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Related Concept Videos

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,...
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.
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...
Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language01:10

Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language

Language is a system of communication that allows the expression of thoughts, ideas, and feelings. The brain processes language in both hemispheres.
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...
Lateralization01:28

Lateralization

Brain lateralization refers to the division of mental processes and functions between the two hemispheres of the brain, a phenomenon that optimizes neural efficiency and underpins complex abilities in humans. This specialization allows each hemisphere to perform tasks where it has a comparative advantage, facilitating more refined cognitive capabilities across different domains.
Olfaction01:25

Olfaction

The sense of smell is achieved through the activities of the olfactory system. It starts when an airborne odorant enters the nasal cavity and reaches olfactory epithelium (OE). The OE is protected by a thin layer of mucus, which also serves the purpose of dissolving more complex compounds into simpler chemical odorants. The size of the OE and the density of sensory neurons varies among species; in humans, the OE is only about 9-10 cm2.
The olfactory receptors are embedded in the cilia of the...

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A Method for Investigating Age-related Differences in the Functional Connectivity of Cognitive Control Networks Associated with Dimensional Change Card Sort Performance
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Developmental changes in the inferior frontal cortex for selecting semantic representations.

Shu-Hui Lee1, James R Booth, Shiou-Yuan Chen

  • 1Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
|February 17, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore how children process word meanings. Findings show that understanding related words, especially homophones, engages specific brain regions more in older children.

Keywords:
AgeAssociation strengthAuditorySemanticVisualfMRI

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Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology

Background:

  • Chinese language features numerous homophones, posing unique challenges for semantic processing.
  • Understanding word meaning (semantic judgment) in children is crucial for cognitive development.
  • Cross-modal semantic tasks may reveal distinct neural mechanisms compared to unimodal tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neural correlates of semantic judgments in Chinese children aged 10-15.
  • To compare brain activity during visual-visual versus visual-auditory semantic tasks.
  • To examine age-related differences in semantic processing, particularly for homophones.

Main Methods:

  • Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed to measure brain activity.
  • Participants performed two semantic tasks: visual-visual and visual-auditory word-pair judgments.
  • Stimuli included word pairs with varying degrees of semantic association.

Main Results:

  • Weaker semantic association pairs elicited greater activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 45) for both tasks.
  • This activation was more pronounced in the visual-auditory task compared to the visual-visual task.
  • The difference in activation between tasks was more significant in older children than younger children.

Conclusions:

  • The visual-auditory task, involving homophones, necessitates greater cognitive control for semantic selection.
  • Semantic selection mechanisms are more involved in cross-modal tasks, especially for older children.
  • Findings highlight the neural basis of semantic processing and cognitive control in developing minds.