a functional role for modality-specific perceptual systems in conceptual representations功能角色modality-specific知觉系统概念表征.pdfVIP

A Functional Role for Modality-Specific Perceptual Systems in Conceptual Representations 1 . 2 . 3 Louise Connell * , Dermot Lynott * , Felix Dreyer 1 School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, 2 Decision and Cognitive Sciences Research Centre, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, 3 Department of Psychology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany Abstract Theories of embodied cognition suggest that conceptual processing relies on the same neural resources that are utilized for perception and action. Evidence for these perceptual simulations comes from neuroimaging and behavioural research, such as demonstrations of somatotopic motor cortex activations following the presentation of action-related words, or facilitation of grasp responses following presentation of object names. However, the interpretation of such effects has been called into question by suggestions that neural activation in modality-specific sensorimotor regions may be epiphenomenal, and merely the result of spreading activations from ‘‘disembodied’’, abstracted, symbolic representations. Here, we present two studies that focus on the perceptual modalities of touch and proprioception. We show that in a timed object- comparison task, concurrent tactile or proprioceptive stimulation to the hands facilitates conceptual processing relative to control stimulation. This facilitation occurs only for small, manipulable objects, where tactile and proprioceptive information form part of the multimodal perceptual experience of interacting with such objects, but facilitation is not observed for large, nonmanipulable objects where such perceptual information is uninformative. I