The neural substrates of abstract/concrete word

processing

Gabriella Vigliocco, UCLStavroula-Thaleia Kousta, UCL

Joseph T. Devlin, UCLStefano Cappa, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele

Background Concrete > Abstract (Bleasdale, 1987; Paivio, 1986; Schwanenflugel et al., 1989)

Concrete = Imageable Abstract = Non-imageable Partially distinct brain systems underlie the processing of

concrete and abstract concepts (Binder et al., 2005; Sabsevitz et al., 2005; but see Grossman et al., 2002; Kiehl et al., 1999; Noppeney & Price, 2004)

Abstract > Concrete (Kousta et al., in prep.)

Question:

What are the neural correlates of abstract/concrete word processing when confounding variables have been controlled?

Lexical Decision

4 Conditions (Abstract, Concrete, Pseudowords, Letter Strings; 240 trials/60 per condition)

+ Baseline

Mixed (block and event-related design):

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t

+sum

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+qlv

+edy

?

+rod

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~60s ~60s15s 15s

Study DetailsParticipants: 24 adult right-handed native English

speakers

Scanning Details: — whole brain fMRI (3x3x3mm voxel; TE = 50ms; TR = 3s)

— jittered ITI (2-6s)

Test Session: ~28min (2/3 EPI runs)

Analysis: GLM in FSL