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Review
. 2018 Aug 5;373(1752):20170122.
doi: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0122.

The multifaceted abstract brain

Rutvik H Desai  1 , Megan Reilly  2 , Wessel van Dam  2
Affiliations
Review

The multifaceted abstract brain

Rutvik H Desai et al. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. .

Abstract

concepts play a central role in human behaviour and constitute a critical component of the human conceptual system. Here, we investigate the neural basis of four types of abstract concepts, examining their similarities and differences through neuroimaging meta-analyses. We examine numerical and emotional concepts, and two higher-order abstract processes, morality judgements and theory of mind. Three main findings emerge. First, representation of abstract concepts is more widespread than is often assumed. Second, representations of different types of abstract concepts differ in important respects. Each of the domains examined here was associated with some unique areas. Third, some areas were commonly activated across domains and included inferior parietal, posterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex. We interpret these regions in terms of their role in episodic recall, event representation and social-emotional processing. We suggest that different types of abstract concepts can be represented and grounded through differing contributions from event-based, interoceptive, introspective and sensory-motor representations. The results underscore the richness and diversity of abstract concepts, argue against single-mechanism accounts for representation of all types of abstract concepts and suggest mechanisms for their direct and indirect grounding.This article is part of the theme issue 'Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain'.

Keywords: abstract concepts; embodiment; emotions; events; numbers; semantics.

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Conflict of interest statement

We have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Peaks from all contrasts used in the meta-analyses. Green—numbers, blue—emotion, red—morality, yellow—theory of mind.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Results of the meta-analysis showing significant ALE values within each domain, and overlap.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Results of the meta-analysis collapsing across all four abstract domains are shown in pink/purple. Activation from a meta-analysis of peaks from Binder et al. [15], after removing abstract peaks, is depicted in blue/purple, with purple showing the overlap between the two.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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