No fruits without color: Cross-modal priming and EEG reveal different roles for different features across semantic categories

Category-specific impairments witnessed in patients with semantic deficits have broadly dissociated into natural and artificial kinds. However, how the category of food (more specifically, fruits vegetables) fits this distinction has been difficult to interpret, given a pattern deficit that inconsistently mapped onto either kind, despite its intuitive membership domain. The present study explores effects manipulation visual sensory (i.e., color) or functional orientation) feature on consequential processing vegetables (and tools, by comparison), first at behavioral then neural level. categorization fruits/vegetables) utensils) entities was investigated via cross–modal priming. Reaction time analysis indicated reduction priming for color-modified orientation-modified entities. Standard event-related potentials (ERP) performed, addition linear classification. For entities, N400 effect central channel sites observed condition compared relative normal orientation conditions, difference confirmed classification analysis. Conversely, there no significant between conditions These findings provide strong evidence color is an integral property fruits/vegetables, thus substantiating claim feature-based guides as function category.