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Accessing Word Meanings

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The Nature of Language

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Abstract

How lexical meanings are accessed depends on multiple variables including input modality, morphosyntactic structures, perceptual features, and degree of abstractness. Sensory- and category-specific disorders can be predicted by cascade processes within an amodal lexical conceptual system. Lexical meanings are represented and distributed. Even if the meaning mainly consists of perceptual attributes, conceptual mediation processes may be involved in accessing the relevant meanings. Which cortical areas are recruited depend on process demands and the kind of content associated with a lexical entry. For instance, fMRI data show that Brocaʼs area will be recruited when access to idiomatic phrases involve higher process demands. We further assume that Geschwindʼs territory (supramarginal and angular gyrus), which represents the interface between prefrontal and temporo-occipital regions, is crucial for integrating multi-sensory experiences. This region, which gradually expanded in the human lineage, may be also responsible for attentive–conscious processes.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Unification processes (also called binding processes) can be per se fractionated (Humphreys et al. 2009).

  2. 2.

    Usually, the profession of the patient examined will not be mentioned in context of the neuropsychological evaluation. However, to some extent this information might be not completely irrelevant as the profession might indicate the person’s lexical expertise.

  3. 3.

    The stimuli were controlled for other variables such as familiarity (see for details Hillert and Buračas 2009).

  4. 4.

    This is also the brain that wrote this book.

  5. 5.

    These are Spanish sound patterns as the participants were Spanish speakers.

  6. 6.

    Often the term “higher” cortical area is used in the literature. To avoid any bias toward the functional role of a cortical area, we prefer to use more neutral terms when contrasting the functional roles of different cortical areas.

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    Dieter Hillert

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Hillert, D. (2014). Accessing Word Meanings. In: The Nature of Language. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0609-3_10

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