Flexible semantic cognition

Semantic cognition brings meaning to our world – it allows us to make sense of what we see and hear, and to produce adaptive thoughts and behaviour. Since we have a wealth of information about any given concept, our store of knowledge is not sufficient for successful semantic cognition; we also need mechanisms that can steer the information that we retrieve so it suits the current context or our goals.

Our work examines the interacting neural networks that underpin this flexibility in semantic cognition, drawing on evidence from multiple methods (neuropsychology, neuroimaging, neural stimulation). While some brain regions respond more strongly when semantic retrieval follows highly-related concepts or multiple convergent cues, a network associated with controlled semantic retrieval shows the opposite pattern, responding more strongly when weak associations are required or there is more competition between concepts. This semantic control network is distinct from domain-general executive control, and juxtaposed between regions of default mode network that might be sufficient for the retrieval of strong semantic relationships and multiple-demand regions in the left hemisphere, suggesting that the large-scale organisation of flexible semantic cognition can be understood in terms of cortical gradients that capture systematic functional transitions that are repeated in temporal, parietal and frontal cortex.

Selected publications

Gao, Z., Zheng, L., Chiou, R., Gouws, A., Krieger-Redwood, K., Wang, X., . . . Jefferies, E. (2021). Distinct and common neural coding of semantic and non-semantic control demands. NeuroImage, 236, 118230.

Lanzoni, L., Ravasio, D., Thompson, H., Vatansever, D., Margulies, D., Smallwood, J., & Jefferies, E. (2020). The role of default mode network in semantic cue integration. NeuroImage, 219, 117019.

Vatansever, D., Smallwood, J., & Jefferies, E. (2021). Varying demands for cognitive control reveals shared neural processes supporting semantic and episodic memory retrieval. Nature communications, 12(1), 1-11.

Wang, X., Margulies, D. S., Smallwood, J., & Jefferies, E. (2020). A gradient from long-term memory to novel cognition: Transitions through default mode and executive cortex. NeuroImage, 220, 117074.

Zhang, M., Varga, D., Wang, X., Krieger-Redwood, K., Gouws, A., Smallwood, J., & Jefferies, E. (2021). Knowing what you need to know in advance: The neural processes underpinning flexible semantic retrieval of thematic and taxonomic relations. NeuroImage, 224, 117405.

Funding sources

• European Research Council