Uncertainty aversion predicts the neural expansion of semantic representations.
Uncertainty aversion predicts the neural expansion of semantic representations.
复制标题
不确定性厌恶预示着语义表征的神经扩展。
DOI：
10.1038/s41562-023-01561-5
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发表时间：
2023
影响因子：
29.9
通讯作者：
Bhandari,Apoorva
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Vives,Marc-Lluís;deBruin,Daantje;vanBaar,JeroenM;FeldmanHall,Oriel;Bhandari,Apoorva
正确识别刺激的意义需要在许多选择中激活适当的语义表征。减少这种不确定性的一种方法是将语义表示彼此区分，从而扩展语义空间。在这里，在四个实验中，我们测试了这一语义扩展假说，发现厌恶不确定性的个体表现出越来越不同和分离的语义表征。这种影响反映在神经水平上，不确定性厌恶预示着阅读单词时左额下回活动模式之间的距离更大，并增强了对这些单词在腹内侧额前皮质语义歧义的敏感度。对语义扩展的行为后果的两个直接测试进一步表明，厌恶不确定性的个体表现出更少的语义干扰和更差的概化。综上所述，这些发现表明，我们的语义表征的内部结构作为一种组织原则，使世界更容易识别。
Correctly identifying the meaning of a stimulus requires activating the appropriate semantic representation among many alternatives. One way to reduce this uncertainty is to differentiate semantic representations from each other, thereby expanding the semantic space. Here, in four experiments, we test this semantic-expansion hypothesis, finding that uncertainty-averse individuals exhibit increasingly differentiated and separated semantic representations. This effect is mirrored at the neural level, where uncertainty aversion predicts greater distances between activity patterns in the left inferior frontal gyrus when reading words, and enhanced sensitivity to the semantic ambiguity of these words in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Two direct tests of the behavioural consequences of semantic expansion further reveal that uncertainty-averse individuals exhibit reduced semantic interference and poorer generalization. Together, these findings show that the internal structure of our semantic representations acts as an organizing principle to make the world more identifiable.