Embodied theories assign experience a crucial role in shaping conceptual representations. Supporting evidence comes mostly from studies on concrete concepts, where e.g., motor expertise facilitated action concept processing. This study examined experience-dependent effects on abstract concept processing. We asked participants with high and low mathematical expertise to perform a lexical decision task on mathematical and nonmathematical abstract words, while acquiring event-related potentials. Analyses revealed an interaction of expertise and word type on the amplitude of a fronto-central N400 and a centro-parietal late positive component (LPC). For mathematical words, we found a trend for a lower N400 and a significantly higher LPC amplitude in experts compared to non-experts. No differences between groups were found for nonmathematical words. The results suggest that expertise affects the processing stages of semantic integration and memory retrieval specifically for expertise-related concepts. This study supports the generalization of experience-dependent conceptual processing mechanisms to the abstract domain.

The role of experience for abstract concepts: Expertise modulates the electrophysiological correlates of mathematical word processing / Bechtold, Laura; Bellebaum, Christian; Egan, Sophie; Tettamanti, Marco; Ghio, Marta. - In: BRAIN AND LANGUAGE. - ISSN 0093-934X. - 188:(2019), pp. 1-10. [10.1016/j.bandl.2018.10.002]

The role of experience for abstract concepts: Expertise modulates the electrophysiological correlates of mathematical word processing

Tettamanti, Marco;
2019-01-01

Abstract

Embodied theories assign experience a crucial role in shaping conceptual representations. Supporting evidence comes mostly from studies on concrete concepts, where e.g., motor expertise facilitated action concept processing. This study examined experience-dependent effects on abstract concept processing. We asked participants with high and low mathematical expertise to perform a lexical decision task on mathematical and nonmathematical abstract words, while acquiring event-related potentials. Analyses revealed an interaction of expertise and word type on the amplitude of a fronto-central N400 and a centro-parietal late positive component (LPC). For mathematical words, we found a trend for a lower N400 and a significantly higher LPC amplitude in experts compared to non-experts. No differences between groups were found for nonmathematical words. The results suggest that expertise affects the processing stages of semantic integration and memory retrieval specifically for expertise-related concepts. This study supports the generalization of experience-dependent conceptual processing mechanisms to the abstract domain.
2019
Bechtold, Laura; Bellebaum, Christian; Egan, Sophie; Tettamanti, Marco; Ghio, Marta
The role of experience for abstract concepts: Expertise modulates the electrophysiological correlates of mathematical word processing / Bechtold, Laura; Bellebaum, Christian; Egan, Sophie; Tettamanti, Marco; Ghio, Marta. - In: BRAIN AND LANGUAGE. - ISSN 0093-934X. - 188:(2019), pp. 1-10. [10.1016/j.bandl.2018.10.002]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11572/221898
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