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Obert A, Gierski F, Calmus A, Portefaix C, Declercq C, Pierot L, Caillies S. Differential bilateral involvement of the parietal gyrus during predicative metaphor processing: an auditory fMRI study. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2014; 137:112-119. [PMID: 25193417 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2014.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2014] [Revised: 07/24/2014] [Accepted: 08/01/2014] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
Despite the growing literature on figurative language processing, there is still debate as to which cognitive processes and neural bases are involved. Furthermore, most studies have focused on nominal metaphor processing without any context, and very few have used auditory presentation. We therefore investigated the neural bases of the comprehension of predicative metaphors presented in a brief context, in an auditory, ecological way. The comprehension of their literal counterparts served as a control condition. We also investigated the link between working memory and verbal skills and regional activation. Comparisons of metaphorical and literal conditions revealed bilateral activation of parietal areas including the left angular (lAG) and right inferior parietal gyri (rIPG) and right precuneus. Only verbal skills were associated with lAG (but not rIPG) activation. These results indicated that predicative metaphor comprehension share common activations with other metaphors. Furthermore, individual verbal skills could have an impact on figurative language processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandre Obert
- C2S Laboratory (EA6291), University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France.
| | - Fabien Gierski
- C2S Laboratory (EA6291), University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France; Adult Psychiatry Department, Robert Debré Hospital, Reims University Hospital, Reims, France
| | - Arnaud Calmus
- C2S Laboratory (EA6291), University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Sébastopol Hospital, Reims University Hospital, Reims, France
| | - Christophe Portefaix
- Imaging Department, Maison Blanche Hospital, Reims University Hospital, Reims, France; CReSTIC Laboratory (EA 3804), University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France
| | - Christelle Declercq
- C2S Laboratory (EA6291), University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France
| | - Laurent Pierot
- Imaging Department, Maison Blanche Hospital, Reims University Hospital, Reims, France
| | - Stéphanie Caillies
- C2S Laboratory (EA6291), University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France
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52
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Argyriou P, Byfield S, Kita S. Semantics is crucial for the right-hemisphere involvement in metaphor processing: Evidence from mouth asymmetry during speaking. Laterality 2014; 20:191-210. [DOI: 10.1080/1357650x.2014.951654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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53
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Faust M, Kenett YN. Rigidity, chaos and integration: hemispheric interaction and individual differences in metaphor comprehension. Front Hum Neurosci 2014; 8:511. [PMID: 25071534 PMCID: PMC4095568 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2014] [Accepted: 06/24/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Neurotypical individuals cope flexibly with the full range of semantic relations expressed in human language, including metaphoric relations. This impressive semantic ability may be associated with distinct and flexible patterns of hemispheric interaction, including higher right hemisphere (RH) involvement for processing novel metaphors. However, this ability may be impaired in specific clinical conditions, such as Asperger syndrome (AS) and schizophrenia. The impaired semantic processing is accompanied by different patterns of hemispheric interaction during semantic processing, showing either reduced (in Asperger syndrome) or excessive (in schizophrenia) RH involvement. This paper interprets these individual differences using the terms Rigidity, Chaos and Integration, which describe patterns of semantic memory network states that either lead to semantic well-being or are disruptive of it. We argue that these semantic network states lie on a rigidity-chaos semantic continuum. We define these terms via network science terminology and provide network, cognitive and neural evidence to support our claim. This continuum includes left hemisphere (LH) hyper-rigid semantic memory state on one end (e.g., in persons with AS), and RH chaotic and over-flexible semantic memory state on the other end (e.g., in persons with schizophrenia). In between these two extremes lie different states of semantic memory structure which are related to individual differences in semantic creativity. We suggest that efficient semantic processing is achieved by semantic integration, a balance between semantic rigidity and semantic chaos. Such integration is achieved via intra-hemispheric communication. However, impairments to this well-balanced and integrated pattern of hemispheric interaction, e.g., when one hemisphere dominates the other, may lead to either semantic rigidity or semantic chaos, moving away from semantic integration and thus impairing the processing of metaphoric language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miriam Faust
- The Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University Ramat-Gan, Israel ; Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University Ramat-Gan, Israel
| | - Yoed N Kenett
- The Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University Ramat-Gan, Israel
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54
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Citron FMM, Goldberg AE. Metaphorical sentences are more emotionally engaging than their literal counterparts. J Cogn Neurosci 2014; 26:2585-95. [PMID: 24800628 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 118] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Why do people so often use metaphorical expressions when literal paraphrases are readily available? This study focuses on a comparison of metaphorical statements involving the source domain of taste (e.g., "She looked at him sweetly") and their literal paraphrases (e.g., "She looked at him kindly"). Metaphorical and literal sentences differed only in one word and were normed for length, familiarity, imageability, emotional valence, and arousal. Our findings indicate that conventional metaphorical expressions are more emotionally evocative than literal expressions, as the amygdala and the anterior portion of the hippocampus were more active in the metaphorical sentences. They also support the idea that even conventional metaphors can be grounded in sensorimotor and perceptual representations in that primary and secondary gustatory areas (lateral OFC, frontal operculum, anterior insula) were more active as well. A comparison of the individual words that distinguished the metaphorical and literal sentences revealed greater activation in the lateral OFC and the frontal operculum for the taste-related words, supporting the claim that these areas are relevant to taste.
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55
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Rigoulot S, Fish K, Pell MD. Neural correlates of inferring speaker sincerity from white lies: An event-related potential source localization study. Brain Res 2014; 1565:48-62. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2014.04.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2014] [Revised: 04/11/2014] [Accepted: 04/12/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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56
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Kavé G, Gavrieli R, Mashal N. Stronger left-hemisphere lateralization in older versus younger adults while processing conventional metaphors. Laterality 2014; 19:705-17. [PMID: 24708103 DOI: 10.1080/1357650x.2014.905584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Thirty younger (age 20-30) and 30 older (age 69-85) right-handed Hebrew speakers performed a semantic judgement task while processing literal word pairs and conventional metaphors, presented in the divided visual field paradigm. Older adults responded more accurately to conventional metaphors in the right visual field/left hemisphere versus the left visual field/right hemisphere, whereas younger adults showed no lateralization. Vocabulary scores cancelled group differences in lateralization. An additional lexical decision task replicated the main finding of left-hemisphere lateralization in older but not in younger participants. We suggest that accumulated knowledge increases left-hemisphere lateralization on tasks of language comprehension in older relative to younger adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gitit Kavé
- a Department of Education and Psychology , The Open University , Ra'anana 43537 , Israel
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57
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Forgács B, Lukács A, Pléh C. Lateralized processing of novel metaphors: disentangling figurativeness and novelty. Neuropsychologia 2014; 56:101-9. [PMID: 24418155 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2012] [Revised: 10/09/2013] [Accepted: 01/04/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
One of the intriguing and sometimes controversial findings in figurative language research is a right-hemisphere processing advantage for novel metaphors. The current divided visual field study introduced novel literal expressions as a control condition to assess processing novelty independent of figurativeness. Participants evaluated word pairs belonging to one of the five categories: (1) conventional metaphorical, (2) conventional literal, (3) novel metaphorical, (4) novel literal, and (5) unrelated expressions in a semantic decision task. We presented expressions without sentence context and controlled for additional factors including emotional valence, arousal, and imageability that could potentially influence hemispheric processing. We also utilized an eye-tracker to ensure lateralized presentation. We did not find the previously reported right-hemispherical processing advantage for novel metaphors. Processing was faster in the left hemisphere for all types of word pairs, and accuracy was also higher in the right visual field - left hemisphere. Novel metaphors were processed just as fast as novel literal expressions, suggesting that the primary challenge during the comprehension of novel expressions is not a serial processing of salience, but perhaps a more left hemisphere weighted semantic integration. Our results cast doubt on the right-hemisphere theory of metaphors, and raise the possibility that other uncontrolled variables were responsible for previous results. The lateralization of processing of two word expressions seems to be more contingent on the specific task at hand than their figurativeness or saliency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bálint Forgács
- Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), Department of Cognitive Science, Egry József utca 1, T building, V. 506, 1111 Budapest, Hungary; Central European University (CEU), Department of Cognitive Science, Frankel Leó út 30-34, 1023 Budapest, Hungary.
| | - Agnes Lukács
- Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), Department of Cognitive Science, Egry József utca 1, T building, V. 506, 1111 Budapest, Hungary.
| | - Csaba Pléh
- Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), Department of Cognitive Science, Egry József utca 1, T building, V. 506, 1111 Budapest, Hungary; Eszterházy Károly College, Doctoral School of Education, Eszterházy tér 1, 3300 Eger, Hungary.
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58
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Amir O, Biederman I, Wang Z, Xu X. Ha ha! versus aha! a direct comparison of humor to nonhumorous insight for determining the neural correlates of mirth. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2013; 25:1405-13. [PMID: 24323497 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bht343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
While humor typically involves a surprising discovery, not all discoveries are perceived as humorous or lead to a feeling of mirth. Is there a difference in the neural signature of humorous versus nonhumorous discovery? Subjects viewed drawings that were uninterpretable until a caption was presented that provided either: 1) a nonhumorous interpretation (or insight) of an object from an unusual or partial view (UV) or 2) a humorous interpretation (HU) of the image achieved by linking remote and unexpected concepts. fMRI activation elicited by the UV captions was a subset of that elicited by the humorous HU captions, with only the latter showing activity in the temporal poles and temporo-occipital junction (linking remote concepts), and medial prefrontal cortex (unexpected reward). Mirth may be a consequence of the linking of remote ideas producing high-and unexpected-activation in association and classical reward areas. We suggest that this process is mediated by opioid activity as part of a system rewarding attention to novel information.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Irving Biederman
- Department of Psychology Neuroscience Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1061, USA
| | - Zhuangjun Wang
- Neuroscience Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1061, USA
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59
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Cieślicka AB. Do nonnative language speakers chew the fat and spill the beans with different brain hemispheres? Investigating idiom decomposability with the divided visual field paradigm. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2013; 42:475-503. [PMID: 23161392 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-012-9232-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore possible cerebral asymmetries in the processing of decomposable and nondecomposable idioms by fluent nonnative speakers of English. In the study, native language (Polish) and foreign language (English) decomposable and nondecomposable idioms were embedded in ambiguous (neutral) and unambiguous (biasing figurative meaning) context and presented centrally, followed by laterally presented target words related to the figurative meaning of the idiom or literal meaning of the last word of the idiom. The target appeared either immediately at sentence offset (Experiment 1), or 400 ms (Experiment 2) after sentence offset. Results are inconsistent with the Idiom Decomposition Hypothesis (Gibbs et al. in Mem Cogn 17:58-68, 1989a; J Mem Lang 28:576-593, 1989b) and only partially consistent with the idea of the differential cerebral involvement in processing (non)decomposable idioms [the Fine/Coarse Coding Theory, Beeman (Right hemisphere language comprehension: perspectives from cognitive neuroscience, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ, 1998)]. A number of factors, rather than compositionality per se, emerge as crucial in determining idiom processing, such as language status (native vs. nonnative), salience, or context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna B Cieślicka
- Department of Psychology and Communication, Texas A&M International University, 5201 University Boulevard, Laredo, TX, 78041-1900, USA,
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60
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Everyday conversation requires cognitive inference: Neural bases of comprehending implicated meanings in conversations. Neuroimage 2013; 81:61-72. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.05.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2012] [Revised: 04/08/2013] [Accepted: 05/06/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022] Open
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61
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Subramaniam K, Beeman M, Faust M, Mashal N. Positively valenced stimuli facilitate creative novel metaphoric processes by enhancing medial prefrontal cortical activation. Front Psychol 2013; 4:211. [PMID: 23637686 PMCID: PMC3636463 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2012] [Accepted: 04/06/2013] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a subject is symbolic of another unrelated object. In the present study, we examined neural patterns associated with both novel unfamiliar and conventional familiar metaphoric processing, and how these patterns are modulated by affective valence. Prior to fMRI scanning, participants received a list of word pairs (novel unfamiliar metaphors as well as conventional familiar metaphors) and were asked to denote the valence (positive, negative, or neutral) of each word pair. During scanning, participants had to decide whether the word pairs formed meaningful or meaningless expressions. Results indicate that participants were faster and more accurate at deciding that positively valenced metaphors were meaningful compared to neutral metaphors. These behavioral findings were accompanied by increased activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and the right inferior parietal lobe (RIPL). Specifically, positively valenced novel unfamiliar metaphors elicited activation in these brain regions in addition to the left superior temporal gyrus when compared to neutral novel metaphors. We also found that the mPFC and PCC mediated the processing of positively valenced metaphors when compared to negatively valenced metaphors. Positively valenced conventional metaphors, however, elicited different neural signatures when contrasted with either neutral or negatively valenced conventional metaphors. Together, our results indicate that positively valenced stimuli facilitate creative metaphoric processes (specifically novel metaphoric processes) by mediating attention and cognitive control processes required for the access, integration, and selection of semantic associations via modulation of the mPFC. The present study is important for the development of neural accounts of emotion-cognition interactions required for creativity, language, and successful social functioning in general.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karuna Subramaniam
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco San Francisco, CA, USA
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62
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Mashal N, Vishne T, Laor N, Titone D. Enhanced left frontal involvement during novel metaphor comprehension in schizophrenia: evidence from functional neuroimaging. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2013; 124:66-74. [PMID: 23291493 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2012.11.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2011] [Revised: 11/18/2012] [Accepted: 11/19/2012] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
The neural basis involved in novel metaphor comprehension in schizophrenia is relatively unknown. Fourteen people with schizophrenia and fourteen controls were scanned while they silently read novel metaphors, conventional metaphors, literal expressions, and meaningless word-pairs. People with schizophrenia showed reduced comprehension of both novel and conventional metaphors. Furthermore, while controls showed enhanced brain activation in right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) for novel metaphors versus meaningless word-pairs, people with schizophrenia showed an over-activation of left IFG and middle frontal gyrus (MFG). Direct comparison between the groups revealed greater activation in left precuneus for both novel metaphors and literal expressions vs. baseline for individuals with schizophrenia. Direct comparison for novel metaphors vs. literal expressions also revealed increased activation for individuals with schizophrenia in left MFG. These results suggest that the inefficient processing of novel metaphors in schizophrenia involves compensatory recruitment of additional brain regions that include the left MFG and left precuneus.
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Affiliation(s)
- N Mashal
- School of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
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63
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Faust M, Ben-Artzi E, Vardi N. Semantic processing in native and second language: evidence from hemispheric differences in fine and coarse semantic coding. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2012; 123:228-233. [PMID: 23098917 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2012.09.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2012] [Revised: 09/12/2012] [Accepted: 09/18/2012] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Previous studies suggest that whereas the left hemisphere (LH) is involved in fine semantic processing, the right hemisphere (RH) is uniquely engaged in coarse semantic coding including the comprehension of distinct types of language such as figurative language, lexical ambiguity and verbal humor (e.g., Chiarello, 2003; Faust, 2012). The present study examined the patterns of hemispheric involvement in fine/coarse semantic processing in native and non-native languages using a split visual field priming paradigm. Thirty native Hebrew speaking students made lexical decision judgments of Hebrew and English target words preceded by strongly, weakly, or unrelated primes. Results indicated that whereas for Hebrew pairs, priming effect for the weakly-related word pairs was obtained only for RH presented target words, for English pairs, no priming effect for the weakly-related pairs emerged for either LH or RH presented targets, suggesting that coarse semantic coding is much weaker for a non-native than native language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miriam Faust
- Department of Psychology and Gonda Brain-Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
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64
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Peleg O, Markus A, Eviatar Z. Hemispheric asymmetries in meaning selection: Evidence from the disambiguation of homophonic vs. heterophonic homographs. Brain Cogn 2012; 80:328-37. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2012.08.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2011] [Revised: 08/13/2012] [Accepted: 08/16/2012] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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65
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Forgács B, Bohrn I, Baudewig J, Hofmann MJ, Pléh C, Jacobs AM. Neural correlates of combinatorial semantic processing of literal and figurative noun noun compound words. Neuroimage 2012; 63:1432-42. [PMID: 22836179 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.07.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2011] [Revised: 06/08/2012] [Accepted: 07/15/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022] Open
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66
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Santo RDE. Principal Component Analysis applied to digital image compression. EINSTEIN-SAO PAULO 2012; 10:135-9. [PMID: 23052446 DOI: 10.1590/s1679-45082012000200004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2011] [Accepted: 06/13/2012] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To describe the use of a statistical tool (Principal Component Analysis - PCA) for the recognition of patterns and compression, applying these concepts to digital images used in Medicine. METHODS The description of Principal Component Analysis is made by means of the explanation of eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a matrix. This concept is presented on a digital image collected in the clinical routine of a hospital, based on the functional aspects of a matrix. The analysis of potential for recovery of the original image was made in terms of the rate of compression obtained. RESULTS The compressed medical images maintain the principal characteristics until approximately one-fourth of their original size, highlighting the use of Principal Component Analysis as a tool for image compression. Secondarily, the parameter obtained may reflect the complexity and potentially, the texture of the original image. CONCLUSION The quantity of principal components used in the compression influences the recovery of the original image from the final (compacted) image.
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67
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Rapp AM, Mutschler DE, Erb M. Where in the brain is nonliteral language? A coordinate-based meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. Neuroimage 2012; 63:600-10. [PMID: 22759997 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.06.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 123] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/25/2011] [Revised: 06/15/2012] [Accepted: 06/18/2012] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Alexander M Rapp
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Tuebingen, Calwerstrasse 14, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany.
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68
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Subramaniam K, Faust M, Beeman M, Mashal N. The Repetition Paradigm: Enhancement of novel metaphors and suppression of conventional metaphors in the left inferior parietal lobe. Neuropsychologia 2012; 50:2705-2719. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.07.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2011] [Revised: 06/07/2012] [Accepted: 07/10/2012] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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69
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Bohrn IC, Altmann U, Jacobs AM. Looking at the brains behind figurative language—A quantitative meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies on metaphor, idiom, and irony processing. Neuropsychologia 2012; 50:2669-83. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.07.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 139] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2012] [Revised: 05/28/2012] [Accepted: 07/10/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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70
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Yang J. The role of the right hemisphere in metaphor comprehension: a meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. Hum Brain Mapp 2012; 35:107-22. [PMID: 22936560 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2011] [Revised: 06/12/2012] [Accepted: 06/13/2012] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The role of the right hemisphere (RH) in metaphor comprehension is still controversial. Numerous neuroimaging studies have found that conventionality, sentential context, and task demand can influence the involvement of the RH in metaphor processing. The current meta-analysis used foci from 17 original functional magnetic resonance imaging studies to identify what factors modulate the involvement of the RH in metaphor processing. Activation likelihood estimation was used for quantification. We focused on the contrast of metaphorical meaning processing versus literal meaning processing and calculated the meta-analysis effects when (1) metaphorical meaning is conventional, (2) metaphorical meaning is novel, (3) metaphorical and literal meaning are presented in words, (4) metaphorical and literal meaning are presented in sentential context, (5) task is valence judgment, and (6) task is semantic relatedness judgment. The results indicated that the RH only showed significant effects in metaphor processing when the metaphorical meaning is novel, when metaphorical meaning is presented in sentential context, and when the task is semantic relatedness judgment. The effects were located in right fronto-temporal regions, including inferior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, insula, superior temporal gyrus, and middle temporal gyrus. These results suggest that conventionality, contextual complexity, and task demand can modulate the effect of figurativeness and influence the involvement of RH in metaphor comprehension. The main role of the RH in metaphor processing is related with activating broad semantic fields and integrating concepts that may have distant semantic relations, and hence provide support for the view that the RH is responsible for processing coarse semantic information in language comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Yang
- Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, New York
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71
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Brain responses mediating idiom comprehension: Gender and hemispheric differences. Brain Res 2012; 1467:18-26. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2012.05.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2011] [Revised: 05/12/2012] [Accepted: 05/15/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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72
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Shibata M, Toyomura A, Motoyama H, Itoh H, Kawabata Y, Abe JI. Does simile comprehension differ from metaphor comprehension? A functional MRI study. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2012; 121:254-260. [PMID: 22534570 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2012.03.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2011] [Revised: 03/17/2012] [Accepted: 03/22/2012] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Since Aristotle, people have believed that metaphors and similes express the same type of figurative meaning, despite the fact that they are expressed with different sentence patterns. In contrast, recent psycholinguistic models have suggested that metaphors and similes may promote different comprehension processes. In this study, we investigated the neural substrates involved in the comprehension of metaphor and simile using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate whether simile comprehension differs from metaphor comprehension or not. In the metaphor and simile sentence conditions, higher activation was seen in the left inferior frontal gyrus. This result suggests that the activation in both metaphor and simile conditions indicates similar patterns in the left frontal region. The results also suggest that similes elicit higher levels of activation in the medial frontal region which might be related to inference processes, whereas metaphors elicit more right-sided prefrontal activation which might be related to figurative language comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Midori Shibata
- Department of Psychology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
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73
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Distinction between the literal and intended meanings of sentences: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of metaphor and sarcasm. Cortex 2012; 48:563-83. [PMID: 21333979 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2011.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2010] [Revised: 10/15/2010] [Accepted: 01/13/2011] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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74
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Santo RDE, Pereira FH, Júnior EA. Image Compression Based on Generalized Principal Components Analysis and Simulated Annealing. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE INFORMATICS AND NATURAL INTELLIGENCE 2012. [DOI: 10.4018/jcini.2012040103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The authors propose a new data dimensionality reduction method that is formulated as an optimization problem solved in two stages. In the first stage, Generalized Principal Component Analysis (GPCA) is used to find a solution with local maximum (local solution) whereas the algorithm Simulated Annealing (SA) is performed, in the second stage, to converge the local solution to the optimal solution. The performance of GPCA and GPCA with Simulated Annealing (GPCA-SA) as images compressors was evaluated in terms of the Compression Peak Signal-to-Noise Rate (CPSNR), memory size necessary to store the resulting compressed image and Contrast-to-Noise ratio. The results show that GPCA and GPCA-SA requires the same amount of memory to store compressed data, but GPCA-SA provides better CPSNR than GPCA. They also compared the performance of our designed method with a wavelet-based compression technique widely used in medical imaging, known as Lifting, to demonstrate the efficiency of GPCA-SA in clinical application.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Edson Amaro Júnior
- Instituto Israelita De Pesquisa e Ensino Albert Einstein & University of São Paulo, Brazil
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75
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From novel to familiar: tuning the brain for metaphors. Neuroimage 2011; 59:3212-21. [PMID: 22155328 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.11.079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 147] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2011] [Revised: 11/10/2011] [Accepted: 11/26/2011] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Metaphors are fundamental to creative thought and expression. Newly coined metaphors regularly infiltrate our collective vocabulary and gradually become familiar, but it is unclear how this shift from novel to conventionalized meaning happens in the brain. We investigated the neural career of metaphors in a functional magnetic resonance imaging study using extensively normed new metaphors and simulated the ordinary, gradual experience of metaphor conventionalization by manipulating participants' exposure to these metaphors. Results showed that the conventionalization of novel metaphors specifically tunes activity within bilateral inferior prefrontal cortex, left posterior middle temporal gyrus, and right postero-lateral occipital cortex. These results support theoretical accounts attributing a role for the right hemisphere in processing novel, low salience figurative meanings, but also show that conventionalization of metaphoric meaning is a bilaterally-mediated process. Metaphor conventionalization entails a decreased neural load within semantic networks rather than a hemispheric or regional shift across brain areas.
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76
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Gold R, Faust M, Ben-Artzi E. Metaphors and verbal creativity: the role of the right hemisphere. Laterality 2011; 17:602-14. [PMID: 22973813 DOI: 10.1080/1357650x.2011.599936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/15/2022]
Abstract
Ample research suggests that the right cerebral hemisphere plays a central role in verbal creativity as well as in novel metaphor comprehension. The aim of the present study was to directly examine the relation between verbal creativity and right hemisphere involvement during novel metaphor comprehension. Thus 30 healthy adults were asked to fill in the Hebrew version of the Remote Association Test to assess their level of creativity. In addition, reaction times and error rates were measured while these participants performed a semantic judgement task on two word expressions presented in a divided visual field paradigm. The word pairs comprised four types of semantic relations: novel metaphors, conventional metaphors, literal word pairs, and meaningless word pairs. Correlations were conducted to assess the relation between level of creativity and processing of the four pair types in the two cerebral hemispheres. The main finding was of a significant negative correlation between degree of creativity and reaction times to novel metaphor processing in the right hemisphere, thus supporting the involvement of this cerebral hemisphere in both tasks. Results are discussed in light of linguistic theories and recent neuroscientific evidence regarding relative hemispheric involvement during semantic processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rinat Gold
- The Leslie and Susan Gonda-Goldschmied Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
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77
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Diaz MT, Hogstrom LJ. The influence of context on hemispheric recruitment during metaphor processing. J Cogn Neurosci 2011; 23:3586-97. [PMID: 21568642 PMCID: PMC3175018 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Although the left hemisphere's prominence in language is well established, less emphasis has been placed on possible roles for the right hemisphere. Behavioral, patient, and neuroimaging research suggests that the right hemisphere may be involved in processing figurative language. Additionally, research has demonstrated that context can modify language processes and facilitate comprehension. Here we investigated how figurativeness and context influenced brain activation, with a specific interest in right hemisphere function. Previous work in our laboratory indicated that novel stimuli engaged right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and that both novel and familiar metaphors engaged right IFG and right temporal pole. The graded salience hypothesis proposes that context may lessen integration demands, increase the salience of metaphors, and thereby reduce right hemisphere recruitment for metaphors. In the present study, fMRI was used to investigate brain function, whereas participants read literal and metaphoric sentences that were preceded by either a congruent or an incongruent literal sentence. Consistent with prior research, all sentences engaged traditional left hemisphere regions. Differences between metaphors and literal sentences were observed, but only in the left hemisphere. In contrast, a main effect of congruence was found in the right IFG, the right temporal pole, and the dorsal medial pFC. Partially consistent with the graded salience hypothesis, our results highlight the strong influence of context on language, demonstrate the importance of the right hemisphere in discourse, and suggest that, in a wider discourse context, congruence has a greater influence on right hemisphere recruitment than figurativeness.
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78
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Decomposing metaphor processing at the cognitive and neural level through functional magnetic resonance imaging. Brain Res Bull 2011; 86:203-16. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2011.07.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 97] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2011] [Revised: 07/15/2011] [Accepted: 07/15/2011] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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79
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Nemrodov D, Harpaz Y, Javitt DC, Lavidor M. ERP evidence of hemispheric independence in visual word recognition. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2011; 118:72-80. [PMID: 20542549 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2010.04.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2009] [Revised: 03/22/2010] [Accepted: 04/27/2010] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
This study examined the capability of the left hemisphere (LH) and the right hemisphere (RH) to perform a visual recognition task independently as formulated by the Direct Access Model (Fernandino, Iacoboni, & Zaidel, 2007). Healthy native Hebrew speakers were asked to categorize nouns and non-words (created from nouns by transposing two middle letters) into man-made and natural categories while their performance and ERPs were recorded. The stimuli were presented parafoveally to the right and left visual fields. As predicted by the Direct Access Model, ERP data showed that both the left hemisphere and right hemisphere were able to differentiate between words and non-words as early as 170 ms post-stimulus; these results were significant only for the contralaterally presented stimuli. The N1 component, which is considered to reflect orthographic processing, was larger in both hemispheres in response to the contralateral than the ipsilateral presented stimuli. This finding provides evidence for the RH capability to access higher level lexical information at the early stages of visual word recognition, thus lending weight to arguments for the relatively independent nature of this process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Nemrodov
- The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
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80
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Mashal N, Gavrieli R, Kavé G. Age-related changes in the appreciation of novel metaphoric semantic relations. AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2011; 18:527-43. [PMID: 21819177 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2011.575202] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
In the present study we tested the possibility that older adults differ from younger adults in their appreciation of metaphoric semantic relations, and that age-related changes occur due to the perception of novel metaphors. In the first experiment 35 younger (mean age?=?23.1) and 35 older adults (mean age?=?75.3) were asked to rate the plausibility of metaphoric, literal, and unrelated word pairs. Relative to young participants, older participants rated fewer expressions as metaphorically plausible. The second experiment was conducted to examine whether the findings of the first experiment could be accounted for by an age-associated difference in the appreciation of metaphors with different levels of familiarity. In the second experiment, 25 younger (mean age?=?24.4) and 25 older adults (mean age?=?77.5) were asked to rate the familiarity level of the plausible metaphoric expressions. Relative to young participants, older participants rated fewer expressions as novel and more expressions as familiar. The results suggest that novelty plays an important role in appreciating the plausibility of semantic relationships, and age-related changes are associated with the appreciation of the novelty of expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nira Mashal
- Department of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
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81
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Hammer A, Jansma BM, Tempelmann C, Münte TF. Neural mechanisms of anaphoric reference revealed by FMRI. Front Psychol 2011; 2:32. [PMID: 21713189 PMCID: PMC3110973 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2010] [Accepted: 02/14/2011] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Pronouns are bound to their antecedents by matching syntactic and semantic information. The aim of this functional magnetic resonance imaging study was to localize syntactic and semantic information retrieval and integration during pronoun resolution. Especially we investigated their possible interaction with verbal working memory manipulated by distance between antecedent and pronoun. We disentangled biological and syntactic gender information using German sentences about persons (biological/syntactic gender) or things (syntactic gender) followed by congruent or incongruent pronouns. Increasing the distance between pronoun and antecedent resulted in a short and a long distance condition. Analysis revealed a language related network including inferior frontal regions bilaterally (integration), left anterior and posterior temporal regions (lexico-semantics and syntactic retrieval) and the anterior cingulate gyrus (conflict resolution) involved in pronoun resolution. Activities within the inferior frontal region were driven by Congruency (incongruent > congruent) and Distance (long > short). Temporal regions were sensitive to Distance and Congruency (but solely within long distant conditions). Furthermore, anterior temporal regions were sensitive to the antecedent type with an increased activity for person pronouns compared to thing pronouns. We suggest that activity modulations within these areas reflect the integration process of an appropriate antecedent which depends on the type of information that has to be retrieved (lexico-syntactic posterior temporal, lexico-semantics anterior temporal). It also depends on the overall syntactic and semantic complexity of long distant sentences. The results are interpreted in the context of the memory–unification-control model for sentence comprehension as proposed by Vosse and Kempen (2000), Hagoort (2005), and Snijders et al. (2009).
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Affiliation(s)
- Anke Hammer
- Clinic for Neurology, Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck Lübeck, Germany
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82
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Romaioli D, Contarello A. How Do Therapists Understand Their Client’s Problem and Its Resolution: Objectification in Theories of Change. JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOTHERAPY 2011. [DOI: 10.1007/s10879-011-9188-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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83
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Arzouan Y, Solomon S, Faust M, Goldstein A. Big words, halved brains and small worlds: complex brain networks of figurative language comprehension. PLoS One 2011; 6:e19345. [PMID: 21556324 PMCID: PMC3083439 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0019345] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2011] [Accepted: 03/28/2011] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Language comprehension is a complex task that involves a wide network of brain regions. We used topological measures to qualify and quantify the functional connectivity of the networks used under various comprehension conditions. To that aim we developed a technique to represent functional networks based on EEG recordings, taking advantage of their excellent time resolution in order to capture the fast processes that occur during language comprehension. Networks were created by searching for a specific causal relation between areas, the negative feedback loop, which is ubiquitous in many systems. This method is a simple way to construct directed graphs using event-related activity, which can then be analyzed topologically. Brain activity was recorded while subjects read expressions of various types and indicated whether they found them meaningful. Slightly different functional networks were obtained for event-related activity evoked by each expression type. The differences reflect the special contribution of specific regions in each condition and the balance of hemispheric activity involved in comprehending different types of expressions and are consistent with the literature in the field. Our results indicate that representing event-related brain activity as a network using a simple temporal relation, such as the negative feedback loop, to indicate directional connectivity is a viable option for investigation which also derives new information about aspects not reflected in the classical methods for investigating brain activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yossi Arzouan
- Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
- Racah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Sorin Solomon
- Racah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Miriam Faust
- Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
- Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Abraham Goldstein
- Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
- Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
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84
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Abstract
The use of nonliteral language in clinical assessment, especially testing the patients' ability to interpret proverbs, has a long tradition in psychiatry. However, its diagnostic sensitivity and specificity in dementias is not yet clear. The aim of this review article is to examine the current evidence on nonliteral/figurative language (proverb, metaphor, metonymy, idiom, irony, sarcasm) comprehension in Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. A comprehensive literature search identified 25 studies (16 proverb, 3 metaphor, 0 metonymy, 5 idiom, 3 sarcasm) on nonliteral language comprehension in dementia. Studies predominantly indicate a deficit. Most studies investigated Alzheimer's dementia. Applied correctly, nonliteral language is a worthwhile diagnostic tool to evaluate language and abstract thinking in dementias. During assessment, familiarity testing (e.g., by asking "are you familiar with the proverb XY") is obligatory. Still, future research is needed in several areas: evidence on decline of nonliteral language over the course of the illness is limited. So far, almost no studies delineated proverb comprehension in high risk populations such as patients with mild cognitive impairment. Currently, there is a lack of studies addressing performance in direct comparison to relevant differential diagnosis like older-age depression, delirium, brain lesion, or other psychiatric conditions.
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85
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The influence of sentence novelty and figurativeness on brain activity. Neuropsychologia 2010; 49:320-30. [PMID: 21146553 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2010] [Revised: 11/03/2010] [Accepted: 12/02/2010] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The predominance of the left hemisphere in language comprehension and production is well established. More recently, the right hemisphere's contribution to language has been examined. Clinical, behavioral, and neuroimaging research support the right hemisphere's involvement in metaphor processing. But, there is disagreement about whether metaphors, in and of themselves, engage the right hemisphere or if other factors that vary between metaphors and literal language elicit right hemisphere engagement. It is important to disambiguate these issues to improve our basic knowledge of figurative language processing, to more precisely define how the right hemisphere supports language, and to facilitate our ability to understand and treat language impairments. Here we investigated the role of the right hemisphere in language comprehension with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) by manipulating familiarity in both literal and metaphoric sentences. In an event-related design, participants viewed English sentences that appeared every 4.5-9s, and to which they made a pleasantness judgment. All sentences elicited activation in traditional language brain regions including left inferior frontal gyrus, left anterior inferior temporal and left posterior middle temporal gyri. Overall, metaphors and novel stimuli elicited activation in bilateral inferior frontal gyri and left temporal regions. Additionally, metaphors elicited greater activation than literal sentences in right temporal pole. Although our results are partially consistent with the graded salience hypothesis and the coarse coding hypothesis, the right hemisphere's sensitivity to familiar metaphors suggests that right hemisphere recruitment is most influenced by semantic integration demands.
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86
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Shahar G. Poetics, pragmatics, schematics, and the psychoanalysis-research dialogue (Rift). PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY 2010. [DOI: 10.1080/02668734.2010.513544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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87
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Saygin AP, McCullough S, Alac M, Emmorey K. Modulation of BOLD response in motion-sensitive lateral temporal cortex by real and fictive motion sentences. J Cogn Neurosci 2010; 22:2480-90. [PMID: 19925197 DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2009.21388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 84] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Can linguistic semantics affect neural processing in feature-specific visual regions? Specifically, when we hear a sentence describing a situation that includes motion, do we engage neural processes that are part of the visual perception of motion? How about if a motion verb was used figuratively, not literally? We used fMRI to investigate whether semantic content can "penetrate" and modulate neural populations that are selective to specific visual properties during natural language comprehension. Participants were presented audiovisually with three kinds of sentences: motion sentences ("The wild horse crossed the barren field."), static sentences, ("The black horse stood in the barren field."), and fictive motion sentences ("The hiking trail crossed the barren field."). Motion-sensitive visual areas (MT+) were localized individually in each participant as well as face-selective visual regions (fusiform face area; FFA). MT+ was activated significantly more for motion sentences than the other sentence types. Fictive motion sentences also activated MT+ more than the static sentences. Importantly, no modulation of neural responses was found in FFA. Our findings suggest that the neural substrates of linguistic semantics include early visual areas specifically related to the represented semantics and that figurative uses of motion verbs also engage these neural systems, but to a lesser extent. These data are consistent with a view of language comprehension as an embodied process, with neural substrates as far reaching as early sensory brain areas that are specifically related to the represented semantics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayse Pinar Saygin
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0515, USA.
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88
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Gold R, Faust M. Right hemisphere dysfunction and metaphor comprehension in young adults with Asperger syndrome. J Autism Dev Disord 2010; 40:800-11. [PMID: 20054629 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-009-0930-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
This study examined whether the known difficulties in metaphor comprehension exhibited by persons with Asperger syndrome (AS) can be explained by a dysfunctional right hemisphere (RH). Using the divided visual field paradigm, 27 AS participants and 36 matched controls were presented with word pairs of four types (literal, conventional metaphors, novel metaphors, and unrelated word pairs), and were asked to perform a semantic judgment task. The main hypothesis was that whereas the control group participants will show RH superiority for novel metaphor processing, no RH superiority will be found in the AS group. Results indeed indicate much less RH contribution to novel metaphor comprehension in AS, and are discussed in light of linguistic models and the neurobiology of autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rinat Gold
- The Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
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89
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Cardillo ER, Schmidt GL, Kranjec A, Chatterjee A. Stimulus design is an obstacle course: 560 matched literal and metaphorical sentences for testing neural hypotheses about metaphor. Behav Res Methods 2010; 42:651-64. [PMID: 20805587 PMCID: PMC2952404 DOI: 10.3758/brm.42.3.651] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Despite the ubiquity and importance of metaphor in thought and communication, its neural mediation remains elusive. We suggest that this uncertainty reflects, in part, stimuli that have not been designed with recent conceptual frameworks in mind or that have been hampered by inadvertent differences between metaphoric and literal conditions. In this article, we begin addressing these shortcomings by developing a large, flexible, extensively normed, and theoretically motivated set of metaphoric and literal sentences. On the basis of the results of three norming studies, we provide 280 pairs of closely matched metaphoric and literal sentences that are characterized along 10 dimensions: length, frequency, concreteness, familiarity, naturalness, imageability, figurativeness, interpretability, valence, and valence judgment reaction time. In addition to allowing for control of these potentially confounding lexical and sentential factors, these stimuli are designed to address questions about the role of novelty, metaphor type, and sensory-motor grounding in determining the neural basis of metaphor comprehension. Supplemental data for this article may be downloaded from http://brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eileen R Cardillo
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, 3 West Gates, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
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90
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Shafi N. Poetry therapy and schizophrenia: Clinical and neurological perspectives. JOURNAL OF POETRY THERAPY 2010. [DOI: 10.1080/08893675.2010.482811] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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91
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Iakimova G, Passerieux C, Denhière G, Laurent JP, Vistoli D, Vilain J, Hardy-Baylé MC. The influence of idiomatic salience during the comprehension of ambiguous idioms by patients with schizophrenia. Psychiatry Res 2010; 177:46-54. [PMID: 20207011 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2010.02.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2009] [Revised: 01/21/2010] [Accepted: 02/08/2010] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
This study investigates whether figurative comprehension in schizophrenia is influenced by the salience of idiomatic meaning, and whether it is affected by clinical and demographic factors and IQ. Twenty-seven schizophrenic patients and 25 healthy participants performed a semantic relatedness judgement task which required the comprehension of idioms with two plausible meanings (literal and figurative). The study also used literal expressions. The figurative meaning of the idioms was less salient (ILS), more salient (IFS), or equally salient (IES) compared to the literal meaning. The results showed "a salience effect" (i.e., all participants understood the salient meanings better than the less salient meanings). There was also a "figurativeness effect" (i.e., healthy individuals understood the figurative meaning of IES better than the literal meaning but not schizophrenic patients). In patients, their thought disorder influenced the figurative comprehension of IFS. The verbal IQ influenced the figurative comprehension of ILS. The thought disorder, the verbal IQ, and the educational level influenced the figurative comprehension of IES. The patients' clinically evaluated concretism was associated with a reduced figurative comprehension of IFS and IES evaluated at a cognitive level. The results are discussed in relation to cognitive mechanisms which underscore figurative comprehension in schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Galina Iakimova
- Inserm ERI 15, Université de Versailles St-Quentin EA 4047, Centre Hospitalier de Versailles, 177 route de Versailles, 78150 Le Chesnay, France.
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92
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Mihov KM, Denzler M, Förster J. Hemispheric specialization and creative thinking: a meta-analytic review of lateralization of creativity. Brain Cogn 2010; 72:442-8. [PMID: 20097463 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2009.12.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2008] [Revised: 12/20/2009] [Accepted: 12/22/2009] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
In the last two decades research on the neurophysiological processes of creativity has found contradicting results. Whereas most research suggests right hemisphere dominance in creative thinking, left-hemisphere dominance has also been reported. The present research is a meta-analytic review of the literature to establish how creative thinking relates to relative hemispheric dominance. The analysis was performed on the basis of a non-parametric vote-counting approach and effect-size calculations of Cramer's phi suggest relative dominance of the right hemisphere during creative thinking. Moderator analyses revealed no difference in predominant right-hemispheric activation for verbal vs. figural tasks, holistic vs. analytical tasks, and context-dependent vs. context-independent tasks. Suggestions for further investigations with the meta-analytic and neuroscience methodologies to answer the questions of left hemispheric activation and further moderation of the effects are discussed.
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93
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Abstract
Metaphors are a fundamental aspect of human cognition. The major neuropsychological hypothesis that metaphoric processing relies primarily on the right hemisphere is not confirmed consistently. We propose ways to advance our understanding of the neuropsychology of metaphor that go beyond simple laterality. Neuropsychological studies need to more carefully control confounding lexical and sentential factors, and consider the role of different parts of speech as they are extended metaphorically. They need to incorporate recent theoretical frameworks such as the career of metaphor theory, and address factors such as novelty. We also advocate the use of new methods such as voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping, which permits precise and formal tests of hypotheses correlating behavior with lesions sites. Finally, we outline a plausible model for the neural basis of metaphor. (JINS, 2009, 16, 1-5.).
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94
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95
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Yang FG, Edens J, Simpson C, Krawczyk DC. Differences in task demands influence the hemispheric lateralization and neural correlates of metaphor. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2009; 111:114-124. [PMID: 19781756 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2009.08.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2009] [Revised: 08/20/2009] [Accepted: 08/21/2009] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
This study investigated metaphor comprehension in the broader context of task-difference effects and manipulation of processing difficulty. We predicted that right hemisphere recruitment would show greater specificity to processing difficulty rather than metaphor comprehension. Previous metaphor processing studies have established that the left inferior frontal gyrus strongly correlates with metaphor comprehension but there has been controversy about whether right hemisphere (RH) involvement is specific for metaphor comprehension. Functional MRI data were recorded from healthy subjects who read novel metaphors, conventional metaphors, definition-like sentences, or literal sentences. We investigated metaphor processing in contexts where semantic judgment or imagery modulates linguistic judgment. Our findings support the position that the type of task rather than figurative language processing per se modulates the left inferior gyrus (LIFG). RH involvement was more influenced by processing difficulty and less by the novelty or figurativity of linguistic expressions. Our results suggest that figurative language processing depends upon the effects of task-type and processing difficulty on imaging results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fanpei Gloria Yang
- Center for Brain Health, University of Texas at Dallas, Frances and Mildred Goad Building, 2200 West Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, TX 75235, USA.
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96
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Mashal N, Faust M. Conventionalisation of novel metaphors: A shift in hemispheric asymmetry. Laterality 2009; 14:573-89. [DOI: 10.1080/13576500902734645] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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97
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Schmidt GL, Seger CA. Neural correlates of metaphor processing: the roles of figurativeness, familiarity and difficulty. Brain Cogn 2009; 71:375-86. [PMID: 19586700 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2009.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 106] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2007] [Revised: 05/21/2009] [Accepted: 06/03/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
There is currently much interest in investigating the neural substrates of metaphor processing. In particular, it has been suggested that the right hemisphere plays a special role in the comprehension of figurative (non-literal) language, and in particular metaphors. However, some studies find no evidence of right hemisphere involvement in metaphor comprehension (e.g. [Lee, S. S., & Dapretto, M. (2006). Metaphorical vs. literal word meanings: fMRI evidence against a selective role of the right hemisphere. NeuroImage, 29, 536-544; Rapp, A. M., Leube, D. T., Erb, M., Grodd, W., & Kircher, T. T. J. (2004). Neural correlates of metaphor processing. Cognitive Brain Research, 20, 395-402]). We suggest that lateralization differences between literal and metaphorical language may be due to factors such as differences in familiarity ([Schmidt, G. L., DeBuse, C. J., & Seger, C. A. (2007). Right hemisphere metaphor processing? Characterizing the lateralization of semantic processes. Brain and Language, 100, 127-141]), or difficulty ([Bookheimer, S. (2002). Functional MRI of language: New approaches to understanding the cortical organization of semantic processing. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 25, 151-188; Rapp, A. M., Leube, D. T., Erb, M., Grodd, W., & Kircher, T. T. J. (2004). Neural correlates of metaphor processing. Cognitive Brain Research, 20, 395-402]) in addition to figurativeness. The purpose of this study was to separate the effects of figurativeness, familiarity, and difficulty on the recruitment of neural systems involved in language, in particular right hemisphere mechanisms. This was achieved by comparing neural activation using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) between four conditions: literal sentences, familiar and easy to understand metaphors, unfamiliar and easy to understand metaphors, and unfamiliar and difficult to understand metaphors. Metaphors recruited the right insula, left temporal pole and right inferior frontal gyrus in comparison with literal sentences. Familiar metaphors recruited the right middle frontal gyrus when contrasted with unfamiliar metaphors. Easy metaphors showed higher activation in the left middle frontal gyrus as compared to difficult metaphors, while difficult metaphors showed selective activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus as compared to easy metaphors. We conclude that the right hemisphere is involved in metaphor processing and that the factors of figurativeness, familiarity and difficulty are important in determining neural recruitment of semantic processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gwenda L Schmidt
- Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
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98
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Peleg O, Eviatar Z. Semantic asymmetries are modulated by phonological asymmetries: Evidence from the disambiguation of homophonic versus heterophonic homographs. Brain Cogn 2009; 70:154-62. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2009.01.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2008] [Revised: 12/10/2008] [Accepted: 01/20/2009] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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99
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Tylén K, Wallentin M, Roepstorff A. Say it with flowers! An fMRI study of object mediated communication. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2009; 108:159-166. [PMID: 18771801 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2008.07.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2008] [Revised: 07/07/2008] [Accepted: 07/24/2008] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Human communicational interaction can be mediated by a host of expressive means from words in a natural language to gestures and material symbols. Given the proper contextual setting even an everyday object can gain a mediating function in a communicational situation. In this study we used event-related fMRI to study the brain activity caused by everyday material objects when they are perceived as signals. We found that comprehension of material signals activates bilaterally areas of the ventral stream and pars triangularis of the inferior frontal cortex, that is, areas traditionally associated with verbal language and semantics. In addition, we found that right-hemisphere inferior frontal cortex is recruited as a function of the increasing unconventionality of communicative objects. Together these findings support an interpretation of the traditional language areas as playing a more general role across modalities in relation to communicational mediation of social semantic meaning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristian Tylén
- Institute of Language and Communication, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark.
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100
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Mashal N, Faust M, Hendler T, Jung-Beeman M. An fMRI study of processing novel metaphoric sentences. Laterality 2009; 14:30-54. [PMID: 18608849 DOI: 10.1080/13576500802049433] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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