Caramazza A, Shelton J R
Harvard University, Cognitive Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Cambridge MA 02138, USA.
J Cogn Neurosci. 1998 Jan;10(1):1-34. doi: 10.1162/089892998563752.
We claim that the animate and inanimate conceptual categories represent evolutionarily adapted domain-specific knowledge systems that are subserved by distinct neural mechanisms, thereby allowing for their selective impairment in conditions of brain damage. On this view, (some of) the category-specific deficits that have recently been reported in the cognitive neuropsychological literature - for example, the selective damage or sparing of knowledge about animals - are truly categorical effects. Here, we articulate and defend this thesis against the dominant, reductionist theory of category-specific deficits, which holds that the categorical nature of the deficits is the result of selective damage to noncategorically organized visual or functional semantic subsystems. On the latter view, the sensory/functional dimension provides the fundamental organizing principle of the semantic system. Since, according to the latter theory, sensory and functional properties are differentially important in determining the meaning of the members of different semantic categories, selective damage to the visual or the functional semantic subsystem will result in a category-like deficit. A review of the literature and the results of a new case of category-specific deficit will show that the domain-specific knowledge framework provides a better account of category-specific deficits than the sensory/functional dichotomy theory.
我们认为，有生命和无生命的概念范畴代表了进化适应的特定领域知识系统，这些系统由不同的神经机制支持，从而在脑损伤情况下允许它们出现选择性损伤。按照这种观点，认知神经心理学文献中最近报道的（某些）特定范畴缺陷——例如，对动物知识的选择性损伤或保留——是真正的范畴效应。在此，我们阐述并捍卫这一论点，以对抗占主导地位的、还原论的特定范畴缺陷理论，该理论认为缺陷的范畴性质是对非范畴组织的视觉或功能语义子系统选择性损伤的结果。根据后一种观点，感觉/功能维度为语义系统提供了基本的组织原则。因为，根据后一种理论，感觉和功能属性在确定不同语义范畴成员的意义方面具有不同的重要性，对视觉或功能语义子系统的选择性损伤将导致类似范畴的缺陷。对文献的综述以及一个新的特定范畴缺陷案例的结果将表明，特定领域知识框架比感觉/功能二分法理论能更好地解释特定范畴缺陷。
