What drives the organization of object knowledge in the brain?

Various forms of category-specificity have been described at both the cognitive and neural levels, inviting the inference that different semantic domains are processed by distinct, dedicated mechanisms. In this paper, we argue for an extension of a domain-specific interpretation to these phenomena t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in cognitive sciences 2011-03, Vol.15 (3), p.97-103
Main Authors: Mahon, Bradford Z, Caramazza, Alfonso
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Brain - anatomy & histology
Brain - physiology
Brain Mapping
Cognition - physiology
Cognition Disorders - pathology
Cognition. Intelligence
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Knowledge
Mental imagery. Mental representation
Neural Pathways - physiology
Neurology
Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Semantics
Twin Studies as Topic
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Summary:Various forms of category-specificity have been described at both the cognitive and neural levels, inviting the inference that different semantic domains are processed by distinct, dedicated mechanisms. In this paper, we argue for an extension of a domain-specific interpretation to these phenomena that is based on network-level analyses of functional coupling among brain regions. On this view, domain-specificity in one region of the brain emerges because of innate connectivity with a network of regions that also process information about that domain. Recent findings are reviewed that converge with this framework, and a new direction is outlined for understanding the neural principles that shape the organization of conceptual knowledge.
ISSN:1364-6613
1879-307X
DOI:10.1016/j.tics.2011.01.004