Names and their meanings: A dual-process account of proper-name encoding and retrieval

NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS

卷:108

Review

O'Rourke, Thomas^1,2  de Diego Balaguer, Ruth^3,4,5,6 

[1] Univ Barcelona, Sect Gen Linguist, Cognit Sci & Language CCiL Grp, Barcelona, Spain

[2] Univ Barcelona, Inst Complex Syst, Barcelona, Spain

[3] Inst Catalana Recerca & Estudis Avancats, Barcelona, Spain

[4] Inst Invest Biomed Bellvitge, Cognit & Brain Plast Unit, Barcelona, Spain

[5] Univ Barcelona, Dept Cognit Dev & Educ Psychol, Barcelona, Spain

[6] Univ Barcelona, Inst Neurosci, Barcelona, Spain

关键词: Proper names;    Memory encoding;    Lexical retrieval;    Uncinate fasciculus;    Dual mnemonic process;    Familiarity memory;    Associative memory;    Item-context memory;    Socio-emotional memory;    Unitization;    Philosophy of language;    Naming and reference;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.11.005

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The ability to pick out a unique entity with a proper name is an important component of human language. It has been a primary focus of research in the philosophy of language since the nineteenth century. Brain-based evidence has shed new light on this capacity, and an extensive literature indicates the involvement of distinct fronto-temporal and temporo-occipito-parietal association cortices in proper-name retrieval. However, comparatively few efforts have sought to explain how memory encoding processes lead to the later recruitment of these distinct regions at retrieval. Here, we provide a unified account of proper-name encoding and retrieval, reviewing evidence that socio-emotional and unitized encoding subserve the retrieval of proper names via anterior-temporal-prefrontal activations. Meanwhile, non-unitized item-item and item-context encoding support subsequent retrieval, largely dependent on the temporo-occipito-parietal cortex. We contend that this well-established divergence in encoding systems can explain how proper names are later retrieved from distinct neural structures. Furthermore, we explore how evidence reviewed here can inform a century-and-a-half-old debate about proper names and the meanings they pick out.

【 授权许可】

Free