scholarly journals Supramodal Sentence Processing in the Human Brain: Fmri Evidence for the Influence of Syntactic Complexity in More Than 200 Participants

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Uddén ◽  
Annika Hultén ◽  
Jan-Mathijs Schoffelen ◽  
Nietzsche Lam ◽  
Karin Harbusch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Parietal Lobe ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Input Modality ◽  
Middle Temporal ◽  
Left Posterior ◽  
Brain Fmri

ABSTRACTThis study investigated two questions. One is to which degree sentence processing beyond single words is independent of the input modality (speech vs. reading). The second question is which parts of the network recruited by both modalities is sensitive to syntactic complexity. These questions were investigated by having more than 200 participants read or listen to well-formed sentences or series of unconnected words. A largely left-hemisphere fronto-temporoparietal network was found to be supramodal in nature, i.e. independent of input modality. In addition, the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and the left posterior middle temporal gyrus (LpMTG) were most clearly associated with left-branching complexity. The left anterior middle temporal gyrus (LaMTG) showed the greatest sensitivity to sentences that differed in right-branching complexity. Moreover, activity in LIFG and LpMTG increased from sentence onset to end, in parallel with an increase of the left-branching complexity. While LIFG, bilateral anterior and posterior MTG and left inferior parietal lobe (LIPL) all contribute to the supramodal unification processes, the results suggest that these regions differ in their respective contributions to syntactic complexity related processing. The consequences of these findings for neurobiological models of language processing are discussed.

scholarly journals The Interaction of Lexical Semantics and Cohort Competition in Spoken Word Recognition: An fMRI Study

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 3778-3790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Zhuang ◽  
Billi Randall ◽  
Emmanuel A. Stamatakis ◽  
William D. Marslen-Wilson ◽  
Lorraine K. Tyler
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Spoken Word Recognition ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Middle Temporal ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Left Posterior ◽  
Cohort Competition ◽  
Semantic Properties

Spoken word recognition involves the activation of multiple word candidates on the basis of the initial speech input—the “cohort”—and selection among these competitors. Selection may be driven primarily by bottom–up acoustic–phonetic inputs or it may be modulated by other aspects of lexical representation, such as a word's meaning [Marslen-Wilson, W. D. Functional parallelism in spoken word-recognition. Cognition, 25, 71–102, 1987]. We examined these potential interactions in an fMRI study by presenting participants with words and pseudowords for lexical decision. In a factorial design, we manipulated (a) cohort competition (high/low competitive cohorts which vary the number of competing word candidates) and (b) the word's semantic properties (high/low imageability). A previous behavioral study [Tyler, L. K., Voice, J. K., & Moss, H. E. The interaction of meaning and sound in spoken word recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 7, 320–326, 2000] showed that imageability facilitated word recognition but only for words in high competition cohorts. Here we found greater activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 45, 47) and the right inferior frontal gyrus (BA 47) with increased cohort competition, an imageability effect in the left posterior middle temporal gyrus/angular gyrus (BA 39), and a significant interaction between imageability and cohort competition in the left posterior superior temporal gyrus/middle temporal gyrus (BA 21, 22). In words with high competition cohorts, high imageability words generated stronger activity than low imageability words, indicating a facilitatory role of imageability in a highly competitive cohort context. For words in low competition cohorts, there was no effect of imageability. These results support the behavioral data in showing that selection processes do not rely solely on bottom–up acoustic–phonetic cues but rather that the semantic properties of candidate words facilitate discrimination between competitors.

scholarly journals Speaking in the Brain: The Interaction between Words and Syntax in Sentence Production

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (8) ◽  
pp. 1466-1483
Author(s):  
Atsuko Takashima ◽  
Agnieszka Konopka ◽  
Antje Meyer ◽  
Peter Hagoort ◽  
Kirsten Weber
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Sentence Production ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Temporal Region ◽  
Middle Temporal ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Left Posterior ◽  
Language Network

This neuroimaging study investigated the neural infrastructure of sentence-level language production. We compared brain activation patterns, as measured with BOLD-fMRI, during production of sentences that differed in verb argument structures (intransitives, transitives, ditransitives) and the lexical status of the verb (known verbs or pseudoverbs). The experiment consisted of 30 mini-blocks of six sentences each. Each mini-block started with an example for the type of sentence to be produced in that block. On each trial in the mini-blocks, participants were first given the (pseudo-)verb followed by three geometric shapes to serve as verb arguments in the sentences. Production of sentences with known verbs yielded greater activation compared to sentences with pseudoverbs in the core language network of the left inferior frontal gyrus, the left posterior middle temporal gyrus, and a more posterior middle temporal region extending into the angular gyrus, analogous to effects observed in language comprehension. Increasing the number of verb arguments led to greater activation in an overlapping left posterior middle temporal gyrus/angular gyrus area, particularly for known verbs, as well as in the bilateral precuneus. Thus, producing sentences with more complex structures using existing verbs leads to increased activation in the language network, suggesting some reliance on memory retrieval of stored lexical–syntactic information during sentence production. This study thus provides evidence from sentence-level language production in line with functional models of the language network that have so far been mainly based on single-word production, comprehension, and language processing in aphasia.

The Neural Correlates of Linguistic Distinctions: Unaccusative and Unergative Verbs

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 2306-2315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Einat Shetreet ◽  
Naama Friedmann ◽  
Uri Hadar
Keyword(s):  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Middle Temporal ◽  
Left Posterior ◽  
Unaccusative Verbs ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Conjunction Analysis

Unaccusative verbs like fall are special in that their sole argument is syntactically generated at the object position of the verb rather than at the subject position. Unaccusative verbs are derived by a lexical operation that reduces the agent from transitive verbs. Their insertion into a sentence often involves a syntactic movement from the object to the subject position. To explore the neurological reality of the distinction between different verb types and to identify the cortical activations associated with the lexical and syntactic operations, we compared unaccusative verbs with verbs that do not undergo such operations—unergatives (verbs with one argument, an agent) and transitives (verbs with two arguments). The observed pattern of activation revealed that the brain distinguishes between unaccusative and unergative verbs, lending neurological support for the linguistic distinction. A conjunction analysis between the comparisons between unaccusatives and the other verb types revealed activations in the left inferior frontal gyrus and the left posterior middle temporal gyrus. These, together with previous neuroimaging results, suggest that the inferior frontal gyrus may be involved with the execution of the syntactic operation, whereas the middle temporal gyrus may be responsible for the lexical operation that derives unaccusative verbs.

Humor Comprehension and Appreciation: An fMRI Study

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 1789-1798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Bartolo ◽  
Francesca Benuzzi ◽  
Luca Nocetti ◽  
Patrizia Baraldi ◽  
Paolo Nichelli
Keyword(s):  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Lesion ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Stage Model ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
The Right

Humor is a unique ability in human beings. Suls [A two-stage model for the appreciation of jokes and cartoons. In P. E. Goldstein & J. H. McGhee (Eds.), The psychology of humour. Theoretical perspectives and empirical issues. New York: Academic Press, 1972, pp. 81–100] proposed a two-stage model of humor: detection and resolution of incongruity. Incongruity is generated when a prediction is not confirmed in the final part of a story. To comprehend humor, it is necessary to revisit the story, transforming an incongruous situation into a funny, congruous one. Patient and neuroimaging studies carried out until now lead to different outcomes. In particular, patient studies found that right brain-lesion patients have difficulties in humor comprehension, whereas neuroimaging studies suggested a major involvement of the left hemisphere in both humor detection and comprehension. To prevent activation of the left hemisphere due to language processing, we devised a nonverbal task comprising cartoon pairs. Our findings demonstrate activation of both the left and the right hemispheres when comparing funny versus nonfunny cartoons. In particular, we found activation of the right inferior frontal gyrus (BA 47), the left superior temporal gyrus (BA 38), the left middle temporal gyrus (BA 21), and the left cerebellum. These areas were also activated in a nonverbal task exploring attribution of intention [Brunet, E., Sarfati, Y., Hardy-Bayle, M. C., & Decety, J. A PET investigation of the attribution of intentions with a nonverbal task. Neuroimage, 11, 157–166, 2000]. We hypothesize that the resolution of incongruity might occur through a process of intention attribution. We also asked subjects to rate the funniness of each cartoon pair. A parametric analysis showed that the left amygdala was activated in relation to subjective amusement. We hypothesize that the amygdala plays a key role in giving humor an emotional dimension.

scholarly journals Syntactic and Semantic Specialization and Integration in 5- to 6-Year-Old Children during Auditory Sentence Processing

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Wang ◽  
Mabel L. Rice ◽  
James R. Booth
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Adult Brain ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Semantic Task

Previous studies have found specialized syntactic and semantic processes in the adult brain during language comprehension. Young children have sophisticated semantic and syntactic aspects of language, yet many previous fMRI studies failed to detect this specialization, possibly due to experimental design and analytical methods. In this current study, 5- to 6-year-old children completed a syntactic task and a semantic task to dissociate these two processes. Multivoxel pattern analysis was used to examine the correlation of patterns within a task (between runs) or across tasks. We found that the left middle temporal gyrus showed more similar patterns within the semantic task compared with across tasks, whereas there was no difference in the correlation within the syntactic task compared with across tasks, suggesting its specialization in semantic processing. Moreover, the left superior temporal gyrus showed more similar patterns within both the semantic task and the syntactic task as compared with across tasks, suggesting its role in integration of semantic and syntactic information. In contrast to the temporal lobe, we did not find specialization or integration effects in either the opercular or triangular part of the inferior frontal gyrus. Overall, our study showed that 5- to 6-year-old children have already developed specialization and integration in the temporal lobe, but not in the frontal lobe, consistent with developmental neurocognitive models of language comprehension in typically developing young children.

scholarly journals Effects of semantic plausibility, syntactic complexity and n-gram frequency on children's sentence repetition

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Kamila POLIŠENSKÁ ◽  
Shula CHIAT ◽  
Jakub SZEWCZYK ◽  
Katherine E. TWOMEY
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
N Gram ◽  
Semantic Plausibility ◽  
Post Hoc

Abstract Theories of language processing differ with respect to the role of abstract syntax and semantics vs surface-level lexical co-occurrence (n-gram) frequency. The contribution of each of these factors has been demonstrated in previous studies of children and adults, but none have investigated them jointly. This study evaluated the role of all three factors in a sentence repetition task performed by children aged 4–7 and 11–12 years. It was found that semantic plausibility benefitted performance in both age groups; syntactic complexity disadvantaged the younger group but benefitted the older group; while contrary to previous findings, n-gram frequency did not facilitate, and in a post-hoc analysis even hampered, performance. This new evidence suggests that n-gram frequency effects might be restricted to the highly constrained and frequent n-grams used in previous investigations, and that semantics and morphosyntax play a more powerful role than n-gram frequency, supporting the role of abstract linguistic knowledge in children's sentence processing.

scholarly journals Neural Basis of Depression Related to a Dominant Right Hemisphere: A Resting-State fMRI Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mi Li ◽  
Hongpei Xu ◽  
Shengfu Lu
Keyword(s):  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Middle Temporal ◽  
Middle Occipital Gyrus ◽  
The Right ◽  
Depressive Patients ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Left Middle

Background. In the past, studies on the lateralization of the left and right hemispheres of the brain suggested that depression is dominated by the right hemisphere of the brain, but the neural basis of this theory remains unclear. Method. Functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain was performed in 22 depressive patients and 15 healthy controls. The differences in the mean values of the regional homogeneity (ReHo) of two groups were compared, and the low-frequency amplitudes of these differential brain regions were compared. Results. The results show that compared with healthy subjects, depressive patients had increased ReHo values in the right superior temporal gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus, left inferior temporal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, triangular part of the right inferior frontal gyrus, orbital part of the right inferior frontal gyrus, right superior occipital gyrus, right middle occipital gyrus, bilateral anterior cingulate, and paracingulate gyri; reduced ReHo values were seen in the right fusiform gyrus, left middle occipital gyrus, left lingual gyrus, and left inferior parietal except in the supramarginal and angular gyri. Conclusions. The results show that regional homogeneity mainly occurs in the right brain, and the overall performance of the brain is such that right hemisphere synchronization is enhanced while left hemisphere synchronization is weakened. ReHo abnormalities in the resting state can predict abnormalities in individual neurological activities that reflect changes in the structure and function of the brain; abnormalities shown with this indicator are the neuronal basis for the phenomenon that the right hemisphere of the brain has a dominant effect on depression.

scholarly journals The Shape of Things to Come in Speech Production: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Visual Form Interference during Lexical Access

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 913-921 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna S. Gauvin ◽  
Katie L. McMahon ◽  
Marcus Meinzer ◽  
Greig I. de Zubicaray
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Imaging Study ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Distractor Word ◽  
Lexical Selection ◽  
Middle Temporal ◽  
Visual Form

Studies of context effects in speech production have shown that semantic feature overlap produces interference in naming of categorically related objects. In neuroimaging studies, this semantic interference effect is consistently associated with involvement of left superior and middle temporal gyri. However, at least part of this effect has recently been shown to be attributable to visual form similarity, as categorically related objects typically share visual features. This fMRI study examined interference produced by visual form overlap in the absence of a category relation in a picture–word interference paradigm. Both visually similar and visually dissimilar distractors led to increased BOLD responses in the left inferior frontal gyrus compared with the congruent condition. Naming pictures in context with a distractor word denoting an object visually similar in form slowed RTs compared with unrelated words and was associated with reduced activity in the left posterior middle temporal gyrus. This area is reliably observed in lexical level processing during language production tasks. No significant differential activity was observed in areas typically engaged by early perceptual or conceptual feature level processing or in areas proposed to be engaged by postlexical language processes, suggesting that visual form interference does not arise from uncertainty or confusion during perceptual or conceptual identification or after lexical processing. We conclude that visual form interference has a lexical locus, consistent with the predictions of competitive lexical selection models.

scholarly journals A Double Dissociation in Sensitivity to Verb and Noun Semantics Across Cortical Networks

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 4803-4817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia V Elli ◽  
Connor Lane ◽  
Marina Bedny
Keyword(s):  
Pattern Analysis ◽  
Light Emission ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Cortical Networks ◽  
Multivoxel Pattern Analysis ◽  
Grammatical Class ◽  
Double Dissociation ◽  
Neural Organization ◽  
Left Posterior

AbstractWhat is the neural organization of the mental lexicon? Previous research suggests that partially distinct cortical networks are active during verb and noun processing, but what information do these networks represent? We used multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to investigate whether these networks are sensitive to lexicosemantic distinctions among verbs and among nouns and, if so, whether they are more sensitive to distinctions among words in their preferred grammatical class. Participants heard 4 types of verbs (light emission, sound emission, hand-related actions, mouth-related actions) and 4 types of nouns (birds, mammals, manmade places, natural places). As previously shown, the left posterior middle temporal gyrus (LMTG+), and inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) responded more to verbs, whereas the inferior parietal lobule (LIP), precuneus (LPC), and inferior temporal (LIT) cortex responded more to nouns. MVPA revealed a double-dissociation in lexicosemantic sensitivity: classification was more accurate among verbs than nouns in the LMTG+, and among nouns than verbs in the LIP, LPC, and LIT. However, classification was similar for verbs and nouns in the LIFG, and above chance for the nonpreferred category in all regions. These results suggest that the lexicosemantic information about verbs and nouns is represented in partially nonoverlapping networks.

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