Science· 2016Q1
Organizing conceptual knowledge in humans with a gridlike code
- 1,015citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2016year
Short summary
Humans navigating conceptual knowledge show a hexagonal signal in brain regions similar to those activated during spatial navigation, suggesting a gridlike code organizes nonspatial concepts.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Humans navigating conceptual knowledge show a hexagonal signal in specific brain regions.
- These activated brain regions are markedly similar to those engaged during spatial navigation.
- The gridlike signal is consistent across sessions, both within an hour and over a week apart.
- Findings suggest global relational codes, possibly hexagonal grids, organize nonspatial conceptual representations.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
It has been hypothesized that the brain organizes concepts into a mental map, allowing conceptual relationships to be navigated in a manner similar to that of space. Grid cells use a hexagonally symmetric code to organize spatial representations and are the likely source of a precise hexagonal symmetry in the functional magnetic resonance imaging signal. Humans navigating conceptual two-dimensional knowledge showed the same hexagonal signal in a set of brain regions markedly similar to those activated during spatial navigation. This gridlike signal is consistent across sessions acquired within an hour and more than a week apart. Our findings suggest that global relational codes may be used to organize nonspatial conceptual representations and that these codes may have a hexagonal gridlike pattern when conceptual knowledge is laid out in two continuous dimensions.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Science, 2016 · DOI ↗
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Field: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Developmental and Educational PsychologyPsychology