Semantic memory across languages and cultures: how cultural and linguistic contexts shape conceptual representations

Semantic memory supports the knowledge acquired across the lifespan. Grounded cognition accounts propose that concepts are instantiated in distributed, modality-specific systems involving sensory, motor, emotional and social processes. Research has emphasised stable aspects of concepts, however growing evidence shows that meanings are dynamic, context-sensitive, shaped by task demands and expertise. We argue that cross-linguistic and cross-cultural experience represents a crucial yet underexplored source of variability. On the one hand, basic neurocognitive constraints provide the principles underlying semantic organisation and its neural substrates. On the other hand, cultural and linguistic variability can also be observed. We discuss possible mechanisms underlying such variation, namely heterogeneity in culturally experience and in language-specific structural properties. From a grounded cognition perspective, we propose that semantic memory emerges from the interplay between basic neurocognitive constraints, culturally-situated experience and language-specific properties. Integrating these perspectives is essential for a comprehensive account of meaning construction across languages and cultures.