Representing Categorical Knowledge: An fMRI Study

This paper investigated the nature of mental representation of categorical knowledge by examining the neural substrates that support classification and feature inferences. The results from one experiment suggest that frontal lobe regions were activated when an inference task was given, while temporal lobe regions, especially the fusiform gyrus, became active when a classification task was given. These results are consistent with the view that categorical knowledge is mediated by two separate neural structures, and further indicate that two interrelated functions of categories – classification and feature inference – are processed by distinct brain regions. Human knowledge is organized largely by categories that we form in everyday situations. Many of man-made names, such as “terrorists, ” “fundamentalists ” or names of natural object