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concepts play a central role in human behaviour and constitute a critical component of the human conceptual system. Here, we investigate the neural basis of four types of abstract concepts, examining their similarities and differences through neuroimaging meta-analyses. We examine numerical and emotional concepts, and two higher-order abstract processes, morality judgements and theory of mind. Three main findings emerge. First, representation of abstract concepts is more widespread than is often assumed. Second, representations of different types of abstract concepts differ in important respects. Each of the domains examined here was associated with some unique areas. Third, some areas were commonly activated across domains and included inferior parietal, posterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex. We interpret these regions in terms of their role in episodic recall, event representation and social-emotional processing. We suggest that different types of abstract concepts can be represented and grounded through differing contributions from event-based, interoceptive, introspective and sensory-motor representations. The results underscore the richness and diversity of abstract concepts, argue against single-mechanism accounts for representation of all types of abstract concepts and suggest mechanisms for their direct and indirect grounding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Embodied theories hold that cognitive concepts are grounded in our sensorimotor systems. Specifically, a number of behavioral and neuroimaging studies have buttressed the idea that language concepts are represented in areas involved in perception and action [Pulvermueller, F. Brain mechanisms linking language and action. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6, 576-582, 2005; Barsalou, L. W. Perceptual symbol systems. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 577-660, 1999]. Proponents of a strong embodied account argue that activity in perception/action areas is triggered automatically upon encountering a word and reflect static semantic representations. In contrast to what would be expected if lexical semantic representations are automatically triggered upon encountering a word, a number of studies failed to find motor-related activity for words with a putative action-semantic component [Raposo, A., Moss, H. E., Stamatakis, E. A., & Tyler, L. K. Modulation of motor and premotor cortices by actions, action words and action sentences. Neuropsychologia, 47, 388-396, 2009; Rueschemeyer, S.-A., Brass, M., & Friederici, A. D. Comprehending prehending: Neural correlates of processing verbs with motor stems. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19, 855-865, 2007]. In a recent fMRI study, Van Dam and colleagues [Van Dam, W. O., Van Dijk, M., Bekkering, H., & Rueschemeyer, S.-A. Flexibility in embodied lexical-semantic representations. Human Brain Mapping, in press] showed that the degree to which a modality-specific region contributes to a representation considerably changes as a function of context. In the current study, we presented words for which both motor and visual properties (e.g., tennis ball, boxing glove) were important in constituting the concept. Our aim was to corroborate on earlier findings of flexible and context-dependent language representations by testing whether functional integration between auditory brain regions and perception/action areas is modulated by context. Functional connectivity was investigated by means of a psychophysiological interaction analysis, in which we found that bilateral superior temporal gyrus was more strongly connected with brain regions relevant for coding action information: (1) for Action Color words vs. Abstract words, and (2) for Action Color words presented in a context that emphasized action vs. a context that emphasized color properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Embodied accounts of language processing suggest that sensorimotor areas, generally dedicated to perception and action, are also involved in the processing and representation of word meaning. Support for such accounts comes from studies showing that language about actions selectively modulates the execution of congruent and incongruent motor responses (e.g., Glenberg & Kaschak, 2002), and from functional neuroimaging studies showing that understanding action-related language recruits sensorimotor brain areas (e.g. Hauk, Johnsrude, & Pulvermueller, 2004). In the current experiment we explored the basis of the neural motor system''s involvement in representing words denoting actions. Specifically, we investigated whether the motor system''s involvement is modulated by the specificity of the kinematics associated with a word. Previous research in the visual domain indicates that words denoting basic level category members lacking a specific form (e.g., bird) are less richly encoded within visual areas than words denoting subordinate level members (e.g., pelican), for which the visual form is better specified (Gauthier, Anderson, Tarr, Skudlarski, & Gore, 1997). In the present study we extend these findings to the motor domain. Modulation of the BOLD response elicited by verbs denoting a general motor program (e.g., to clean) was compared to modulation elicited by verbs denoting a more specific motor program (e.g., to wipe). Conform with our hypothesis, a region within the bilateral inferior parietal lobule, typically serving the representation of action plans and goals, was sensitive to the specificity of motor programs associated with the action verbs. These findings contribute to the growing body of research on embodied language representations by showing that the concreteness of an action-semantic feature is reflected in the neural response to action verbs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]