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SUMMARY:Grounding knowledge in the brain’s modal systems - Professor Law
 rence W Barsalou\, Department of Psychology\, Emory University\, USA
DTSTART:20071207T163000Z
DTEND:20071207T180000Z
UID:TALK9356@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Marie Dixon
DESCRIPTION:The human conceptual system contains categorical knowledge tha
 t supports online processing (perception\, categorization\, inference\, ac
 tion) and offline processing (memory\, language\, thought). Semantic memor
 y\, the dominant theory\, typically portrays the conceptual system as modu
 lar and amodal. According to this view\, amodal symbols represent category
  knowledge in a modular system\, separate from the brain’s modal systems
  for perception\, action\, and introspection (e.g.\, affect\, mental state
 s). Alternatively\, the conceptual system can be viewed as non-modular and
  modal\, sharing representational mechanisms with the brain’s modal syst
 ems. On a given occasion\, multimodal information about a category's membe
 rs is reenacted (simulated) across relevant modalities to represent it con
 ceptually. Behavioral and neural evidence is presented showing that modal 
 simulations contribute to the representation of object categories\, abstra
 ct categories\, and to the symbolic operations of predication and conceptu
 al combination. Although simulation plays important roles in the conceptua
 l system\, linguistic processes are important as well. Additional behavior
 al and neural evidence is presented showing that simulation and language c
 ontribute to conceptual processing simultaneously. Furthermore\, either sy
 stem can dominate under different task conditions\, such that different pr
 ofiles of conceptual processing emerge.
LOCATION:Lecture Theatre\, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit\, Chaucer
  Road
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