Bonnì Sonia, Borghi Ilaria, Maiella Michele, Casula Elias Paolo, Koch Giacomo, Caltagirone Carlo, Gainotti Guido
Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Unit, Department of Behavioral and Clinical Neurology, Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS, 00179 Rome, Italy.
Section of Human Physiology, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
Brain Sci. 2023 Jul 7;13(7):1037. doi: 10.3390/brainsci13071037.
The aim of this study was to shed light on the neural substrate of conceptual representations starting from the construct of higher-order convergence zones and trying to evaluate the unitary or non-unitary nature of this construct. We used the 'Thematic and Taxonomic Semantic (TTS) task' to investigate (a) the neural substrate of stimuli belonging to biological and artifact categories, (b) the format of stimuli presentation, i.e., verbal or pictorial, and (c) the relation between stimuli, i.e., categorial or contextual. We administered anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to different brain structures during the execution of the TTS task. Twenty healthy participants were enrolled and divided into two groups, one investigating the role of the anterior temporal lobes (ATL) and the other the temporo-parietal junctions (TPJ). Each participant underwent three sessions of stimulation to facilitate a control condition and to investigate the role of both hemispheres. Results showed that ATL stimulation influenced all conceptual representations in relation to the format of presentation (i.e., left-verbal and right-pictorial). Moreover, ATL stimulation modulated living categories and taxonomic relations specifically, whereas TPJ stimulation did not influence semantic task performances.
本研究的目的是从高阶汇聚区的结构出发，阐明概念表征的神经基础，并试图评估该结构的单一性或非单一性。我们使用“主题和分类语义（TTS）任务”来研究：（a）属于生物和人工制品类别的刺激的神经基础；（b）刺激呈现的形式，即语言或图片形式；以及（c）刺激之间的关系，即类别关系或上下文关系。在执行TTS任务期间，我们对不同的脑结构施加阳极经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）。招募了20名健康参与者并将其分为两组，一组研究颞叶前部（ATL）的作用，另一组研究颞顶联合区（TPJ）的作用。每位参与者接受了三次刺激，以建立对照条件并研究两个半球的作用。结果表明，ATL刺激影响了与呈现形式（即左半球语言和右半球图片）相关的所有概念表征。此外，ATL刺激特别调节了生物类别和分类关系，而TPJ刺激并未影响语义任务表现。
