Neural Representation of Verb Meaning: an FMRI Study

Overview

Journal Hum Brain Mapp

Publisher Wiley

Specialty Neurology

Date 2002 Feb 9

PMID 11835603

Citations 26

Authors

Murray Grossman

Phyllis Koenig

Chris DeVita

Guila Glosser

David Alsop

John Detre

James Gee

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The neural basis for verb comprehension has proven elusive, in part because of the limited range of verb categories that have been assessed. In the present study, 16 healthy young adults were probed for the meaning associated with verbs of MOTION and verbs of COGNITION. We observed distinct patterns of activation for each verb subcategory: MOTION verbs are associated with recruitment of left ventral temporal-occipital cortex, bilateral prefrontal cortex and caudate, whereas COGNITION verbs are associated with left posterolateral temporal activation. These findings are consistent with the claim that the neural representations of verb subcategories are distinct. Although the "sensory-motor" hypothesis may play a role in explaining activation associated with MOTION verbs, the left posterolateral temporal distribution of cortical activation associated with COGNITION verbs cannot be easily explained by the "sensory-motor" hypothesis. We suggest that left posterolateral temporal activation supports aspects of lexical semantic processing concerned with the neural representation of propositional knowledge contributing to COGNITION verbs.

Citing Articles

Non-Invasive Mapping of the Neuronal Networks of Language.

Papanicolaou A Brain Sci. 2023; 13(10).

PMID: 37891824 PMC: 10605023. DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13101457.

Concrete and Abstract Concepts in Primary Progressive Aphasia and Alzheimer's Disease: A Scoping Review.

Mancano M, Papagno C Brain Sci. 2023; 13(5).

PMID: 37239237 PMC: 10216362. DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13050765.

N400 Indexing the Motion Concept Shared by Music and Words.

Zhou T, Li Y, Liu H, Zhou S, Wang T Front Psychol. 2022; 13:888226.

PMID: 35837648 PMC: 9275656. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.888226.

Effects of age and gender on neural correlates of emotion imagery.

Tomasino B, Maggioni E, Bonivento C, Nobile M, Dagostini S, Arrigoni F Hum Brain Mapp. 2022; 43(13):4116-4127.

PMID: 35548890 PMC: 9374878. DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25906.

German normative data with naming latencies for 283 action pictures and 600 action verbs.

Busch J, Haeussler F, Domahs F, Timmermann L, Weber I, Oehrn C Behav Res Methods. 2021; 54(2):649-662.

PMID: 34341962 PMC: 9046323. DOI: 10.3758/s13428-021-01647-w.

References

Perani D, Cappa S, Schnur T, Tettamanti M, Collina S, Rosa M . The neural correlates of verb and noun processing. A PET study. Brain. 1999; 122 ( Pt 12):2337-44. DOI: 10.1093/brain/122.12.2337. View

Warrington E . The selective impairment of semantic memory. Q J Exp Psychol. 1975; 27(4):635-57. DOI: 10.1080/14640747508400525. View

Dagher A, Owen A, Boecker H, Brooks D . Mapping the network for planning: a correlational PET activation study with the Tower of London task. Brain. 1999; 122 ( Pt 10):1973-87. DOI: 10.1093/brain/122.10.1973. View

Grafman J, Jonas B, Salazar A . Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance based on location and size of neuroanatomical lesion in Vietnam veterans with penetrating head injury. Percept Mot Skills. 1990; 71(3 Pt 2):1120-2. DOI: 10.2466/pms.1990.71.3f.1120. View

Damasio H, Grabowski T, Tranel D, Hichwa R, Damasio A . A neural basis for lexical retrieval. Nature. 1996; 380(6574):499-505. DOI: 10.1038/380499a0. View

Kounios J, Holcomb P . Concreteness effects in semantic processing: ERP evidence supporting dual-coding theory. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 1994; 20(4):804-23. DOI: 10.1037//0278-7393.20.4.804. View

Puce A, Allison T, Bentin S, Gore J, McCarthy G . Temporal cortex activation in humans viewing eye and mouth movements. J Neurosci. 1998; 18(6):2188-99. PMC: 6792917. View

Miceli G, Silveri M, Villa G, Caramazza A . On the basis for the agrammatic's difficulty in producing main verbs. Cortex. 1984; 20(2):207-20. DOI: 10.1016/s0010-9452(84)80038-6. View

Koechlin E, Corrado G, Pietrini P, Grafman J . Dissociating the role of the medial and lateral anterior prefrontal cortex in human planning. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000; 97(13):7651-6. PMC: 16600. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.130177397. View

10.

Cappa S, Perani D, Schnur T, Tettamanti M, Fazio F . The effects of semantic category and knowledge type on lexical-semantic access: a PET study. Neuroimage. 1998; 8(4):350-9. DOI: 10.1006/nimg.1998.0368. View

11.

Warrington E, Weiskrantz L . New method of testing long-term retention with special reference to amnesic patients. Nature. 1968; 217(5132):972-4. DOI: 10.1038/217972a0. View

12.

Beauregard M, Chertkow H, Bub D, Murtha S, Dixon R, Evans A . The neural substrate for concrete, abstract, and emotional word lexica a positron emission tomography study. J Cogn Neurosci. 2013; 9(4):441-61. DOI: 10.1162/jocn.1997.9.4.441. View

13.

Cohen J, Forman S, Braver T, Casey B, Servan-Schreiber D, Noll D . Activation of the prefrontal cortex in a nonspatial working memory task with functional MRI. Hum Brain Mapp. 2014; 1(4):293-304. DOI: 10.1002/hbm.460010407. View

14.

Shulman G, Fiez J, Corbetta M, Buckner R, Miezin F, Raichle M . Common Blood Flow Changes across Visual Tasks: II. Decreases in Cerebral Cortex. J Cogn Neurosci. 2013; 9(5):648-63. DOI: 10.1162/jocn.1997.9.5.648. View

15.

Gusnard D, Akbudak E, Shulman G, Raichle M . Medial prefrontal cortex and self-referential mental activity: relation to a default mode of brain function. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001; 98(7):4259-64. PMC: 31213. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.071043098. View

16.

Kourtzi Z, Kanwisher N . Activation in human MT/MST by static images with implied motion. J Cogn Neurosci. 2000; 12(1):48-55. DOI: 10.1162/08989290051137594. View

17.

Petersen S, Fox P, Posner M, Mintun M, Raichle M . Positron emission tomographic studies of the cortical anatomy of single-word processing. Nature. 1988; 331(6157):585-9. DOI: 10.1038/331585a0. View

18.

Decety J, Perani D, Jeannerod M, Bettinardi V, Tadary B, Woods R . Mapping motor representations with positron emission tomography. Nature. 1994; 371(6498):600-2. DOI: 10.1038/371600a0. View

19.

Warburton E, Wise R, Price C, Weiller C, Hadar U, Ramsay S . Noun and verb retrieval by normal subjects. Studies with PET. Brain. 1996; 119 ( Pt 1):159-79. DOI: 10.1093/brain/119.1.159. View

20.

Grabowski T, Damasio H, Damasio A . Premotor and prefrontal correlates of category-related lexical retrieval. Neuroimage. 1998; 7(3):232-43. DOI: 10.1006/nimg.1998.0324. View