Asymmetric representation of symmetric semantic information in the human brain
Specific pairs of semantic entities have symmetric relationships, such as word pairs with opposite meanings (e.g., “intelligent” and “stupid”; “human” and “mechanical”). Such semantic symmetry is a key feature of semantic information. However, the representation of symmetric semantic information in...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-03-01
|
| Series: | NeuroImage: Reports |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266695602500011X |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1823859433217720320 |
|---|---|
| author | Jiaxin Wang Kiichi Kawahata Antoine Blanc Naoya Maeda Shinji Nishimoto Satoshi Nishida |
| author_facet | Jiaxin Wang Kiichi Kawahata Antoine Blanc Naoya Maeda Shinji Nishimoto Satoshi Nishida |
| author_sort | Jiaxin Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Specific pairs of semantic entities have symmetric relationships, such as word pairs with opposite meanings (e.g., “intelligent” and “stupid”; “human” and “mechanical”). Such semantic symmetry is a key feature of semantic information. However, the representation of symmetric semantic information in the brain is not yet understood. For example, it remains unclear whether symmetric pairs of semantic information are represented in overlapping or distinct brain regions. We addressed this question in a data-driven manner by using the voxelwise modeling of movie-evoked cortical response measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging. In this modeling, response in each voxel was predicted from semantic labels designated for each movie scene. The semantic labels consisted of 30 different concepts, including 15 pairs of semantically symmetric concepts. Each concept was manually evaluated using a 5-point scale. By localizing the semantic representation associated with each concept based on the voxelwise accuracy of brain-response predictions, we found that semantic representations of symmetric concept pairs are broadly distributed but with little overlap in the cortex. Additionally, the weight of voxelwise models revealed highly complex, various patterns of cortical representations for each concept pair. These results suggest that symmetric semantic information has rather asymmetric and heterogeneous representations in the human brain. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e476755557de47f6934d45dbc3f4b31f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2666-9560 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | NeuroImage: Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-e476755557de47f6934d45dbc3f4b31f2025-02-11T04:35:32ZengElsevierNeuroImage: Reports2666-95602025-03-0151100243Asymmetric representation of symmetric semantic information in the human brainJiaxin Wang0Kiichi Kawahata1Antoine Blanc2Naoya Maeda3Shinji Nishimoto4Satoshi Nishida5Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), Advanced ICT Research Institute, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan; Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, JapanCenter for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), Advanced ICT Research Institute, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan; Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, JapanCenter for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), Advanced ICT Research Institute, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, JapanNTT DATA Japan Corporation, Tokyo, 135-6033, JapanCenter for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), Advanced ICT Research Institute, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan; Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, JapanCenter for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), Advanced ICT Research Institute, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan; Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan; Center for Human Nature, Artificial Intelligence, and Neuroscience, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0812, Japan; Corresponding author. Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), Advanced ICT Research Institute, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.Specific pairs of semantic entities have symmetric relationships, such as word pairs with opposite meanings (e.g., “intelligent” and “stupid”; “human” and “mechanical”). Such semantic symmetry is a key feature of semantic information. However, the representation of symmetric semantic information in the brain is not yet understood. For example, it remains unclear whether symmetric pairs of semantic information are represented in overlapping or distinct brain regions. We addressed this question in a data-driven manner by using the voxelwise modeling of movie-evoked cortical response measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging. In this modeling, response in each voxel was predicted from semantic labels designated for each movie scene. The semantic labels consisted of 30 different concepts, including 15 pairs of semantically symmetric concepts. Each concept was manually evaluated using a 5-point scale. By localizing the semantic representation associated with each concept based on the voxelwise accuracy of brain-response predictions, we found that semantic representations of symmetric concept pairs are broadly distributed but with little overlap in the cortex. Additionally, the weight of voxelwise models revealed highly complex, various patterns of cortical representations for each concept pair. These results suggest that symmetric semantic information has rather asymmetric and heterogeneous representations in the human brain.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266695602500011XSemantic symmetryCortical representationHeterogeneityVoxelwise modelingHumanfMRI |
| spellingShingle | Jiaxin Wang Kiichi Kawahata Antoine Blanc Naoya Maeda Shinji Nishimoto Satoshi Nishida Asymmetric representation of symmetric semantic information in the human brain NeuroImage: Reports Semantic symmetry Cortical representation Heterogeneity Voxelwise modeling Human fMRI |
| title | Asymmetric representation of symmetric semantic information in the human brain |
| title_full | Asymmetric representation of symmetric semantic information in the human brain |
| title_fullStr | Asymmetric representation of symmetric semantic information in the human brain |
| title_full_unstemmed | Asymmetric representation of symmetric semantic information in the human brain |
| title_short | Asymmetric representation of symmetric semantic information in the human brain |
| title_sort | asymmetric representation of symmetric semantic information in the human brain |
| topic | Semantic symmetry Cortical representation Heterogeneity Voxelwise modeling Human fMRI |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266695602500011X |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jiaxinwang asymmetricrepresentationofsymmetricsemanticinformationinthehumanbrain AT kiichikawahata asymmetricrepresentationofsymmetricsemanticinformationinthehumanbrain AT antoineblanc asymmetricrepresentationofsymmetricsemanticinformationinthehumanbrain AT naoyamaeda asymmetricrepresentationofsymmetricsemanticinformationinthehumanbrain AT shinjinishimoto asymmetricrepresentationofsymmetricsemanticinformationinthehumanbrain AT satoshinishida asymmetricrepresentationofsymmetricsemanticinformationinthehumanbrain |