Abstract
Although abstract and concrete concepts are processed and remembered differently, the underlying nature of those differences remains in dispute. The current study used visual half-field (VF) presentation methods and event-related potential (ERP) measures to examine how the left (LH) and right (RH) cerebral hemispheres process concrete and abstract meanings of polysemous nouns (e.g., "green book," referring to the concrete, physical object that is a book, versus "engaging book," referring to the abstract information that a book conveys). With presentation to the right VF, nouns preceded by concrete modifiers were associated with more positivity on the P2 and N400, suggesting that concrete concepts were easier for the LH to process perceptually and semantically. In contrast, with presentation to the left VF (RH), nouns used in a concrete sense elicited a sustained frontal negativity (500-900 ms) that has been previously linked to imagery. The results thus reveal multiple, distinct neural and cognitive sources for concreteness effects and point to a critical role for the RH in linking language input to sensory imagery.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1116-1123 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | NeuroImage |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2010 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neurology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Cite this
Imagine that! ERPs provide evidence for distinct hemispheric contributions to the processing of concrete and abstract concepts. / Huang, Hsu Wen; Lee, Chia Lin; Federmeier, Kara D.
In: NeuroImage, Vol. 49, No. 1, 01.01.2010, p. 1116-1123.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Imagine that! ERPs provide evidence for distinct hemispheric contributions to the processing of concrete and abstract concepts
AU - Huang, Hsu Wen
AU - Lee, Chia Lin
AU - Federmeier, Kara D
PY - 2010/1/1
Y1 - 2010/1/1
N2 - Although abstract and concrete concepts are processed and remembered differently, the underlying nature of those differences remains in dispute. The current study used visual half-field (VF) presentation methods and event-related potential (ERP) measures to examine how the left (LH) and right (RH) cerebral hemispheres process concrete and abstract meanings of polysemous nouns (e.g., "green book," referring to the concrete, physical object that is a book, versus "engaging book," referring to the abstract information that a book conveys). With presentation to the right VF, nouns preceded by concrete modifiers were associated with more positivity on the P2 and N400, suggesting that concrete concepts were easier for the LH to process perceptually and semantically. In contrast, with presentation to the left VF (RH), nouns used in a concrete sense elicited a sustained frontal negativity (500-900 ms) that has been previously linked to imagery. The results thus reveal multiple, distinct neural and cognitive sources for concreteness effects and point to a critical role for the RH in linking language input to sensory imagery.
AB - Although abstract and concrete concepts are processed and remembered differently, the underlying nature of those differences remains in dispute. The current study used visual half-field (VF) presentation methods and event-related potential (ERP) measures to examine how the left (LH) and right (RH) cerebral hemispheres process concrete and abstract meanings of polysemous nouns (e.g., "green book," referring to the concrete, physical object that is a book, versus "engaging book," referring to the abstract information that a book conveys). With presentation to the right VF, nouns preceded by concrete modifiers were associated with more positivity on the P2 and N400, suggesting that concrete concepts were easier for the LH to process perceptually and semantically. In contrast, with presentation to the left VF (RH), nouns used in a concrete sense elicited a sustained frontal negativity (500-900 ms) that has been previously linked to imagery. The results thus reveal multiple, distinct neural and cognitive sources for concreteness effects and point to a critical role for the RH in linking language input to sensory imagery.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.07.031
DO - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.07.031
M3 - Article
C2 - 19631274
AN - SCOPUS:70349974223
VL - 49
SP - 1116
EP - 1123
JO - NeuroImage
JF - NeuroImage
SN - 1053-8119
IS - 1
ER -