Losing the sound of concepts: Damage to auditory association cortex impairs the processing of sound-related concepts
Losing the sound of concepts: Damage to auditory association cortex impairs the processing of sound-related concepts
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DOI：
10.1016/j.cortex.2012.02.002
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发表时间：
2013-02
期刊：
影响因子：
3.6
通讯作者：
Natalie M. Trumpp;Daniel Kliese;K. Hoenig;T. Haarmeier;M. Kiefer
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Natalie M. Trumpp;Daniel Kliese;K. Hoenig;T. Haarmeier;M. Kiefer
概念知识被经典地认为是抽象的，并表现在一个模态的单一系统中，与感觉和运动脑系统不同。然而，最近一种概念性知识的体现观点认为，概念是基于分布式的特定模式的大脑区域，这些区域通常处理感觉或与动作相关的对象信息。最近的神经影像学证据表明，包含后上颞回和中颞回的左侧听觉关联皮层在编码日常物体的概念性声音特征方面具有重要意义。然而，该区域在处理概念性声音信息中的因果作用尚未确定。在这里，我们有一个独特的机会来研究一个病人，JR，在左侧后上颞回和中颞回有局灶性病变。为了测试该区域在声音信息的概念和知觉处理中的必要性，我们对JR进行了四个不同的实验任务：视觉词识别、类别流畅性、声音识别和语音分类。与匹配的对照组相比，JR患者在与声音相关的日常物品（如“铃铛”）的概念处理方面持续受损，而在与声音无关的日常物品（如“扶手椅”）、动物(无论它们是否发出声音（如“青蛙”）和乐器（如“吉他”）方面的表现完好无损。在对相应声音的知觉识别中，JR也获得了类似的缺陷模式。因此，左听觉关联皮层的损伤特别损害了对日常物体声音的感知和概念处理。这些发现有力地证明了听觉关联皮层在编码声音相关概念信息方面的必要性。
Conceptual knowledge is classically supposed to be abstract and represented in an amodal unitary system, distinct from the sensory and motor brain systems. A more recent embodiment view of conceptual knowledge, however, proposes that concepts are grounded in distributed modality-specific brain areas which typically process sensory or action-related object information. Recent neuroimaging evidence suggested the significance of left auditory association cortex encompassing posterior superior and middle temporal gyrus in coding conceptual sound features of everyday objects. However, a causal role of this region in processing conceptual sound information has yet to be established. Here we had the unique chance to investigate a patient, JR, with a focal lesion in left posterior superior and middle temporal gyrus. To test the necessity of this region in conceptual and perceptual processing of sound information we administered four different experimental tasks to JR: Visual word recognition, category fluency, sound recognition and voice classification. Compared with a matched control group, patient JR was consistently impaired in conceptual processing of sound-related everyday objects (e.g., “bell”), while performance for non-sound-related everyday objects (e.g., “armchair”), animals, whether they typically produce sounds (e.g., “frog”) or not (e.g., “tortoise”), and musical instruments (e.g., “guitar”) was intact. An analogous deficit pattern in JR was also obtained for perceptual recognition of the corresponding sounds. Hence, damage to left auditory association cortex specifically impairs perceptual and conceptual processing of sounds from everyday objects. In support of modality-specific theories, these findings strongly evidence the necessity of auditory association cortex in coding sound-related conceptual information.