Redefining the resolution of semantic knowledge in the brain : advances made by the introduction of models of semantics in neuroimaging

Bruffaerts, Rose; De Deyne, Simon; Meersmans, Karen; Liuzzi, Antonietta Gabriella; Storms, Gert; Vandenberghe, Rik

doi:10.1016/J.NEUBIOREV.2019.05.015

Title

Redefining the resolution of semantic knowledge in the brain : advances made by the introduction of models of semantics in neuroimaging

Author

Bruffaerts, Rose

De Deyne, Simon

Meersmans, Karen

Liuzzi, Antonietta Gabriella

Storms, Gert

Vandenberghe, Rik

Abstract

The boundaries of our understanding of conceptual representation in the brain have been redrawn since the introduction of explicit models of semantics. These models are grounded in vast behavioural datasets acquired in healthy volunteers. Here, we review the most important techniques which have been applied to detect semantic information in neuroimaging data and argue why semantic models are possibly the most valuable addition to the research of semantics in recent years. Using multivariate analysis, predictions based on patient lesion data have been confirmed during semantic processing in healthy controls. Secondly, this new method has given rise to new research avenues, e.g. the detection of semantic processing outside of the temporal cortex. As a future line of work, the same research strategy could be useful to study neurological conditions such as the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia, which is characterized by pathological semantic processing.

Language

English

Source (journal)

Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews. - Fayetteville, N. Y, 1978, currens

Publication

Oxford : Pergamon-elsevier science ltd , 2019

ISSN

0149-7634

DOI

10.1016/J.NEUBIOREV.2019.05.015

Volume/pages

103 (2019) , p. 3-13