ABSTRACT

Language units, such as words and sentences, clearly convey semantic information (i.e., content information about a word’s referent). Semantic information is activated during both language comprehension and language production – but how is it actually stored and represented in the human brain? Classic neurolinguistic theories posit that semantic meaning is stored in distinct meaning modules residing in specific cerebral language areas. These theories are supported by the results of studies with aphasics, showing that damage to specific brain areas can result in relatively specific language impairments (for a review of selective aphasia patterns, see R. Martin, 2003). However, new insights into the representation of language meaning coming from neuroimaging studies with healthy participants suggest that semantic information is represented in a highly distributed manner across multiple areas within the cerebral cortex. Interestingly, these studies show that processing semantic meaning activates not only language areas in the brain, but rather depends additionally on neural areas usually engaged during processing of visual, olfactory and sensorimotor information. For example, comprehension of words referring to actions (e.g., kick) activates areas in the neural motor system that are also active when a participant actually moves his or her foot (Hauk et al., 2004). On the basis of these and other results, it has been suggested that words become meaningful through internal re-enactments of actual experiences with words’ referents.