Reversed concreteness effect for nouns in a subject with semantic dementia

Most subjects showing preserved knowledge of abstract words, relative to concrete words, suffer from diseases affecting anterior temporal regions (semantic dementia, herpes encephalitis), and frequently present with greater, or unilateral involvement of the left hemisphere. Our case converges with similar previous reports and with some neuroimaging studies in suggesting that the right temporal lobe and probably the left inferior prefrontal gyrus play a crucial role in the representation of abstract concepts.