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An fMRI Study of Abstract Verb Representation
Poster A23 in Poster Session A, Tuesday, October 24, 10:15 am - 12:00 pm CEST, Espace Vieux-Port
This poster is part of the Sandbox Series.
Emiko J. Muraki1, Penny M. Pexman1, Richard J. Binney2; 1University of Calgary, 2Bangor University
Multiple representation theories propose that word meaning is supported by simulated sensorimotor experience in modality-specific neural regions, as well as linguistic, emotional, and introspective systems. According to the Hub and Spoke Model of Semantic Memory, this distributed system feeds into a primary semantic hub located in the ventrolateral anterior temporal lobe (ATL). Though a substantial amount of research has been conducted to understand the neural correlates of concrete and abstract noun representation, there is less known about the distributed semantic network for verbs, and in particular abstract verbs. In the present study, we set out to examine whether different types of abstract verbs (mental, emotional, nonembodied) and concrete (embodied) verbs differentially recruit a distributed set of cortical regions outside the anterior temporal lobe (consistent with multiple representation theories). Furthermore, we tested whether the ventrolateral ATL is implicated in processing all types of verbs, which would be consistent with the hub-and-spoke model. Finally, we are investigating whether, across the broader ATL region, there are differential patterns of activation associated with different verb types (consistent with a Graded Semantic Hub Hypothesis). We collected data from 30 participants who completed a syntactic classification task (is it a verb? Yes or no) and a numerical judgement task (either is it an even number? or is it an odd number?), which served as a baseline task. We hypothesized that relative to the baseline task and/or the embodied verb conditions 1) abstract mental verbs will be associated with areas involved in introspective experience such as the temporoparietal junction, 2) abstract emotional verbs will be associated with areas involved in emotional processing such as the amygdala, 3) abstract nonembodied verbs will be associated with areas involved in language comprehension such as the middle temporal gyrus, and 4) embodied verbs will be associated with areas involved in sensory and motor function such as processing action and motion. We also hypothesized that patterns of voxel activity across the ATL would be able to classify the different verb types. Dependent on our emerging results, we will discuss implications for semantic models.
Topic Areas: Meaning: Lexical Semantics,