School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, UK.
School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, UK.
Brain Lang. 2023 Jul;242:105287. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105287. Epub 2023 May 31.
Taxonomic and thematic relations are major components of semantic representation but their neurocognitive underpinnings are still debated. We hypothesised that taxonomic relations preferentially activate parts of anterior temporal lobe (ATL) because they rely more on colour and shape features, while thematic relations preferentially activate temporoparietal cortex (TPC) because they rely more on action and location knowledge. We first conducted activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis to assess evidence for neural specialisation in the existing fMRI literature (Study 1), then used a primed semantic judgement task to examine if the two relations are primed by different feature types (Study 2). We find that taxonomic relations show minimal feature-based specialisation but preferentially activate the lingual gyrus. Thematic relations are more dependent on action and location features and preferentially engage TPC. The meta-analysis also showed that lateral ATL is preferentially engaged by Thematic relations, which may reflect their greater reliance on verbal associations.
分类和主题关系是语义表示的主要组成部分，但它们的神经认知基础仍存在争议。我们假设，分类关系优先激活前颞叶（ATL）的某些部分，因为它们更多地依赖于颜色和形状特征，而主题关系优先激活颞顶叶皮层（TPC），因为它们更多地依赖于动作和位置知识。我们首先进行激活似然估计（ALE）荟萃分析，以评估现有 fMRI 文献中神经特化的证据（研究 1），然后使用启动语义判断任务来检查这两种关系是否由不同的特征类型启动（研究 2）。我们发现，分类关系显示出最小的基于特征的特化，但优先激活舌回。主题关系更依赖于动作和位置特征，优先激活 TPC。荟萃分析还表明，外侧 ATL 优先参与主题关系，这可能反映了它们对语言联想的更大依赖。
