{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T17:32:36Z","timestamp":1791221556285,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":140,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,22]],"date-time":"2026-07-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784678400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Hum. Neurosci."],"abstract":"<jats:p>The brain basis of semantic and conceptual processing is complex and difficult to explain. Specific word categories selectively engage some cortical areas, whereas others function as semantic hubs processing words across all categories. Beyond general neurobiological principles, cortical areas and their connectivity via white matter tracts are essential for determining an area\u2019s role in language and semantic processing. Yet, most neural network models fall short of capturing the brain\u2019s anatomical architecture, limiting their ability to provide mechanistic explanations. Here, we present a brain-constrained neural network model of 12 frontotemporal and occipital cortices constrained by tractography-derived structural connectivity, extending previous modelling work based primarily on literature-derived connectivity. Semantic circuits emerged spontaneously across the modelled cortical regions by means of Hebbian correlation learning, exhibiting distinct topographies: action words engaged fronto-central motor regions, while object words preferentially involved the primary visual area, replicating a range of neural activation patterns from neuroimaging studies. Crucially, regions central in the neural architecture, the anterior temporal and inferior prefrontal cortices, showed category-general semantic processing, consistent with a semantic hub function. A novel prediction concerns the potential hub-like contribution of the secondary temporo-occipital region, although this effect showed variability across tractography-derived structural connectivity variants. Correlation analyses further revealed that regions with richer inter-areal connectivity developed higher neural matter densities of the semantic circuits. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that brain-constrained neural models with increased biological realism at the white matter level can provide a mechanistic account of how distributed semantic representations emerge across multimodal hub, sensorimotor, and language regions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2026.1854823","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,22]],"date-time":"2026-07-22T05:52:25Z","timestamp":1784699545000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["From cortical and white matter structure to meaning: a brain-constrained neural network of semantic grounding in action and perception"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Rosario","family":"Tomasello","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Brain Language Laboratory, Department of Philosophy and Humanities, WE4 Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin","place":["Berlin, Germany"]},{"name":"Cluster of Excellence: \u201cMatters of Activity. Image Space Material\u201d, Humboldt University","place":["Berlin, Germany"]},{"name":"Cognitive Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam","place":["Potsdam, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ada D.","family":"Rezaki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Brain Language Laboratory, Department of Philosophy and Humanities, WE4 Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin","place":["Berlin, Germany"]},{"name":"Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin","place":["Berlin, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maxime","family":"Carriere","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Brain Language Laboratory, Department of Philosophy and Humanities, WE4 Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin","place":["Berlin, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lucius S.","family":"Fekonja","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cluster of Excellence: \u201cMatters of Activity. Image Space Material\u201d, Humboldt University","place":["Berlin, Germany"]},{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, Charit\u00e9 \u2013 University Hospital","place":["Berlin, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Friedemann","family":"Pulverm\u00fcller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Brain Language Laboratory, Department of Philosophy and Humanities, WE4 Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin","place":["Berlin, Germany"]},{"name":"Cluster of Excellence: \u201cMatters of Activity. Image Space Material\u201d, Humboldt University","place":["Berlin, Germany"]},{"name":"Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin","place":["Berlin, Germany"]},{"name":"Einstein Center for Neurosciences","place":["Berlin, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1266","DOI":"10.1038\/nn1328","article-title":"Transcranial magnetic stimulation of the occipital pole interferes with verbal processing in blind subjects","volume":"7","author":"Amedi","year":"2004","journal-title":"Nat. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"758","DOI":"10.1038\/nn1072","article-title":"Early \u201cvisual\u201d cortex activation correlates with superior verbal memory performance in the blind","volume":"6","author":"Amedi","year":"2003","journal-title":"Nat. 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