Computation and cognition: toward a foundation for cognitive science
Computation and cognition: toward a foundation for cognitive science
The Architecture of Cognition
Brain Signatures of Meaning Access in Action Word Recognition
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Listening to Action-related Sentences Activates Fronto-parietal Motor Circuits
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Cross-talk between Language Processes and Overt Motor Behavior in the First 200 msec of Processing
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Experience-dependent Plasticity of Conceptual Representations in Human Sensory-Motor Areas
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
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Classical theories of semantic memory assume that concepts are represented in a unitary amodal memory system. In challenging this classical view, pure or hybrid modality-specific theories propose that conceptual representations are grounded in the sensory-motor brain areas, which typically process sensory and action-related information. Although neuroimaging studies provided evidence for a functional-anatomical link between conceptual processing of sensory or action-related features and the sensory-motor brain systems, it has been argued that aspects of such sensory-motor activation may not directly reflect conceptual processing but rather strategic imagery or postconceptual elaboration. In the present ERP study, we investigated masked effects of acoustic and action-related conceptual features to probe unconscious automatic conceptual processing in isolation. Subliminal feature-specific ERP effects at frontocentral electrodes were observed, which differed with regard to polarity, topography, and underlying brain electrical sources in congruency with earlier findings under conscious viewing conditions. These findings suggest that conceptual acoustic and action representations can also be unconsciously accessed, thereby excluding any postconceptual strategic processes. This study therefore further substantiates a grounding of conceptual and semantic processing in action and perception.