywords

abstract words; anterior cingulate cortex; emotion processing; fMRI; lexical decision; rostral ACC; semantic memory

Indexed keywords

ADULT; AFFECT; AMYGDALOID NUCLEUS; ANTERIOR CINGULATE; ARTICLE; ASSOCIATION; CONFLICT MANAGEMENT; EMOTION; FEMALE; FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING; HUMAN; HUMAN EXPERIMENT; INFORMATION PROCESSING; LINGUISTICS; MALE; NEUROMODULATION; NORMAL HUMAN; NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE SCANNER; PRIORITY JOURNAL; RESPONSE TIME; SENSORIMOTOR FUNCTION; ADOLESCENT; BLOOD; BRAIN; BRAIN MAPPING; DECISION MAKING; NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING; PHOTOSTIMULATION; PHYSIOLOGY; REACTION TIME; SEMANTICS; STATISTICAL MODEL; THREE DIMENSIONAL IMAGING; VASCULARIZATION; YOUNG ADULT;

OXYGEN;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; BRAIN; BRAIN MAPPING; DECISION MAKING; EMOTIONS; FEMALE; HUMANS; IMAGING, THREE-DIMENSIONAL; LINEAR MODELS; MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING; MALE; OXYGEN; PHOTIC STIMULATION; REACTION TIME; SEMANTICS; VOCABULARY; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84902489495     PISSN: 10473211     EISSN: 14602199     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bht025     Document Type: Article

References (78)

1. Andrews M, Vigliocco G, Vinson DP. 2009. Integrating experiential and distributional data to learn semantic representations. Psychol Rev. 116:463-498.
2. Ashburner J, Friston KJ. 2005. Unified segmentation. NeuroImage. 26:839-851.
3. Balota DA, Yap MJ, Hutchison KA, Cortese MJ, Kessler B, Loftis B, Neely JH, Nelson DL, Simpson GB, Treiman R et al. 2007. The English lexicon project. Behav Res Methods. 39:445-459.
4. Barsalou LW. 1999. Perceptual symbol systems. Behav Brain Sci. 22:577-609.
5. Barsalou LW, Simmons WK, Barbey AK, Wilson CD. 2003. Grounding conceptual knowledge in modality-specific systems. Trends Cogn Sci. 7:84-91.
6. Barsalou LW, Wiemer-Hastings K. 2005. Situating abstract concepts. In: Pecher D, Zwaan RA, editors. Grounding cognition: The role of perception and action in memory, language, and thinking. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 129-163.
7. Beckmann M, Johansen-Berg H, Rushworth MFS. 2009. Connectivitybased parcellation of human cingulated cortex and its relation to functional specialization. J Neurosci. 29:1175-1190.
8. Binder JR, Desai RH. 2011. The neurobiology of semantic memory. Trends Cogn Sci. 15:527-536.
9. Binder JR, Desai RH, Graves WW, Conant LL. 2009. Where is the semantic system? A critical review and meta-analysis of 120 functional neuroimaging studies. Cereb Cortex. 19:2767-2796.
10. Binder JR, Westbury CF, McKiernan KA, Possing ET, Medler DA. 2005. Distinct brain systems for processing concrete and abstract words. J Cogn Neurosci. 17:905-917.
11. Binney RJ, Embleton KV, Jefferies E, Parker GJM, Lambon Ralph MA. 2010. The ventral and inferolateral aspects of the anterior temporal lobe are crucial in semantic memory: evidence from a novel direct comparison of distortion-corrected fMRI, rTMS, and semantic dementia. Cerebral Cortex. 20:2728-2738.
12. Boulenger V, Hauk O, Pulvermuller F. 2009. Grasping ideas with the motor system: Semantic somatotopy in idiom comprehension. Cereb Cortex. 19:1905-1914.
13. Bradley MM, Lang PJ. 1999. Affective norms for English words (ANEW): Stimuli, instruction manual and affective ratings. Technical report C-1. Gainesville, FL. The Center for Research in Psychophysiology, University of Florida
14. Bretherton I, Beeghly M. 1982. Talking about internal states: The acquisition of an explicit theory of mind. Dev Psychol. 18:906-921.
15. Bush G, Luu P, Posner MI. 2000. Cognitive and emotional influences in anterior cingulate cortex. Trends Cogn Sci. 4:215-222.
16. Chiba T, Kayahara T, Nakano K. 2001. Efferent projections of infralimbic and prelimbic areas of the medial prefrontal cortex in the Japanese monkey, Macaca fuscata. Brain Res. 888:83-101.
17. Collins DL, Neelin P, Peters TM, Evans AC. 1994. Automatic 3D intersubject registration of MR volumetric data in standarized Talairach space. J Comput Assist Tomogr. 18:192-205.
18. Coltheart M. 1981. The MRC psycholinguistic database. Q J Exp Psychol. 33A:497-505.
19. Decety J, Grezes J. 2006. The power of simulation: Imagining one's own and other's behaviour. Brain Res. 1079:4-14.
20. Della Rosa PA, Catricalà E, Vigliocco G, Cappa SF. 2011. Beyond the abstract-concrete dichotomy: Mode of acquisition, concreteness, imageability, familiarity, age of acquisition, context availability, and abstractness norms for a set of 417 Italian words. Behav Res Methods. 42:1042-1048.
21. Desai RH, Binder JR, Conant LL, Mano QR, Seidenberg MS. 2011. The neural career of sensory-motor metaphors. J Cogn Neurosci. 23:2376-2386.
22. Duyck W, Desmet T, Verbeke L, Brysbaert M. 2004. WordGen: A tool for word selection and non-word generation in Dutch, German, English, and French. Behav Res Methods. 36:488-499.
23. Eickhoff KE, Stephan H, Mohlberg C, Grefkes GR, Fink K, Amunts K, Zilles B. 2005. A new SPM toolbox for combining probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps and functional imaging data. NeuroImage. 25:1325-1335.
24. Etkin A, Egner T, Kalish R. 2011. Emotional processing in anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex. Trends Cogn Sci. 15:85-93.
25. Etkin A, Egner T, Peraza DM, Kandel ER, Hirsch J. 2006. Resolving emotional conflict: A role for the rostral anterior cingulate cortex in modulating activity in the amygdala. Neuron. 52:871.
26. Evans A, Kamber M, Collins D, MacDonald D. 1994. An MRI-based probabilistic atlas of neuroanatomy. In: Shorvon S, Fish D, Andermann F, Bydder G, Stefan H, editors. Magnetic resonance scanning and epilepsy. New York: Plenum. p. 263-274.
27. Fiebach CJ, Friederici AD. 2003. Processing concrete words: fMRI evidence against a specific right-hemisphere involvement. Neuropsychologia. 42:62-70.
28. Fliessbach K,Weis S, Klaver P, Elger CE,Weber B. 2006. The effect of word concreteness on recognition memory. NeuroImage. 32:1413-1421.
29. Friston KJ, Holmes AP, Worsley KJ, Poline JP, Frith CD, Frackowiak RSJ. 1995. Statistical parametric maps in functional imaging: A general linear approach. Hum Brain Mapp. 2:189-210.
30. Gibbs RW. 1994. The poetics of mind: figurative thought, language, and understanding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
31. Gibbs RW. 2006. Metaphor interpretation as embodied. Mind Language. 21:434-458.
32. Giesbrecht B, Camblin CC, Swaab TY. 2004. Separable effects of semantic priming and imageability on word processing in human cortex. Cereb Cortex. 14:521-529.
33. Glascher J. 2009. Visualization of group inference data in functional neuroimaging. Neuroinformatics. 7:73-82.
34. Glenberg AM, Sato M, Cattaneo L. 2008. Use-induced motor plasticity affects the processing of abstract and concrete language. Curr Biol. 18:R290-R291.
35. Goldberg RF, Perfetti CA, Fiez JA, Schneider W. 2007. Selective retrieval of abstract semantic knowledge in left prefrontal cortex. J Neurosci. 27:3790-3798.
36. Hale SC. 1988. Spacetime and the abstract/concrete distinction. Philos Stud. 53:85-102.
37. Harrell FE. 2001. Regression modeling strategies with applications to linear models, logistic regression and survival analysis. New York: Springer.
38. Hoffman P, Jeffery E, Lambon Ralph MA. 2010. Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex plays an executive role in comprehension of abstract words: Convergent neuropsychological and repetitive TMS evidence. J Neurosci. 30:15450-15456.
39. Holmes CJ, Hoge R, Collins L, Woods R, Toga AW, Evans AC. 1998. Enhancement of MR images using registration for signal averaging. J Comput Assist Tomogr. 22:324-333.
40. Jefferies E. 2012. The neural basis of semantic cognition: converging evidence from neuropsychology, neuroimaging and TMS. Cortex. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2012.10.008.
41. Jessen F, Heun R, Erb M, Granath DO, Klose U, Papassotiropoulos A, Grodd W. 2000. The concreteness effect: Evidence for dual-coding and context availability. Brain Language. 74:103-112.
42. Kanske P, Kotz SA. 2007. Concreteness in emotional words: ERP evidence from a hemifield study. Brain Res. 1148:138-148.
43. Kanske P, Kotz SA. 2011. Emotion speeds up conflict resolution: A new role for the ventral anterior cingulate cortex? Cereb Cortex. 21:911-919.
44. Kiefer M, Pulvermuller F. 2011. Conceptual representations in mind and brain: theoretical developments, current evidence and future directions.Cortex. 7:805-825.
45. Kiehl KA, Liddle PF, Smith AM, Mendrek A, Forster BB, Hare RD. 1999. Neural pathways involved in the processing of concrete and abstract words. Hum Brain Mapp. 7:225-233.
46. Kousta S-T, Vigliocco G, Vinson DP, Andrews M, Del Campo E. 2011. The representation of abstract words: Why emotion matters. J Exp Psychol Gen 140:14-34.
47. Kousta S-T, Vinson D, Vigliocco G. 2009. Emotion words, regardless of polarity, have a processing advantage over neutral words. Cognition. 112:473-481.
48. Lakoff G, Johnson M. 1980. Metaphors we live by. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
49. Lakoff G, Johnson M. 1999. Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought. New York: Basic Books.
50. Lewis PA, Critchley HD, Rotshtein P, Dolan RJ. 2007. Neural correlates of valence and arousal in processing affective words. Cereb Cortex. 17:742-748.
51. Martin A. 2007. The representation of object concepts in the brain. Annu Rev Psychol. 58:25-45.
52. Martin A. 2009. Circuits in mind: the neural foundations of object concepts. In: Gazzaniga M, editor. The cognitive neurosciences, 4th ed. MIT Press. p. 1031-1045.
53. Mellet E, Tzourio N, Denis M, Mazoyer B. 1998. Cortical anatomy of mental imagery of concrete nouns based on their dictionary definition. NeuroReport. 9:803-808.
54. Meteyard L, Rodriguez S, Bahrami B, Vigliocco G. 2012. Coming of age: a review of embodiment and the neuroscience of semantics. Cortex 48:788-804.
55. Nichols T, Brett M, Andersson TW, Poline J-B. 2005. Valid conjunction inference with minimum statistic. NeuroImage. 25:653-660.
56. Noppeney U, Price CJ. 2004. Retrieval of abstract semantics. Neuroimage. 22:164-170.
57. Paivio A. 1971. Imagery and verbal processes. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
58. Paivio A. 2007. Mind and its evolution: A dual coding theoretical approach. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
59. Palomero-Gallagher N, Mohlberg H, Zilles K, Vogt B. 2008. Cytology and receptor architecture of human anterior cingulate cortex. J Comput Neurol. 508:906-926.
60. Patterson K, Nestor PJ, Rogers TT. 2007. Where do you know what you know? The representation of semantic knowledge in the human brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 8:976-987.
61. Penny WD, Holmes AP. 2003. Random effects analysis. In: Frackowiak RS, Friston KJ, Frith CD, Dolan RJ, Price CJ, Ashburner J, Penny WD, Zeki S, editors. Human brain function. London: Academic Press, p. 843-850
62. Perani D, Cappa SF, Schnur T, Tettamanti M, Collina S, Rosa MM, Fazio F. 1999. The neural correlates of verb and noun processing. Brain. 122:2337-2344.
63. Pessoa L, Adolphs R. 2011. Emotion and the brain: multiple roads are better than one. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 12(7): 425. Nature Publishing Group.
64. Phan KL, Wager T, Taylor SF, Liberzon I. 2002. Functional neuroanatomy of emotion: A meta-analysis of emotion activation studies in PET and fMRI. NeuroImage. 16:331-348.
65. Price CJ, Friston KJ. 1996. Cognitive conjunction: A new approach to brain activation experiments. Neuroimage. 5:261-270.
66. Richardson J. 2003. Dual coding versus relational processing in memory for concrete and abstract words. Eur J Cogn Psychol. 15:481-509.
67. Rizzolatti G, Craighero L. 2004. The mirror-neuron system. Annu Rev Neurosci. 27:169-192.
68. Schwanenflugel PJ. 1991. Why are abstract concepts hard to understand? In: Schwanenflugel P, editor. The psychology of word meanings. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, p. 223-250.
69. Schwanenflugel PJ, Shoben EJ. 1983. Differential context effects in the comprehension of abstract and concrete verbal materials. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 9:82-102.
70. Stadthagen-Gonzalez H, Davis CJ. 2006. The Bristol norms for age of acquisition, imageability, and familiarity. Behav Res Methods. 28:598-605.
71. Tamietto M, de Gelder B. 2010. Neural bases of the nonconscious perception of emotional signals. Nat Rev Neurosci. 11:697709.
72. Vigliocco G, Meteyard L, Andrews M, Kousta S-T. 2009. Toward a theory of semantic representation. Lang Cogn. 1:219-247.
73. Vogt BA, Berger GR, Derbyshire SWG 2003. Structural and functional dichotomy of human midcingulate cortex. Eur J Neurosci. 18:3134-3144.
74. Wang J, Conder JA, Blitzer DN, Shinkareva SV. 2010. Neural representation of abstract and concrete concepts: A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies. Hum Brain Mapp. 31:1459-1468.
75. Wellman HM, Harris PL, Banerjee M, Sinclair A. 1995. Early understanding of emotion: Evidence from natural language. Cogn Emotion. 9:117-149.
76. Wilson M. 1988. MRC psycholinguistic database - machine readable dictionary, version 2.00. Behav Res Methods. 20:6-10.
77. Wise R, Howard D, Mummery CJ, Fletcher P, Leff A, Buchel C, Scott SK. 2000. Noun imageability and the temporal lobes. Neuropsychologia. 38:985-994.
78. Zahn R, Moll J, Garrido G, Krueger F, Huey ED, Grafman J. 2007. Social concepts are represented in the superior anterior temporal cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 104:6430-6435.