Visual imagery while reading concrete and abstract Japanese kanji words : An fMRI study

日本語の漢字の具象語と抽象語を読んだ際の視覚イメージ : 機能的MRI研究

Hayashi Atsuko

Neuroimaging studies have investigated differences in neural correlates between abstract and concrete concepts but this has not been done with Japanese participants. Concrete words have higher imageability than abstract words, such that they elicit more visual imagery. The present study used functional MRI to investigate brain activity of Japanese participants (N = 16) during generation of visual images for written concrete or abstract Japanese kanji words. Concrete words elicited significantly more activation than abstract words in the left middle frontal gyrus (LMFG), bilateral superior frontal gyrus, and left fusiform gyrus (LFG). Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analyses were performed to assess LMFG and LFG functional connections. LMFG activity was accompanied by increased functional interaction with the left superior parietal lobule (LSPL), and LFG activity was accompanied by increased functional interaction with the LMFG. This finding suggests that the LMFG plays an important role in visual imagery, with interactions between this region and both the LSPL and LFG.

fMRI

Kanji word

Concrete

Abstract

Imageability

Medical sciences [ 490 ]

eng

Atsuko Hayashia, Yasumasa Okamoto, Shinpei Yoshimura, Atsuo Yoshino, Shigeru Toki, Hidehisa Yamashita, Fumio Matsuda and Shigeto Yamawaki; Visual imagery while reading concrete and abstract Japanese kanji words: An fMRI study; Neuroscience Research Volume 79, February 2014, Pages 61-66 (doi: 10.1016/j.neures.2013.10.007) references

[DOI] http://doi.org/10.1016/j.neures.2013.10.007 references

広島大学