Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T06:50:54.870Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Simulation across representation: The interplay of schemas and simulation-based inference on different levels of abstraction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2020

Malte Schilling Open the ORCID record for Malte Schilling [Opens in a new window] ,
Nancy Chang ,
Katharina J. Rohlfing  and
Michael Spranger
Malte Schilling
Affiliation:
Sony Computer Science Laboratories Inc., 3-14-13, Higashigotanda, Shinagawa-ku, 141-0022Tokyo, Japanmichael.spranger@gmail.com Faculty of Technology, Department of Neuroinformatics, Bielefeld University, D-33501Bielefeld, Germanymschilli@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de
Nancy Chang
Affiliation:
Google, Mountain View, CA94043ncchang@google.com
Katharina J. Rohlfing
Affiliation:
Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Paderborn University, Paderborn, Germany. katharina.rohlfing@uni-paderborn.de
Michael Spranger
Affiliation:
Sony Computer Science Laboratories Inc., 3-14-13, Higashigotanda, Shinagawa-ku, 141-0022Tokyo, Japanmichael.spranger@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Language comprehension of action verbs recruits embodied representations in the brain that are assumed to invoke a mental simulation (e.g., “grasping a peanut”). This extends to abstract concepts, as well (“grasping an idea”). We, therefore, argue that mental simulation works across levels of abstractness and involves higher-level schematic structures that subsume a generic structure of actions and events.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 43 , 2020 , e147
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baldassano, C., Hasson, U. & Norman, K. A. (2018) Representation of real-world event schemas during narrative perception. Journal of Neuroscience 38(45):9689–99. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0251-18.2018.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bergen, B. & Chang, N. (2005) Embodied construction grammar in simulation-based language understanding. In: Construction grammar(s): Cognitive and cross-language dimensions, ed. Östman, J.-O. & Fried, M., pp. 147–90. John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binder, J. R. & Desai, R. H. (2011) The neurobiology of semantic memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 15(11):527–36. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2011.10.001.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boulenger, V., Hauk, O. & Pulvermüller, F. (2008) Grasping ideas with the motor system: Semantic somatotopy in idiom comprehension. Cerebral Cortex 19(8):1905–14. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhn217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chwilla, D. J. & Kolk, H. H. J. (2005) Accessing world knowledge: Evidence from N400 and reaction time priming. Cognitive Brain Research 25:589–606.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Desai, R. H., Conant, L. L., Binder, J. R., Park, H. & Seidenberg, M. S. (2013) A piece of the action: Modulation of sensory-motor regions by action idioms and metaphors. NeuroImage 83:862–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.07.044.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Desai, R. H., Reilly, M. & van Dam, W. (2018) The multifaceted abstract brain. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 373(1752):20170122. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, M. (1987) The body in the mind: The bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason. University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, N. & Bergen, B. (2016) When do language comprehenders mentally simulate locations? Cognitive Linguistics 27(2):181–203. https://doi.org/10.1515/cog-2015-0123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Narayanan, S. (1999) Reasoning about actions in narrative understanding. In: Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI’1999), pp. 350–57. Morgan Kaufmann Press.Google Scholar
Pulvermüller, F. (2018) Neural reuse of action perception circuits for language, concepts and communication. Progress in Neurobiology 160:1–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pneurobio.2017.07.001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stawarczyk, D., Bezdek, M. A.Z & Zacks, J. M. (2019) Event representations and predictive processing: The role of the midline default network core. Topics in Cognitive Science, tops.12450. https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12450.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, X., Wu, W., Ling, Z., Xu, Y., Fang, Y., Wang, X., Binder, J. R., Men, W., Gao, J. H. & Bi, Y. (2018) Organizational principles of abstract words in the human brain. Cerebral Cortex 28(12):4305–18. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhx283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zadbood, A., Chen, J., Leong, Y. C., Norman, K. A. & Hasson, U. (2017) How we transmit memories to other brains: Constructing shared neural representations via communication. Cerebral Cortex 27(10):4988–5000. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhx202.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed