Conceptual structure and the structure of concepts: A distributed account of category-specific deficits

We present a new account of the fine-grained structure of semantic categori es derived from neuropsychological, behavioral, and developmental data. The account places theoretical emphasis on the functions of the referents of c oncepts. We claim (i) that the distinctiveness of functional features corre lated with perceptual features varies across semantic domains; and (ii) tha t category structure emerges from the complex interaction of these variable s. The representational assumptions that follow from these claims make stro ng predictions about what types of semantic information are preserved in pa tients showing category-specific deficits following brain damage. These cla ims are illustrated with a connectionist simulation which, when damaged, sh ows patterns of preservation of distinctive and shared functional and perce ptual information which varies across semantic domains. The data model both dissociations between knowledge for artifacts and for living things and re cent neuropsychological evidence concerning the robustness of functional in formation in the representation of concepts. (C) 2000 Academic Press.