Brain Language (in press) CONCEPTUAL STRUCTURE AND THE STRUCTURE OF CONCEPTS A DISTRIBUTE.pdfVIP

Brain Language (in press) CONCEPTUAL STRUCTURE AND THE STRUCTURE OF CONCEPTS: A DISTRIBUTED ACCOUNT OF CATEGORY-SPECIFIC DEFICITS L.K. Tyler1 H.E. Moss1 M. R. Durrant-Peatfield2 J.P. Levy2 1Centre for Speech and Language, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge 2Department of Psychology, Birkbeck College, University of London ABSTRACT We present a new account of the fine-grained structure of semantic categories derived from neuropsychological, behavioral and developmental data. The account places theoretical emphasis on the functions of the referents of concepts. We claim (i) the perceptual features representing specific functional mechanisms are strongly correlated with their function; (ii) the distinctiveness of functional features correlated with perceptual features varies across semantic domains; (iii) Category structure emerges from the complex interaction of these variables. The representational assumptions that follow from these claims make strong predictions about what types of semantic information are preserved in patients showing category-specific deficits following brain damage. These claims are illustrated with a connectionist simulation which, when damaged, shows patterns of preservation of distinctive and shared functional and perceptual information which varies across semantic domains. The data model both dissociations between knowledge for artefacts and for living things and recent neuropsychological evidence concerning the robustness of functional information in the representation of concepts. INTRODUCTION Neuropsychological studies of patients with semantic impairments provide important data concerning the structure and content of semantic memory. Detailed investigations of patterns of impaired and preserved semantic knowledge demonstrated by such patients provide invaluable insights into the way in which semantic information is stored and accessed. One especially important source of data comes from patients with what appe