The role of action representations in thematic object relations

Abstract

A number of studies have explored the role of associative/event-based (thematic) and categorical (taxonomic) relations in the organization of object representations. Recent evidence suggests that thematic information may be particularly important in determining relationships between manipulable artifacts. However, although sensorimotor information is on many accounts an important component of manipulable artifact representations, little is known about the role that action may play during the processing of semantic relationships (particularly thematic relationships) between multiple objects. In this study, we assessed healthy and left hemisphere stroke participants to explore three questions relevant to object relationship processing. First, we assessed whether participants tended to favor thematic relations including action (Th+A, e.g., wine bottle—corkscrew), thematic relationships without action (Th-A, e.g., wine bottle—cheese), or taxonomic relationships (Tax, e.g., wine bottle—water bottle) when choosing between them in an association judgment task with manipulable artifacts. Second, we assessed whether the underlying constructs of event relatedness, action relatedness, and categorical relatedness determined the choices that participants made. Third, we assessed the hypothesis that degraded action knowledge and/or damage to temporo-parietal cortex, a region of the brain associated with the representation of action knowledge, would reduce the influence of action on the choice task. Experiment 1 showed that explicit ratings of event, action, and categorical relatedness were differentially predictive of healthy participants' choices, with action relatedness determining choices between Th+A and Th-A associations above and beyond event and categorical ratings. Experiment 2 focused more specifically on these Th+A vs. Th-A choices and demonstrated that participants with left temporo-parietal lesions, a brain region known to be involved in sensorimotor processing, were less likely than controls and tended to be less likely than patients with lesions sparing that region to use action relatedness in determining their choices. These data indicate that action knowledge plays a critical role in processing of thematic relations for manipulable artifacts.

Thematic knowledge, artifact concepts, and the left posterior temporal lobe: Where action and object semantics converge

“…The magnitude of this advantage related to individual performance in artifact action knowledge, and both abilities rely on the integrity of the left posterior temporal cortex. The present findings are consistent with previous studies showing that thematic relations rely on the posterior temporal cortex (Kalénine et al, 2009; Mirman & Graziano, 2012b; Sass et al, 2009; Schwartz et al, 2011; Tsagkaridis et al, 2014). They further provide novel insights into the functional role of this region in thematic knowledge, and suggest that the close association between thematic relations for artifacts and action representations may reflect their common dependence on visual motion and manipulation information.…”

“…In the light of previous findings (Kalenine et al 2009; Tsagkaridis et al 2014), we originally hypothesized that thematic relations between manipulable artifacts specifically rested upon artifact action knowledge. Following from this, we investigated the selective relationship between performance in the identification of thematic relations for manipulable and non-manipulable artifact concepts and performance in artifact action knowledge (gesture recognition) in patients.…”

“…Lewis et al, 2015; Lin & Murphy, 2001; Merck, Jonin, Laisney, Vichard, & Belliard, 2014; Mirman & Graziano, 2012a; Sass et al, 2009; Schwartz et al, 2011; Tsagkaridis et al, 2014). From a cognitive point of view, we have further proposed that thematic relations differ from taxonomic relations in their relative weighting on complementarity-based versus similarity-based mechanisms (Kalénine, Mirman, & Buxbaum, 2012; Kalénine, Mirman, Middleton, et al, 2012).…”

“…Preliminary evidence supporting this possibility may be found in a recent study conducted in patients with lesions anterior (n = 8) or posterior (n = 9) to the left central sulcus (Tsagkaridis, Watson, Jax, & Buxbaum, 2014), along with healthy participants. In a forced-choice triads task, participants were asked to choose which of two objects was most closely related to a target.…”

Thematic relatedness production norms for 100 object concepts

“…This idea that types of thematic relations play differential roles in processing items from particular categories is supported by existing empirical research. Tsagkaridis, Watson, Jax, and Buxbaum (2014) demonstrated that when processing manipulable artifact concepts (e.g., Bwine bottle^), participants preferred action-based thematic relations (e.g., Bcorkscrew^; referred to as argument relations in the present research) to thematic relations in which the objects do not directly interact with one another (e.g., Bcheese^; referred to as coordinate relations in the present research). Whether the centrality of certain types of thematic relations has an impact on human processing of a wide range of categories remains to be examined (e.g., is it easier for people to process concepts in locative relations if those concepts are foods or animals than if they are instruments?…”