Poster A127, Saturday, March 25, 5:00 – 7:00 pm, Pacific Concourse
Abstract representations of object directed action in the left inferior parietal lobule
Quanjing Chen1, Frank E. Garcea1, Robert A. Jacobs1, Bradford Z. Mahon1; 1University of Rochester
The ability to identify, grasp and use objects correctly according to their function requires the integration of distinct types of object knowledge, such as the goal or purpose of use of an object together with how an object is physically manipulated to accomplish that goal. Prior neuroimaging and neuropsychological research has shown that the left inferior parietal lobule is a critical substrate for representing object manipulation knowledge. In the present functional MRI study we used multivoxel pattern analyses to test whether action information can be decoded from the inferior parietal lobule independent of the task (identification, overt pantomime) and at a level that abstracts away from specific objects. Participants pantomimed the use of objects, cued by printed words, or identified pictures of objects. Classifiers were trained and tested in a cross-item manner, such that decoding performance abstracted away from the object stimuli used for training. We found that action representations could be decoded from the left inferior parietal lobule across both object pantomiming and identification. By contrast, medial aspects of the ventral surface of the left temporal lobe represented object function across both tasks. These results suggest compulsory access to abstract action information in the inferior parietal lobule.
Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Semantic
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