The Semantics of Natural Objects and Tools in the Brain: A Combined Behavioral and MEG Study

Brain Sciences

Fabio Magliocco¹  Francesco Silipo²  Gioacchino Garofalo³  Giovanni Buccino³  Dunja Duran⁴  Davide Rossi Sebastiano⁴  Elisa Visani⁴ 

[1] Centro Psico-Sociale di Seregno—Azienda Socio-Sanitaria Territoriale di Vimercate, 20871 Vimercate, Italy;Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, University “Magna Graecia” of Catanzaro, Viale Salvatore Venuta, 88100 Germaneto, Italy;Division of Neuroscience, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, University San Raffaele, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, Italy;Neurophysiology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Via Celoria 11, 20133 Milan, Italy;

关键词: semantics;    object representations;    behavioral responses;    MEG;    embodiment;    beta rhythm;   

DOI  :  10.3390/brainsci12010097

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Current literature supports the notion that the recognition of objects, when visually presented, is sub-served by neural structures different from those responsible for the semantic processing of their nouns. However, embodiment foresees that processing observed objects and their verbal labels should share similar neural mechanisms. In a combined behavioral and MEG study, we compared the modulation of motor responses and cortical rhythms during the processing of graspable natural objects and tools, either verbally or pictorially presented. Our findings demonstrate that conveying meaning to an observed object or processing its noun similarly modulates both motor responses and cortical rhythms; being natural graspable objects and tools differently represented in the brain, they affect in a different manner both behavioral and MEG findings, independent of presentation modality. These results provide experimental evidence that neural substrates responsible for conveying meaning to objects overlap with those where the object is represented, thus supporting an embodied view of semantic processing.

【 授权许可】

Unknown