Lateralization of object-shape information in semantic processing

An experiment was conducted to examine whether perceptual information, specifically the shape of objects, is activated during semantic processing. Subjects judged whether a target word was related to a prime word. Prime-target pairs that were not associated, but whose referents had similar shapes (e.g. LADDER-RAILROAD) yielded longer "no" responses than unassociated prime-target pairs, suggesting that shape information had been activated. A visual-field manipulation showed that, in right-handed subjects, this effect was localized in the left hemisphere. This finding is consistent with behavioral, brain imaging, and lesion data, which suggest that object shape at the category level is represented in the left hemisphere.

[1]  Gary L. Dannenbring,et al.  Strategic factors in a lexical-decision task: Evidence for automatic and attention-driven processes , 1983, Memory & cognition.

[2]  Alan S. Brown,et al.  Information Processing and Cognition: The Loyola Symposium , 1976 .

[3]  Max Coltheart,et al.  The MRC Psycholinguistic Database , 1981 .

[4]  T. Landauer,et al.  A Solution to Plato's Problem: The Latent Semantic Analysis Theory of Acquisition, Induction, and Representation of Knowledge. , 1997 .

[5]  W. Marslen-Wilson,et al.  Accessing Different Types of Lexical Semantic Information: Evidence From Priming , 1995 .

[6]  A. A. Wijers,et al.  Visual semantic features are activated during the processing of concrete words: event-related potential evidence for perceptual semantic priming. , 2000, Brain research. Cognitive brain research.

[7]  Daniel C. Richardson,et al.  Spatial representations activated during real-time comprehension of verbs , 2003, Cogn. Sci..

[8]  Rolf A. Zwaan,et al.  PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Research Article THE EFFECT OF IMPLIED ORIENTATION DERIVED FROM VERBAL CONTEXT ON PICTURE RECOGNITION , 2022 .

[9]  Edward M. Bowden,et al.  Getting the Right Idea: Semantic Activation in the Right Hemisphere May Help Solve Insight Problems , 1998 .

[10]  Leslie G. Ungerleider,et al.  Neural correlates of category-specific knowledge , 1996, Nature.

[11]  Rolf A. Zwaan The Immersed Experiencer: Toward An Embodied Theory Of Language Comprehension , 2003 .

[12]  L. Boroditsky Metaphoric structuring: understanding time through spatial metaphors , 2000, Cognition.

[13]  C. J. Marsolek Abstract visual-form representations in the left cerebral hemisphere. , 1995, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[14]  Michael P. Kaschak,et al.  Perception of motion affects language processing , 2005, Cognition.

[15]  J. Raaijmakers,et al.  Does pizza prime coin? Perceptual priming in lexical decision and pronunciation. , 1998 .

[16]  Rolf A. Zwaan,et al.  Spatial iconicity affects semantic relatedness judgments , 2003, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[17]  Wilma Koutstaal,et al.  Neural mechanisms of visual object priming: evidence for perceptual and semantic distinctions in fusiform cortex , 2003, NeuroImage.

[18]  M. Potter,et al.  Pictures in sentences: understanding without words. , 1986, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[19]  C. J. Marsolek Dissociable Neural Subsystems Underlie Abstract and Specific Object Recognition , 1999 .

[20]  Rolf A. Zwaan,et al.  Language Comprehenders Mentally Represent the Shapes of Objects , 2002, Psychological science.

[21]  Antonio R. Damasio,et al.  The Brain Binds Entities and Events by Multiregional Activation from Convergence Zones , 1989, Neural Computation.

[22]  F. Pulvermüller,et al.  Walking or Talking?: Behavioral and Neurophysiological Correlates of Action Verb Processing , 2001, Brain and Language.

[23]  Mark Beeman,et al.  Coarse semantic coding and discourse comprehension. , 1998 .

[24]  R. Adolphs,et al.  Neural systems behind word and concept retrieval , 2004, Cognition.

[25]  Rebecca Fincher-Kiefer,et al.  Perceptual components of situation models , 2001, Memory & cognition.

[26]  Rolf A. Zwaan,et al.  Hemispheric differences in semantic-relatedness judgments , 2003, Cognition.

[27]  R. C. Oldfield The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. , 1971, Neuropsychologia.

[28]  M. Posner,et al.  Attention and cognitive control. , 1975 .

[29]  L. Barsalou,et al.  Whither structured representation? , 1999, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[30]  J. H. Neely Semantic priming and retrieval from lexical memory: Roles of inhibitionless spreading activation and limited-capacity attention. , 1977 .

[31]  Christine Chiarello,et al.  Right hemisphere language comprehension : perspectives from cognitive neuroscience , 1998 .

[32]  Rolf A. Zwaan,et al.  Moving words: dynamic representations in language comprehension , 2004, Cognitive Sciences.

[33]  Robert Schreuder,et al.  Effects of perceptual and conceptual similarity in semantic priming , 1984 .

[34]  H. Kucera,et al.  Computational analysis of present-day American English , 1967 .