The effect of word concreteness on recognition memory
The effect of word concreteness on recognition memory
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DOI：
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.06.007
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发表时间：
2006-09-01
期刊：
影响因子：
5.7
通讯作者：
Weber, B.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Fliessbach, K.;Weis, S.;Weber, B.
容易想象的具体单词比抽象单词更容易记住。对这种效应的理论解释要么声称具体词的双重编码形式的口头和感官代码（双重编码理论），或更容易访问的语义网络具体的话比抽象的话（上下文可用性理论）。然而，具体与抽象词汇记忆改善的神经机制知之甚少。在这里，我们研究了具体和抽象的词在编码和提取过程中的识别记忆任务，使用事件相关功能磁共振成像（fMRI）。正如所预测的那样，具体单词的记忆表现明显好于抽象单词。在编码和识别过程中，抽象词比具体词引起左下额叶皮层更强的激活。这个区域的更强激活也与抽象和具体单词的成功编码有关。具体的话引起更强的激活双侧后下顶叶在识别过程中。左顶叶激活与正确识别旧刺激有关。前楔前叶，左小脑半球和后，前扣带皮层显示激活的成功识别的具体的话，并在编码过程中的具体的话在线处理。此外，我们还观察到，在学习单词的识别过程中，左前梭状回和海马体的大脑活动与具体性效应的强度之间存在相关性。这些发现支持了大脑对具体单词进行特定处理的想法，这些大脑处理在成功识别过程中被重新激活。(c)2006年爱思唯尔公司All rights reserved.
Concrete words that are readily imagined are better remembered than abstract words. Theoretical explanations for this effect either claim a dual coding of concrete words in the form of both a verbal and a sensory code (dual-coding theory), or a more accessible semantic network for concrete words than for abstract words (context-availability theory). However, the neural mechanisms of improved memory for concrete versus abstract words are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the processing of concrete and abstract words during encoding and retrieval in a recognition memory task using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). As predicted, memory performance was significantly better for concrete words than for abstract words. Abstract words elicited stronger activations of the left inferior frontal cortex both during encoding and recognition than did concrete words. Stronger activation of this area was also associated with successful encoding for both abstract and concrete words. Concrete words elicited stronger activations bilaterally in the posterior inferior parietal lobe during recognition. The left parietal activation was associated with correct identification of old stimuli. The anterior precuneus, left cerebellar hemisphere and the posterior and anterior cingulate cortex showed activations both for successful recognition of concrete words and for online processing of concrete words during encoding. Additionally, we observed a correlation across subjects between brain activity in the left anterior fusiform gyrus and hippocampus during recognition of learned words and the strength of the concreteness effect. These findings support the idea of specific brain processes for concrete words, which are reactivated during successful recognition. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.