title: The neural basis for category-specific knowledge: an fMRI study.
abstract: Functional neuroimaging studies of healthy adults have associated different categories of knowledge with distinct activation patterns. The basis for these recruitment patterns has been controversial, due in part to the limited range of categories that has been studied. We used fMRI to monitor regional cortical recruitment patterns while subjects were exposed to printed names of Animals, Implements, and Abstract nouns. Both Implements and Abstract nouns were related to recruitment of left posterolateral temporal cortex and left prefrontal cortex, and Abstract nouns additionally recruited posterolateral temporal and prefrontal regions of the right hemisphere. Animals were associated with activation of ventral-medial occipital cortex in the left hemisphere at a level that approaches significance. These findings are not consistent with the "sensory-motor" model proposed to explain the neural representation of word knowledge. We suggest instead a neural model of semantic memory that reflects the processes common to understanding Implements and Abstract nouns and a selective sensitivity, possibly evolving from adaptive pressures, to the overlapping, intercorrelated visual characteristics of Animals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Murray
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grossman
authors.forename: Phyllis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Koenig
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: DeVita
authors.forename: Guila
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Glosser
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Alsop
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Detre
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D009042:Motivation; D010153:Paired-Associate Learning / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*