Pobric Gorana, Lambon Ralph Matthew A, Zahn Roland
University of Manchester.
King's College London.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2016 Mar;28(3):351-60. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_00902. Epub 2015 Nov 6.
Studies of semantic dementia, imaging, and repetitive TMS have suggested that the bilateral anterior temporal lobes (ATLs) underpin a modality-invariant representational hub within the semantic system. Questions remain, however, regarding functional specialization across a variety of knowledge domains within the ATL region. We investigated direct evidence for the functional relevance of the superior ATL in processing social concepts. Using converging evidence from noninvasive brain stimulation and neuropsychology, we demonstrate graded differentiation of right and left superior anterior temporal areas in social cognition. Whereas the left superior ATL is necessary for processing both social and nonsocial abstract concepts, social conceptual processing predominates in the right superior ATL. This graded hemispheric specialization is mirrored in the patient results. Our data shed new light on the classic debate about hemispheric differences in semantic and social cognition. These results are considered in the context of models of semantic representation and the emerging data on connectivity for left and right ATL regions.
对语义性痴呆、影像学及重复经颅磁刺激的研究表明，双侧前颞叶（ATL）是语义系统中一种模态不变的表征枢纽。然而，关于ATL区域内各种知识领域的功能特化问题仍然存在。我们研究了上颞叶前部在处理社会概念方面功能相关性的直接证据。利用来自无创脑刺激和神经心理学的汇聚证据，我们证明了右、左上颞叶前部区域在社会认知中的分级分化。虽然左上前颞叶对于处理社会和非社会抽象概念都是必需的，但社会概念处理在右上前颞叶中占主导地位。这种分级的半球特化在患者结果中也有体现。我们的数据为关于语义和社会认知中半球差异的经典辩论提供了新的线索。这些结果在语义表征模型以及左右ATL区域连接性的新数据背景下进行了考量。
