Semantic properties of words: Establishing their temporal and spatial correlates in the brain

识别书面文字是阅读的一个重要部分，主观上毫不费力，客观上也很快。虽然读者对书面信息的语义解释非常精通，但围绕单词识别的精确时间过程、其神经基质以及语义因素可以调节这些过程的程度，争论和探究仍在继续。目前的建议研究了处理单词语义特征的时间和空间相关性，包括它们的情感性（唤起、效价、支配）、可视化（具体性、可想象性）、显著性（语义大小、性别关联）和主观频率（熟悉度、习得年龄）。脑成像技术能够捕获的时间和空间偶然性的词识别过程中使用了一系列的实验。首先，在使用脑电图（EEG）和脑磁图（MEG）同时记录的大规模单词识别任务中，评估与不同语义维度相关的激活的相对时间和强度。其次，在两项使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）的研究中，我们将评估大脑特定区域对词汇情绪性和语义大小处理的贡献。预计这些发现将为单词的语义处理提供新的见解，并将告知和限制当前的阅读单词识别模型。这项研究将是同类研究中第一次对处理单词多重语义维度的精确时间和空间成分进行研究。脑电图-脑磁图和功能磁共振成像实验在识别跨多个语义维度变化的词相关成分方面相互补充。期望这些发现将建立语义特征对单词识别的贡献，并将有助于描述单个特征之间的差异。这将反过来告知与单词自动识别相关的神经回路模型。虽然人类能够以最小的努力快速识别单词，但这是如何实现的仍是未知的。大型多维脑电图-脑磁图和更集中的功能磁共振成像研究的综合发现将允许识别与单词的各种语义特征相关的组件的时间和空间特性，建立单词识别过程中语义特征整合的“何时”和“何地”。

Recognising written words, an essential part of reading, is subjectively effortless and objectively fast. While it is well-established that readers are highly proficient in the semantic interpretation of written information, debate and enquiry continues to surround the precise time course of word recognition, its neural substrates, and the extent to which semantic factors can modulate these processes. The current proposal investigates the temporal and spatial correlates of processing the semantic features of words, including their emotionality (arousal, valence, dominance), visualisation (concreteness, imageability), salience (semantic size, gendered association), and subjective frequency (familiarity, ageof acquisition). Brain imaging techniques capable of capturing the temporal and spatial contingencies of word recognition processes are utilised across a series of experiments. First, in a large-scale word recognition task using simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) recording, the relative timing and strength of activations associated with different semantic dimensions will be assessed. Second, in two studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the contribution of brain regions specific to the processing of words' emotionality and semantic size will be evaluated. It is expected that the findings will provide novel insights into the semanticprocessing of words and will inform and constrain current models of word recognition in reading.The research will be the first study of its kind to examine precise temporal and spatial components of processing multiple semantic dimensions of words. The EEG-MEG and fMRI experiments complement each other in identifying components associated with words varying across multiple semantic dimensions. It is expected that the findings will establish the contributions of semantic features to word recognition, and will help delineate the differences between individual features. This will in turn inform models of the neural circuitry associated with automatic recognition of words. Although humans are capable of rapid word recognition with minimal effort, much remains unknown as to how this is achieved. The combined findings from large, multidimensional EEG-MEG and more focussed fMRI studies will allow for identification of both the temporal and spatial properties of components associated with various semantic features of words, establishing the 'when' and 'where' of semantic feature integration during word recognition.