Concept Representation in the Human Brain

概念是人类认知的基石，为语言提供基本内容， 记忆、社会交往、计划和许多其他基本能力。现代证据表明， 人类的概念性知识是以一个广泛分布的、有层次的系统来表示的 涉及大脑的大部分。尽管这一认知领域至关重要，但我们的研究仍存在很大差距。 理解关于概念如何在一个特定的环境中表示和组织的非常基本的问题。 系统级。该项目使用一种新颖的，高维的，生物学上的， 一种基于词义的模型，它捕捉一个概念从各种类型的 感官、动作、情感、空间、时间和认知体验。我们在一系列的 功能磁共振成像数据的信息分析和多变量分析的病变缺陷的相关性， 中风我们的主要假设是，许多概念性知识是以抽象形式表示的， 特定内容的体验网络和这些网络之间的多层次融合。目标1：澄清 这些分层融合的详细架构，包括中间跨模态网络， 我们假设，由于神经处理流和系统协变的接近， 体验维度之间的联系目的2是检验事件概念（例如，派对，意外， SNEEZE）主要表现在下顶叶会聚网络中，这是由于来自 运动，动作，空间和时间的经验，在这些概念的形成，而对象的概念， 在颞叶会聚网络中有更强的代表性， 经验目标3是阐明概念类别是如何区别表示的，以及这个组织是如何 在患有局灶性脑损伤的患者中引起类别相关的损伤。我们假设， 具体和抽象类别的表示都来自不同权重的混合物， 在表征层次结构的高层次上的经验信息。高维度的，体验式的 这些假设所基于的词义的表征，结合先进的功能磁共振成像， 绘制信息内容的技术，使解决这些基本知识差距成为可能 第一次有系统地。将最先进的病变-缺陷相关性分析与这些健康 大脑fMRI研究提供了一种强有力的手段来建立fMRI活动模式与 成功的概念检索。了解这个庞大，复杂，特别是人类的大脑系统已经远远- 对理解一系列损害知识的神经系统疾病具有重要意义 表示和检索，很可能是脑外科功能映射领域的变革， 并将是为这些患者制定合理有效的康复策略的先决条件， 包括涉及调节刺激、脑机接口和生物修复的未来疗法。

Concepts are the building blocks of human cognition, providing the basic content for language, episodic memory, social interaction, planning, and many other essential capabilities. Modern evidence suggests that human conceptual knowledge is represented in a widely distributed and hierarchically organized system involving much of the brain. Despite the central importance of this cognitive domain, there are large gaps in our understanding of very fundamental issues concerning how concepts are represented and organized at a systems level. This project addresses several of these gaps using a novel, high-dimensional, biologically based model of word meaning that captures the extent to which a concept is derived from various types of sensory, action, emotional, spatial, temporal, and cognitive experiences. We use this model in a series of information-based analyses of fMRI data and multivariate analyses of lesion-deficit correlations in patients with stroke. Our main hypothesis is that much of conceptual knowledge is represented in abstract form within content-specific experiential networks and multi-level convergences between these networks. Aim 1 is to clarify the detailed architecture of these hierarchical convergences, including intermediate crossmodal networks that we hypothesize arise in the brain due to proximity of neural processing streams and systematic covariation between experiential dimensions. Aim 2 is to test the hypothesis that event concepts (e.g., PARTY, ACCIDENT, SNEEZE) are primarily represented in inferior parietal convergence networks due to strong contributions from motion, action, spatial, and temporal experiences in the formation of these concepts, whereas object concepts have stronger representation in temporal lobe convergence networks that capture static multisensory experiences. Aim 3 is to clarify how concept categories are differentially represented and how this organization gives rise to category-related impairments in patients with focal brain damage. We hypothesize that neural representations of both concrete and abstract categories emerge from differently weighted mixtures of experiential information at high levels in the representational hierarchy. The high-dimensional, experiential representation of word meaning on which these hypotheses are based, combined with advanced fMRI techniques for mapping information content, makes it possible to address these basic knowledge gaps systematically for the first time. Combining state-of-the-art lesion-deficit correlation analyses with these healthy brain fMRI studies provides a powerful means of establishing causal links between fMRI activity patterns and successful concept retrieval. Understanding this large, complex, and particularly human brain system has far- reaching implications for understanding a range of neurological conditions that impair knowledge representation and retrieval, is likely to be transformative in the realm of functional mapping for brain surgery, and will be a prerequisite for developing rational and effective rehabilitation strategies for such patients, including future therapies involving modulatory stimulation, brain-machine interfaces, and biological repair.