Superordinate Concepts - Semantic Sources, Cognitive Properties and Neural Representation

Concepts are cognitive constructs that are fundamental to neuroscience. Superordinate concepts such as world, life, and person are widely used in common language but typically ill-defined. In an interdisciplinary approach we present superordinate concepts as three-part accounts that encompass the articulated concepts of objects, events, and narratives. Thereby, superordinate concepts integrate the physical, relational, and narrated nature of our environmental information into comprehensive verbal expressions. Owing to their distributed representations in large-scale neural networks that in addition to the prefrontal cortex involve the temporoparietal cortex and subcortical structures such as the amygdala, superordinate concepts evolve in relation to language development in childhood. They may gain prominent emotional relevance and continue to mature throughout a person's lifetime. Conversely, they are susceptible to neuropsychiatric disorders of the brain that affect cortico-cortical connectivity. In conclusion, superordinate concepts are metastable descriptors of integrated verbalized information that provide a novel perspective on the mind-brain relationship.