Table 2.
The 42 neurally plausible semantic features (NPSFs)
| Categorya | Feature | Definition | Example stimuli |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perceptual and affective characteristics of an entity | Man‐made | Objects or settings made by humans | Bicycle, desk, newspaper, church |
| Natural | Objects or activities occurring in nature | Flower, flood, island | |
| Inanimate | Nonliving object | Ball, coffee, window | |
| Visual perception | Visual perceptual properties | Big, blue, empty, new, shiny | |
| Size | Physical volume or size | Big, heavy, long, small | |
| Color | Self‐explanatory | Black, blue, green, red, white | |
| Temperature | Related to temperature | Sun, summer, winter, cold, hot | |
| Positive affective valence | Self‐explanatory | Celebrate, laugh, vacation, happy | |
| Negative affective valence | Self‐explanatory | Destroy, fear, terrorist, dangerous, sick | |
| High affective arousal | Self‐explanatory | Celebrate, shout, hurricane, angry | |
| Animate beings | Person | A human being | Boy, doctor, farmer, pilot, voter |
| Animal | An animal or anatomy of animals | Bird, dog, duck, feather, horse | |
| Human‐group | More than one human being | Team, couple, family, mob, council | |
| Time and space | Settings | Place or temporal settings | Lake, church, park, night, hotel |
| Unenclosed | An environment without shelter or enclosure | Beach, lake, field, island, street | |
| Location | Actions or events that imply spatial settings | Meeting, visit, stay, live | |
| Shelter | Being enclosed, indoors is a salient feature; opposite of unenclosed | Car, hotel, school, hospital, store | |
| Change of location | Self‐explanatory | Approach, hike, throw, car, run | |
| Event | Self‐explanatory | Dinner, protest, trial, vacation | |
| Time‐related | Related to a time period or timing | Morning, night, spring, summer, end | |
| Human activity type | Violence/conflict | Involving aggression and those who commit it | Army, guard, soldier, terrorist |
| Health | Related to improving or threatening health | Medicine, doctor, patient, victim, hospital | |
| Eating/drinking | Self‐explanatory | Drink, eat, dinner, corn, restaurant | |
| Communication | Medium of communication | Listen, speak, newspaper, author, reporter | |
| Sports | Related to recreation or competitive physical activities | Play, soccer, baseball, bicycle, team | |
| Technology | Related to technology or technical skills | Computer, television, engineer, scientist | |
| Money | Related to financial activities or economics | Buy, cash, banker, expensive, wealthy | |
| Arts and literature | Objects, actions or professions related to humanities, arts, literature | Actor, author, artist, theatre, draw | |
| Social norms | Related to laws and authority structure | Trial, criminal, lawyer, court, prison | |
| Governance | Related to civics, politics, dominance | Debate, protest, army, mayor, embassy | |
| Intellectual | Requiring, gaining, or providing knowledge or expertise | Plan, read, computer, engineer, school | |
| Social action or state | Transfer of possession | Transaction (giving/receiving); change of ownership | Give, steal, take, buy |
| Social interaction | Interaction between two or more subjects | Interview, negotiate, party, lonely | |
| Social support | Providing social support is a salient feature | Help, family, minister, parent | |
| Physical action or state | Physical action | Self‐explanatory | Kick, throw, play, walk, march |
| Change of physical state | Self‐explanatory | Destroy, fix, grow, break | |
| Physical impact | Two subjects or objects coming in contact with each other | Break, destroy, drop, kick | |
| Mental action or state | Mental action | Requiring cognitive processes; occurring internally | Liked, plan, want, teacher, clever |
| Perceptual action | Self‐explanatory | Listen, watch, read, witness | |
| Emotion | Emotional state or action | Fear, laugh, like, happy | |
| Abstractness | Abstract | Detached from sensory or motor properties; low imagability | Plan, want, clever |
| Part of speech | Attribute | Adjectives | Aggressive, blue, shiny, sick |
a
The grouping into categories is included here to facilitate description but was not used in the modeling.