Detection of Leakage Areas in an Earth Embankment from GPR Measurements and Permeability Logging

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a nondestructive method allowing the improvement of our knowledge of civil engineering structures. In particular, this method may be a nondestructive efficient tool for dike diagnosis and complete classical geotechnical methods. In this paper, we present GPR observations obtained on an earth embankment (crest and sloped paved revetment) in bad condition and located on the lateral canal of the Loire river (Saint Firmin, 80 km South East of Orléans). These measurements are combined with corings, visual inspection, and permeability logging performed with an updated drilling system, the Perméafor. This survey leads (i) to the detection of decompressed zones associated with leakage areas visible at the foot of the downstream slope and (ii) to the location of potentials voids underneath the paved revetment. This multidisciplinary approach complied with the dike inspection methodology proves its efficiency for the assessment of earth embankments

Consensus Paper: Current Perspectives on Abstract Concepts and Future Research Directions

Abstract concepts are relevant to a wide range of disciplines, including cognitive science, linguistics, psychology, cognitive, social, and affective neuroscience, and philosophy. This consensus paper synthesizes the work and views of researchers in the field, discussing current perspectives on theoretical and methodological issues, and recommendations for future research. In this paper, we urge researchers to go beyond the traditional abstract-concrete dichotomy and consider the multiple dimensions that characterize concepts (e.g., sensorimotor experience, social interaction, conceptual metaphor), as well as the mediating influence of linguistic and cultural context on conceptual representations. We also promote the use of interactive methods to investigate both the comprehension and production of abstract concepts, while also focusing on individual differences in conceptual representations. Overall, we argue that abstract concepts should be studied in a more nuanced way that takes into account their complexity and diversity, which should permit us a fuller, more holistic understanding of abstract cognition

Grasp It Loudly! Supporting Actions with Semantically Congruent Spoken Action Words

Evidence for cross-talk between motor and language brain structures has accumulated over the past several years. However, while a significant amount of research has focused on the interaction between language perception and action, little attention has been paid to the potential impact of language production on overt motor behaviour

Tracking word-meaning in the brain

Dans ce travail de thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés à la contribution des régions sensori- motrices dans la représentation de nouveaux mots.\u2028Dans un premier temps et au travers d’une analyse des oscillations cérébrales, nous avons observé que l’écoute seule de mots d’action (mais pas de mots de « vision ») récemment acquis, conduisait après apprentissage à une activation des régions motrices. Si l’écoute des mots d’action déclenchait une activité motrice similaire à l’observation d’actions, elle était néanmoins associée à une activité supplémentaire semblant refléter le recrutement d’une « zone de convergence » entre les structures motrices et celles du langage, permettant la récupération d’informations motrices plus abstraites. Par la suite, nous avons pu montrer que les divergences entre nouveaux mots d’action et de vision émergeaient rapidement puisqu’associés à des activités spécifiques sur les électrodes fronto-centrales et occipito-pariétales respectivement. Une autre étude EEG nous a permis d’observer que les items lexicaux (pseudo-mots) semblaient fournir un substrat unique pour associer les attributs sensori-moteurs liés au référent. Enfin, au travers d’une analyse fine des paramètres cinématiques d’un mouvement de préhension, nous avons observé que la verbalisation d’un mot d'action (i.e. « attraper ») entraînait une facilitation de l’exécution de l’action. Nos résultats indiquent que la représentation du sens des mots dans le cerveau associe à la fois les régions à modalité spécifique et des « zones de convergence » notamment entre les structures motrices et langagières, permettant la récupération d’informations plus abstraites ; tandis que la spécificité vis-à-vis du stimulus verbal tend à indiquer un pré-câblage de ces réseaux neuronaux pour le langage. Si les représentations sémantiques reflètent en partie les expériences perceptuo- motrices associées à l’apprentissage, nos travaux soulignent un phénomène toujours présumé : un certain degré d’abstraction du sens des motsThe aim of this work was to determine the role of these sensori-motor regions in the development of meaning representation of novel words. In a first learning study that involved EEG recordings, analysis of brain oscillations revealed that listening to novel action words, but not novel visual words, after training led to the activation of motor regions. This activity which was similar to what was seen during action observation was however associated with an additional activity that seemed to reflect the recruitment of a convergence zone between language and motor brain regions mediating more underspecified motor information, rather than the motor events experienced during training. Furthermore, analysis of the ERPs revealed that category-specific effects could be observed rapidly: action words and visual words were associated with specific electro-cortical activities on fronto-central electrodes and occipito-parietal electrodes respectively. In a third EEG study, we observed that only verbal stimuli but not tones, that were associated with action execution during training, triggered activity in motor regions. Lexical items seem thus to provide a unique substrate to associate with the sensory-motor attributes of the referent. Finally, fine-grained analyses of kinematics revealed that the verbalization of an action word semantically congruent to the action (i.e. “grasp”) led to a facilitation of an object-directed grasping movement. The results obtained during this work indicate that word-meaning is represented in modality- specific brain regions and in convergence zones between language and motor brain regions that mediate underspecified information. The specificity for verbal stimuli tends to indicate a pre- wired neural system for the representation of word meaning. Finally, although semantic representations partly reflect perceptual and motor experiences associated with the acquisition of words, the present work points to a phenomenon that has always been assumed: a certain degree of abstraction in word-meaning representatio

Cerveau et sens des mots : de l’émergence à la flexibilité des représentations sémantiques dans le cerveau

The aim of this work was to determine the role of these sensori-motor regions in the development of meaning representation of novel words. In a first learning study that involved EEG recordings, analysis of brain oscillations revealed that listening to novel action words, but not novel visual words, after training led to the activation of motor regions. This activity which was similar to what was seen during action observation was however associated with an additional activity that seemed to reflect the recruitment of a convergence zone between language and motor brain regions mediating more underspecified motor information, rather than the motor events experienced during training. Furthermore, analysis of the ERPs revealed that category-specific effects could be observed rapidly: action words and visual words were associated with specific electro-cortical activities on fronto-central electrodes and occipito-parietal electrodes respectively. In a third EEG study, we observed that only verbal stimuli but not tones, that were associated with action execution during training, triggered activity in motor regions. Lexical items seem thus to provide a unique substrate to associate with the sensory-motor attributes of the referent. Finally, fine-grained analyses of kinematics revealed that the verbalization of an action word semantically congruent to the action (i.e. “grasp”) led to a facilitation of an object-directed grasping movement. The results obtained during this work indicate that word-meaning is represented in modality- specific brain regions and in convergence zones between language and motor brain regions that mediate underspecified information. The specificity for verbal stimuli tends to indicate a pre- wired neural system for the representation of word meaning. Finally, although semantic representations partly reflect perceptual and motor experiences associated with the acquisition of words, the present work points to a phenomenon that has always been assumed: a certain degree of abstraction in word-meaning representationDans ce travail de thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés à la contribution des régions sensori- motrices dans la représentation de nouveaux mots. Dans un premier temps et au travers d’une analyse des oscillations cérébrales, nous avons observé que l’écoute seule de mots d’action (mais pas de mots de « vision ») récemment acquis, conduisait après apprentissage à une activation des régions motrices. Si l’écoute des mots d’action déclenchait une activité motrice similaire à l’observation d’actions, elle était néanmoins associée à une activité supplémentaire semblant refléter le recrutement d’une « zone de convergence » entre les structures motrices et celles du langage, permettant la récupération d’informations motrices plus abstraites. Par la suite, nous avons pu montrer que les divergences entre nouveaux mots d’action et de vision émergeaient rapidement puisqu’associés à des activités spécifiques sur les électrodes fronto-centrales et occipito-pariétales respectivement. Une autre étude EEG nous a permis d’observer que les items lexicaux (pseudo-mots) semblaient fournir un substrat unique pour associer les attributs sensori-moteurs liés au référent. Enfin, au travers d’une analyse fine des paramètres cinématiques d’un mouvement de préhension, nous avons observé que la verbalisation d’un mot d'action (i.e. « attraper ») entraînait une facilitation de l’exécution de l’action. Nos résultats indiquent que la représentation du sens des mots dans le cerveau associe à la fois les régions à modalité spécifique et des « zones de convergence » notamment entre les structures motrices et langagières, permettant la récupération d’informations plus abstraites ; tandis que la spécificité vis-à-vis du stimulus verbal tend à indiquer un pré-câblage de ces réseaux neuronaux pour le langage. Si les représentations sémantiques reflètent en partie les expériences perceptuo- motrices associées à l’apprentissage, nos travaux soulignent un phénomène toujours présumé : un certain degré d’abstraction du sens des mot

Spatio-temporal dynamics of referential and inferential naming: different brain and cognitive operations to lexical selection

Picture naming tasks are largely used to elicit the production of specific words and sentences in psycholinguistic and neuroimaging research. However, the generation of lexical concepts from a visual input is clearly not the exclusive way speech production is triggered. In inferential speech encoding, the concept is not provided from a visual input, but is elaborated though semantic and/or episodic associations. It is therefore likely that the cognitive operations leading to lexical selection and word encoding are different in inferential and referential expressive language. In particular, in picture naming lexical selection might ensue from a simple association between a perceptual visual representation and a word with minimal semantic processes, whereas richer semantic associations are involved in lexical retrieval in inferential situations. Here we address this hypothesis by analyzing ERP correlates during word production in a referential and an inferential task. The participants produced the same words elicited from pictures or from short written definitions. The two tasks displayed similar electrophysiological patterns only in the time-period preceding the verbal response. In the stimulus-locked ERPs waveform amplitudes and periods of stable global electrophysiological patterns differed across tasks after the P100 component and until 400-500 ms, suggesting the involvement of different, task-specific neural networks. Based on the analysis of the time-windows affected by specific semantic and lexical variables in each task, we conclude that lexical selection is underpinned by a different set of conceptual and brain processes, with semantic processes clearly preceding word retrieval in naming from definition whereas the semantic information is enriched in parallel with word retrieval in picture namin

Neural dynamics of the production of newly acquired words relative to well-known words

International audienc

Interference in speaking while hearing and vice versa

International audienc

Commentary: Oscillatory Neuronal Activity Reflects Lexical-Semantic Feature Integration within and across Sensory Modalities in Distributed Cortical Networks

International audienceno abstrac

When Wine and Apple Both Help the Production of Grapes: ERP Evidence for Post-lexical Semantic Facilitation in Picture Naming

Background: Producing a word in referential naming requires to select the right word in our mental lexicon among co-activated semantically related words. The mechanisms underlying semantic context effects during speech planning are still controversial, particularly for semantic facilitation which investigation remains under-represented in contrast to the plethora of studies dealing with interference. Our aim is to study the time-course of semantic facilitation in picture naming, using a picture-word “interference” paradigm and event-related potentials (ERPs).Methods: We compared two different types of semantic relationships, associative and categorical, in a single word priming and a double word priming paradigm. The primes were presented visually with a long negative Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA), which is expected to cause facilitation.Results: Shorter naming latencies were observed after both associative and categorical primes, as compared to unrelated primes, and even shorter latencies after two primes. Electrophysiological results showed relatively late modulations of waveform amplitudes for both types of primes (beginning ~330 ms post picture onset with a single prime and ~275 ms post picture onset with two primes), corresponding to a shift in latency of similar topographic maps across conditions.Conclusion: The present results are in favor of a post-lexical locus of semantic facilitation for associative and categorical priming in picture naming and confirm that semantic facilitation is as relevant as semantic interference to inform on word production. The post-lexical locus argued here might be related to self-monitoting or/and to modulations at the level of word-form planning, without excluding the participation of strategic processes