Phenomenology and Mind

No. 14 (2018): Perception and Aesthetic Experience
Session 2. Neuroscience, Aesthetics, and Embodiment

Conceptual semantics as grounded in personal experience

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  • Francesca Conca,
  • Marco Tettamanti
Francesca Conca
Institute for Advanced Studies IUSS, Pavia
Marco Tettamanti
Division of Neuroscience, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan
DOI: https://doi.org/10.13128/Phe_Mi-23628

Published 2018-09-21

Keywords

  • emantic memory,
  • grounded cognition,
  • language,
  • personal experience

How to Cite

Conca, F., & Tettamanti, M. (2018). Conceptual semantics as grounded in personal experience. Phenomenology and Mind, (14), 98–116. https://doi.org/10.13128/Phe_Mi-23628
Copyright Notice

Abstract

Semantic memory for an object encompasses multi-modal knowledge gained through personal experience over the lifetime, and coded in grounded sensory-motor brain systems, independently of the level of subjective awareness. Linguistic access to semantic memories in verbal format relies on the functional coupling between perisylvian language regions and the grounded brain systems implied by our lifetime experience with the concept’s referents. Linguistic structure exerts modulatory influences on this functional coupling, as in the case of sentential negation, which reduces the interactions between perisylvian language regions and the grounded brain systems.
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