Neural representations at the interface of perception and memory.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Bonner, Michael F.

Contributor:

Binder, Jeffrey, committee member.

Gur, Ruben, committee member.

Epstein, Russell, committee member.

Chatterjee, Anjan, committee member.

Grossman, Murray, advisor.

University of Pennsylvania. Neuroscience.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cognitive psychology.

Neurosciences.

Biology, Neuroscience.

Psychology, Cognitive.

0317.

0633.

Penn dissertations--Neuroscience.

Neuroscience--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Biology, Neuroscience.

Psychology, Cognitive.

Penn dissertations--Neuroscience.

Neuroscience--Penn dissertations.

0317.

0633.

Physical Description:

172 pages

Contained In:

Dissertation Abstracts International 74-05B(E).

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

The human brain stores a vast network of knowledge about the contents of our environment. This memory system underlies our ability to identify objects in perception, to refer to things in language, and to engage in complex cognitive processes like imagination and reasoning. How such conceptual memories are encoded in the brain remains unclear. Using functional and structural neuroimaging techniques, I investigated the neural basis of conceptual memory networks in healthy adults and in patients with memory impairments resulting from neurodegenerative disease. I found that conceptual memories are represented in networks of modality-specific and heteromodal association regions of the brain. These findings show that when healthy adults encounter a word, a distributed network of information is activated that includes an integrative heteromodal region in the inferior parietal and lateral temporal cortices and numerous modality-specific association regions. Converging evidence from patients with focal neurodegenerative diseases demonstrates that feature representations in modality-specific association regions are necessary for conceptual memory. Additionally, it appears that individual differences in conceptual memory retrieval in healthy adults are related to individual differences in the structure of modality-specific brain regions. These findings characterize a neural network at the interface of perception and knowledge that underlies our capacity for understanding and thinking about the contents of the environment.

Notes:

Thesis (Ph.D. in Neuroscience) -- University of Pennsylvania, 2012.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 74-05(E), Section: B.

Adviser: Murray Grossman.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175.

ISBN:

9781267880765

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.