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Cross-Modal Multivariate Pattern Analysis
Published on: November 9, 2011
Puddles, parties, and professors: linking word categorization to neural patterns of visuospatial coding
Susanne Quadflieg1, Joset A Etzel, Valeria Gazzola
1University of Aberdeen. susanne.quadflieg@uclouvain.be
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
|January 28, 2011
Summary
People mentally map words to vertical space, associating positive and powerful concepts with "up." Brain imaging reveals shared neural representations for verticality in location and valence, but not power, word processing.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psycholinguistics
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- Behavioral studies suggest a link between vertical space and abstract concepts like object location, valence, and power.
- Positive/powerful concepts are associated with 'up,' while negative/powerless concepts are linked to 'down.'
- The neural basis of these spatial-conceptual mappings remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the spatial mapping of word meaning.
- To determine if verticality representations are shared across visual perception and conceptual processing.
- To examine the role of visual imagery in these spatial-conceptual effects.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to monitor brain activity.
- Participants categorized the vertical position of shapes and judged words based on location, valence, and power.
- Multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) was applied to fMRI data.
Main Results:
- Classifiers differentiated shape positions in the inferior parietal lobe.
- These classifiers also distinguished between location and valence word judgments, but not power word judgments.
- Pattern transfer for location words correlated with visual imagery propensity.
Conclusions:
- Visual coding and conceptual processing can evoke common neural representations of verticality.
- Divergent neural mechanisms may underlie the spatial mapping of different conceptual dimensions (location, valence, power).
- Visual imagery plays a role in the spatial representation of word meaning.
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