Circuits in Mind: The Neural Foundations for Object Concepts

Abstract

Functional neuroimaging studies have provided convincing evidence to support three main conclusions about the neural circuitry that underpins our understanding of objects in the world. First, our conceptual system contains property-based neural circuits grounded in the systems that support perceiving, acting, and feeling. Second, our conceptual system prominently includes relatively distinct neural circuits for processing and storing domain-specific information. Third, these circuits reflect the interpretation or meaning assigned to an object, not its physical features. Outstanding questions and problems with an embodied, domain-specific view of conceptual representation, as well as the role of the anterior regions of the temporal lobes in conceptual processing and semantic memory, are discussed.