Shared neural processes support semantic control and action understanding

James Davey; Shirley-Ann Rueschemeyer; Alison Costigan; Nik Murphy; Katya Krieger-Redwood; Glyn Hallam; Elizabeth Jefferies

doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2015.01.002

Shared neural processes support semantic control and action understanding

James Davey, Shirley-Ann Rueschemeyer, Alison Costigan, Nik Murphy, Katya Krieger-Redwood, Glyn Hallam, Elizabeth Jefferies

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Executive-semantic control and action understanding appear to recruit overlapping brain regions but existing evidence from neuroimaging meta-analyses and neuropsychology lacks spatial precision; we therefore manipulated difficulty and feature type (visual vs. action) in a single fMRI study. Harder judgements recruited an executive-semantic network encompassing medial and inferior frontal regions (including LIFG) and posterior temporal cortex (including pMTG). These regions partially overlapped with brain areas involved in action but not visual judgements. In LIFG, the peak responses to action and difficulty were spatially identical across participants, while these responses were overlapping yet spatially distinct in posterior temporal cortex. We propose that the co-activation of LIFG and pMTG allows the flexible retrieval of semantic information, appropriate to the current context; this might be necessary both for semantic control and understanding actions. Feature selection in difficult trials also recruited ventral occipital-temporal areas, not implicated in action understanding.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	24-35
Number of pages	12
Journal	Brain and Language
Volume	142
Early online date	3 Feb 2015
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2015.01.002
Publication status	Published - Mar 2015

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This content is made available by the publisher under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND Licence.

Date of acceptance - 4/1/2015

Keywords

Semantic
Action
Control
Executive
fMRI

Access to Document

10.1016/j.bandl.2015.01.002

1-s2.0-S0093934X15000036-main
© 2015 The Authors. This content is made available by the publisher under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND Licence.
Final published version, 1.81 MB

Cite this

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title = "Shared neural processes support semantic control and action understanding",

abstract = "Executive-semantic control and action understanding appear to recruit overlapping brain regions but existing evidence from neuroimaging meta-analyses and neuropsychology lacks spatial precision; we therefore manipulated difficulty and feature type (visual vs. action) in a single fMRI study. Harder judgements recruited an executive-semantic network encompassing medial and inferior frontal regions (including LIFG) and posterior temporal cortex (including pMTG). These regions partially overlapped with brain areas involved in action but not visual judgements. In LIFG, the peak responses to action and difficulty were spatially identical across participants, while these responses were overlapping yet spatially distinct in posterior temporal cortex. We propose that the co-activation of LIFG and pMTG allows the flexible retrieval of semantic information, appropriate to the current context; this might be necessary both for semantic control and understanding actions. Feature selection in difficult trials also recruited ventral occipital-temporal areas, not implicated in action understanding.",

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AU - Rueschemeyer, Shirley-Ann

AU - Costigan, Alison

AU - Murphy, Nik

AU - Krieger-Redwood, Katya

AU - Hallam, Glyn

AU - Jefferies, Elizabeth

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