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Related Concept Videos

Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex01:23

Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex

The somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobes is crucial for interpreting sensory data such as touch, temperature, and proprioception. The somatosensory cortex, situated in the parietal lobes, plays a vital role in interpreting sensory information like touch, temperature, and proprioception—awareness of body position. This specialized brain region features an organized structure wherein neurons at the top primarily process sensations originating from the lower body. In contrast, those at the...
Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex01:14

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex.
Association Areas of the Cortex01:21

Association Areas of the Cortex

Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...
Somatosensation01:33

Somatosensation

The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.
Major Somatic Sensory Pathways01:28

Major Somatic Sensory Pathways

Sensory impulses related to touch, pressure, vibration, and proprioception from various body parts, such as the limbs, trunk, neck, and posterior head, travel to the cerebral cortex through the posterior column-medial lemniscus pathway. The pathway’s name derives from the two white-matter tracts that convey the impulses: the spinal cord's posterior column and the brainstem's medial lemniscus. First-order sensory neurons extend their axons into the spinal cord, forming the posterior columns...
Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory01:26

Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory

Memory is one of the most vital higher mental functions of the brain. Memory is closely related to learning because it enables us to retain information and experiences from our past to use them in our present life. It also helps us to remember facts, events, and skills, such as riding a bike or swimming. There are two types of memory — declarative memory, which involves memorizing facts or events, and procedural memory, which enables us to remember how to do something like writing or playing an...

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Related Experiment Video

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An Experiment Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy and Robot-Assisted Multi-Joint Pointing Movements of the Lower Limb
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Action semantic knowledge about objects is supported by functional motor activation.

Michiel van Elk1, Hein T van Schie, Harold Bekkering

  • 1Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radbound University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. m.vanelk@donders.ru.nl

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance
|August 6, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Action semantics, the understanding of how we use objects, are processed with motor system activation. This processing is independent of visual semantics and reflects an object's typical use.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Psychology
  • Semantics

Background:

  • Understanding how the brain processes object meaning is crucial for cognitive science.
  • Action semantics, the meaning derived from object interaction, is thought to involve motor system engagement.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the functional organization of action semantics.
  • To determine if action semantics retrieval involves motor representations.
  • To explore the independence of action semantics from visual semantics.

Main Methods:

  • Subjects categorized pictures of objects with correct/incorrect grips and goal locations.
  • Reaction times were measured under different semantic and visual conditions.
  • Implicit motor activation was assessed through behavioral interference.

Main Results:

  • Inappropriate object postures led to slower reaction times, especially for goal violations.
  • Action semantics retrieval showed implicit motor representation activation.
  • Object-visual semantics retrieval showed less motor activation and no postural interference.

Conclusions:

  • Action semantics are accessed independently from visual semantics.
  • Retrieval of action semantics is supported by functional motor activation.
  • Motor activation reflects the prototypical use of an object.