Functional neuroanatomy and psychopathology of semantic memory

During the last decade, the development of new functional neuroimaging methods have improved the ability to localize cognitive functions in the intact human brain. Through the combination of functional neuroimaging and electrophysiological methods with behavioral experimental methods information on the sequence of brain activations during the performance of a cognitive task can be obtained.The results of neurophysiological studies have contributed to a better understanding how cognitive systems are implemented in the intact brain and how cognitive deficits can arise from structural or functional damage to the neurobiological substrate. This interdisciplinary research process should finally result in a functional-neuroanatomical model of human cognition which explains both normal and deficient function. In this paper, we present findings from studies in which semantic memory access was investigated in schizophrenic patients and relate them to empirical evidence of semantic memory organization and function from neuropsychological, cognitive and neuroimaging studies. The advantage of an integrated theoretical framework of semantic memory is discussed.