Semantic cognition reflects the controlled use and representation of semantic knowledge – our database of meaning for words, objects, people, emotions, etc. In this talk I will focus on the representational component of semantic cognition. I will discuss our evolving understanding of the neural basis of semantic memory and its contrastive disorders after different kinds of neurological damage. This includes the convergent use of multiple clinical, computational and cognitive neuroscience methods not only to map the key neural regions and their connectivity but to understand how this network functions to generate semantic representations and, when damaged, gives rise to different semantic disorders.

References:

L. Chen, M.A. Lambon Ralph, & T.T. Rogers (2017). A unified model of human semantic knowledge and its disorders. Nature Human Behaviour, 1; 0039. [doi:10.1038/s41562-016-0039]

M.A. Lambon Ralph, E. Jefferies, K. Patterson & T.T. Rogers (2017). The neural and computational bases of semantic cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 18, 42–55. [doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.150]