The neural correlates of semantic richness: Evidence from an fMRI study of word learning

TY - JOUR

T1 - The neural correlates of semantic richness

T2 - Evidence from an fMRI study of word learning

AU - Ferreira, Roberto A.

AU - Göbel, Silke M.

AU - Hymers, Mark

AU - Ellis, Andrew W.

N1 - © 2015, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

PY - 2015/4

Y1 - 2015/4

N2 - We investigated the neural correlates of concrete nouns with either many or few semantic features. A group of 21 participants underwent two days of training and were then asked to categorize 40 newly learned words and a set of matched familiar words as living or nonliving in an MRI scanner. Our results showed that the most reliable effects of semantic richness were located in the left angular gyrus (AG) and middle temporal gyrus (MTG), where activation was higher for semantically rich than poor words. Other areas showing the same pattern included bilateral precuneus and posterior cingulate gyrus. Our findings support the view that AG and anterior MTG, as part of the multimodal network, play a significant role in representing and integrating semantic features from different input modalities. We propose that activation in bilateral precuneus and posterior cingulate gyrus reflects interplay between AG and episodic memory systems during semantic retrieval.

AB - We investigated the neural correlates of concrete nouns with either many or few semantic features. A group of 21 participants underwent two days of training and were then asked to categorize 40 newly learned words and a set of matched familiar words as living or nonliving in an MRI scanner. Our results showed that the most reliable effects of semantic richness were located in the left angular gyrus (AG) and middle temporal gyrus (MTG), where activation was higher for semantically rich than poor words. Other areas showing the same pattern included bilateral precuneus and posterior cingulate gyrus. Our findings support the view that AG and anterior MTG, as part of the multimodal network, play a significant role in representing and integrating semantic features from different input modalities. We propose that activation in bilateral precuneus and posterior cingulate gyrus reflects interplay between AG and episodic memory systems during semantic retrieval.

KW - Angular gyrus

KW - FMRI

KW - Middle temporal gyrus

KW - Semantic features

KW - Semantic representation

KW - Semantic richness

KW - Word learning

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84925352011&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.bandl.2015.02.005

DO - 10.1016/j.bandl.2015.02.005

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84925352011

VL - 143

SP - 69

EP - 80

JO - Brain and Language

JF - Brain and Language

SN - 0093-934X

ER -