TY - JOUR

T1 - Concrete vs. Abstract Semantics

T2 - From Mental Representations to Functional Brain Mapping

AU - Mkrtychian, Nadezhda

AU - Blagovechtchenski, Evgeny

AU - Kurmakaeva, Diana

AU - Gnedykh, Daria

AU - Kostromina, Svetlana

AU - Shtyrov, Yury

PY - 2019/8/2

Y1 - 2019/8/2

N2 - The nature of abstract and concrete semantics and differences between them have remained a debated issue in psycholinguistic and cognitive studies for decades. Most of the available behavioral and neuroimaging studies reveal distinctions between these two types of semantics, typically associated with a so-called “concreteness effect.” Many attempts have been made to explain these differences using various approaches, from purely theoretical linguistic and cognitive frameworks to neuroimaging experiments. In this brief overview, we will try to provide a snapshot of these diverse views and relationships between them and highlight the crucial issues preventing this problem from being solved. We will argue that one potentially beneficial way forward is to identify the neural mechanisms underpinning acquisition of the different types of semantics (e.g., by using neurostimulation techniques to establish causal relationships), which may help explain the distinctions found between the processing of concrete and abstract semantics.

AB - The nature of abstract and concrete semantics and differences between them have remained a debated issue in psycholinguistic and cognitive studies for decades. Most of the available behavioral and neuroimaging studies reveal distinctions between these two types of semantics, typically associated with a so-called “concreteness effect.” Many attempts have been made to explain these differences using various approaches, from purely theoretical linguistic and cognitive frameworks to neuroimaging experiments. In this brief overview, we will try to provide a snapshot of these diverse views and relationships between them and highlight the crucial issues preventing this problem from being solved. We will argue that one potentially beneficial way forward is to identify the neural mechanisms underpinning acquisition of the different types of semantics (e.g., by using neurostimulation techniques to establish causal relationships), which may help explain the distinctions found between the processing of concrete and abstract semantics.

KW - brain

KW - concrete and abstract semantics

KW - concreteness effect

KW - functional brain mapping

KW - memory trace

KW - mental representation

KW - psycholinguistics

KW - CONTEXT-AVAILABILITY

KW - COMPREHENSION

KW - METAANALYSIS

KW - MECHANISM

KW - ACQUISITION

KW - MOTOR SYSTEM

KW - CONSOLIDATION

KW - WORD CONCRETENESS

KW - CORTEX

KW - CONCEPTUAL KNOWLEDGE

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85072188424&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.mendeley.com/research/concrete-vs-abstract-semantics-mental-representations-functional-brain-mapping

U2 - 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00267

DO - 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00267

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:85072188424

VL - 13

JO - Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

JF - Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

SN - 1662-5161

M1 - 267

ER -