Editing Semantic memory (section)

== Present and future research ==
[[Positron emission tomography]] (PET) and [[functional magnetic resonance imaging]] (fMRI) allow cognitive neuroscientists to explore different hypotheses concerning the neural network organization of semantic memory. By using these neuroimaging techniques researchers can observe the brain activity of participants while they perform cognitive tasks. These tasks can include, but are not limited to, naming objects, deciding if two stimuli belong in the same object category, or matching pictures to their written or spoken names.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Eiling|first1=Yee|last2=Chrysikou|first2=Evangelia G|last3=Thompson-Schill|first3=Sharon L|title=The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Neuroscience|date=2013|publisher=Oxford UP|location=New York, NY|pages=353–369|chapter=Semantic Memory}}</ref>

A developing theory is that semantic memory, like perception, can be subdivided into types of visual information—color, size, form, and motion. Thompson-Schill (2003) found that the left or bilateral ventral [[temporal cortex]] appears to be involved in retrieval of knowledge of color and form, the left lateral temporal cortex in knowledge of motion, and the [[parietal cortex]] in knowledge of size.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Thompson-Schill | first1 = S.L. | year = 2003 | title = Neuroimaging studies of semantic memory: inferring "how" from "where" | journal = Neuropsychologia | volume = 41 | issue = 3| pages = 280–292 | doi=10.1016/s0028-3932(02)00161-6| pmid = 12457754 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.597.7297 | s2cid = 10101484 }}</ref>

Neuroimaging studies suggest a large, distributed network of semantic representations that are organized minimally by attribute, and perhaps additionally by category. These networks include "extensive regions of ventral (form and color knowledge) and lateral (motion knowledge) temporal cortex, parietal cortex (size knowledge), and [[premotor cortex]] (manipulation knowledge). Other areas, such as more anterior regions of temporal cortex, may be involved in the representation of nonperceptual (e.g. verbal) conceptual knowledge, perhaps in some categorically-organized fashion."<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Thompson-Schill | first1 = S.L. | year = 2003 | title = Neuroimaging studies of semantic memory: inferring "how" from "where" | journal = Neuropsychologia | volume = 41 | issue = 3| pages = 280–92| doi=10.1016/s0028-3932(02)00161-6 | pmid=12457754| citeseerx = 10.1.1.597.7297 | s2cid = 10101484 }}</ref>