Neural correlates of categories and concepts.
The ability to readily adapt to novel situations requires something beyond storing specific stimulus-response associations. Instead, many animals can detect basic characteristics of events and store them as generalized classes. Because these representations are abstracted beyond specific details of sensory inputs and motor outputs, they can be easily generalized and adapted to new circumstances. Explorations of neural mechanisms of sensory processing and motor output have progressed to the point where studies can begin to address the neural basis of abstract, categorical representations. Recent studies have revealed their neural correlates in various cortical areas of the non-human primate brain.
Miller
Earl K
EK
Picower Center for Learning and Memory, RIKEN-MIT Neuroscience Research Center, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. ekm@ai.mit.edu
Nieder
Andreas
A
Freedman
David J
DJ
Wallis
Jonathan D
JD
D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence / Q000502:physiology; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*