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Domain-specific knowledge systems in the brain the animate-inanimate distinction
1Harvard University, Cognitive Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Cambridge MA 02138, USA. caram@wjh.harvard.edu
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
|May 2, 1998
Summary
Animate and inanimate categories are distinct knowledge systems in the brain, explaining category-specific deficits after brain damage. This domain-specific view better explains these deficits than sensory/functional theories.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neuropsychology
- Semantics
Background:
- Category-specific deficits, such as impaired knowledge of animals, are reported in cognitive neuropsychology.
- These deficits challenge existing theories of semantic organization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose and defend the domain-specific knowledge systems theory for animate/inanimate categories.
- To contrast this theory with the dominant sensory/functional dichotomy theory.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on category-specific deficits.
- Presentation and analysis of a new case study exhibiting a category-specific deficit.
Main Results:
- Evidence supports the domain-specific knowledge framework.
- The sensory/functional dichotomy theory is found to be less adequate.
Conclusions:
- Animate and inanimate conceptual categories are evolutionarily adapted, domain-specific systems supported by distinct neural mechanisms.
- Category-specific deficits are best explained by damage to these domain-specific systems, not by selective damage to non-categorical visual or functional semantic subsystems.