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van der Burght CL, Friederici AD, Maran M, Papitto G, Pyatigorskaya E, Schroën JAM, Trettenbrein PC, Zaccarella E. Cleaning up the Brickyard: How Theory and Methodology Shape Experiments in Cognitive Neuroscience of Language. J Cogn Neurosci 2023; 35:2067-2088. [PMID: 37713672 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/17/2023]
Abstract
The capacity for language is a defining property of our species, yet despite decades of research, evidence on its neural basis is still mixed and a generalized consensus is difficult to achieve. We suggest that this is partly caused by researchers defining "language" in different ways, with focus on a wide range of phenomena, properties, and levels of investigation. Accordingly, there is very little agreement among cognitive neuroscientists of language on the operationalization of fundamental concepts to be investigated in neuroscientific experiments. Here, we review chains of derivation in the cognitive neuroscience of language, focusing on how the hypothesis under consideration is defined by a combination of theoretical and methodological assumptions. We first attempt to disentangle the complex relationship between linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience in the field. Next, we focus on how conclusions that can be drawn from any experiment are inherently constrained by auxiliary assumptions, both theoretical and methodological, on which the validity of conclusions drawn rests. These issues are discussed in the context of classical experimental manipulations as well as study designs that employ novel approaches such as naturalistic stimuli and computational modeling. We conclude by proposing that a highly interdisciplinary field such as the cognitive neuroscience of language requires researchers to form explicit statements concerning the theoretical definitions, methodological choices, and other constraining factors involved in their work.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Angela D Friederici
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Matteo Maran
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Giorgio Papitto
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Elena Pyatigorskaya
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Joëlle A M Schroën
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Patrick C Trettenbrein
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication, Leipzig, Germany
- University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Emiliano Zaccarella
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
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Schell M, Friederici AD, Zaccarella E. Neural classification maps for distinct word combinations in Broca's area. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:930849. [PMID: 36405085 PMCID: PMC9671167 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.930849] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans are equipped with the remarkable ability to comprehend an infinite number of utterances. Relations between grammatical categories restrict the way words combine into phrases and sentences. How the brain recognizes different word combinations remains largely unknown, although this is a necessary condition for combinatorial unboundedness in language. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and multivariate pattern analysis to explore whether distinct neural populations of a known language network hub-Broca's area-are specialized for recognizing distinct simple word combinations. The phrases consisted of a noun (flag) occurring either with a content word, an adjective (green flag), or with a function word, a determiner (that flag). The key result is that the distribution of neural populations classifying word combination in Broca's area seems sensitive to neuroanatomical subdivisions within this area, irrespective of task. The information patterns for adjective + noun were localized in its anterior part (BA45) whereas those for determiner + noun were localized in its posterior part (BA44). Our findings provide preliminary answers to the fundamental question of how lexical and grammatical category information interact during simple word combination, with the observation that Broca's area is sensitive to the recognition of categorical relationships during combinatory processing, based on different demands placed on syntactic and semantic information. This supports the hypothesis that the combinatorial power of language consists of some neural computation capturing phrasal differences when processing linguistic input.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marianne Schell
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Neuroradiology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Angela D. Friederici
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Emiliano Zaccarella
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
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Syntax through the looking glass: A review on two-word linguistic processing across behavioral, neuroimaging and neurostimulation studies. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 142:104881. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Revised: 09/13/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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Maran M, Numssen O, Hartwigsen G, Zaccarella E. Online neurostimulation of Broca's area does not interfere with syntactic predictions: A combined TMS-EEG approach to basic linguistic combination. Front Psychol 2022; 13:968836. [PMID: 36619118 PMCID: PMC9815778 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.968836] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2022] [Accepted: 09/13/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Categorical predictions have been proposed as the key mechanism supporting the fast pace of syntactic composition in language. Accordingly, grammar-based expectations are formed-e.g., the determiner "a" triggers the prediction for a noun-and facilitate the analysis of incoming syntactic information, which is then checked against a single or few other word categories. Previous functional neuroimaging studies point towards Broca's area in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) as one fundamental cortical region involved in categorical prediction during incremental language processing. Causal evidence for this hypothesis is however still missing. In this study, we combined Electroencephalography (EEG) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to test whether Broca's area is functionally relevant in predictive mechanisms for language. We transiently perturbed Broca's area during the first word in a two-word construction, while simultaneously measuring the Event-Related Potential (ERP) correlates of syntactic composition. We reasoned that if Broca's area is involved in predictive mechanisms for syntax, disruptive TMS during the first word would mitigate the difference in the ERP responses for predicted and unpredicted categories in basic two-word constructions. Contrary to this hypothesis, perturbation of Broca's area at the predictive stage did not affect the ERP correlates of basic composition. The correlation strength between the electrical field induced by TMS and the ERP responses further confirmed this pattern. We discuss the present results considering an alternative account of the role of Broca's area in syntactic composition, namely the bottom-up integration of words into constituents, and of compensatory mechanisms within the language predictive network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matteo Maran
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany,International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication: Function, Structure, and Plasticity, Leipzig, Germany,*Correspondence: Matteo Maran,
| | - Ole Numssen
- Lise Meitner Research Group Cognition and Plasticity, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Gesa Hartwigsen
- Lise Meitner Research Group Cognition and Plasticity, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Emiliano Zaccarella
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
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Creyaufmüller M, Heim S, Habel U, Mühlhaus J. The influence of semantic associations on sentence production in schizophrenia: an fMRI study. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2020; 270:359-372. [PMID: 30094543 DOI: 10.1007/s00406-018-0936-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2018] [Accepted: 07/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
One of the most prominent symptoms of schizophrenia is thought disorder, which manifests itself in language production difficulties. In patients with thought disorders the associations are loosened and sentence production is impaired. The determining behavioral and neural mechanisms of sentence production are still an important subject of recent research and have not yet been fully understood. The aim of the current study was to examine the influence of associative relations and distractor modalities on sentence production in healthy participants and participants with schizophrenia. Therefore, reaction times and neural activation of 12 healthy subjects and 13 subjects with schizophrenia were compared in an adapted picture word interference paradigm (PWI). No significant group differences were found, neither on the behavioral nor on the neural level. On the behavioral level, for the entire group incremental sentence processing was found, i.e. processing of the second noun only starts after the first noun was processed. At the neural level, activation was discovered in the bilateral caudate nuclei and the cerebellum. Those activations could be related to response enhancement and suppression as well as to the modulation of cognitive processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maike Creyaufmüller
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Stefan Heim
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany. .,JARA Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Germany. .,AG Neuroanatomy of Language, Institute of Neurosciences and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, Leo-Brand-Straße 5, 52428, Jülich, Germany.
| | - Ute Habel
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany.,JARA Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Germany
| | - Juliane Mühlhaus
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany.,JARA Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Germany.,Department of Computer Science, Speech and Language Therapy, Trier University of Applied Sciences, Trier, Germany
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Kroczek LO, Gunter TC, Rysop AU, Friederici AD, Hartwigsen G. Contributions of left frontal and temporal cortex to sentence comprehension: Evidence from simultaneous TMS-EEG. Cortex 2019; 115:86-98. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.01.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2018] [Revised: 08/03/2018] [Accepted: 01/15/2019] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
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Neef NE, Bütfering C, Anwander A, Friederici AD, Paulus W, Sommer M. Left posterior-dorsal area 44 couples with parietal areas to promote speech fluency, while right area 44 activity promotes the stopping of motor responses. Neuroimage 2016; 142:628-644. [PMID: 27542724 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.08.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2016] [Revised: 08/03/2016] [Accepted: 08/15/2016] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Area 44 is a cytoarchitectonically distinct portion of Broca's region. Parallel and overlapping large-scale networks couple with this region thereby orchestrating heterogeneous language, cognitive, and motor functions. In the context of stuttering, area 44 frequently comes into focus because structural and physiological irregularities affect developmental trajectories, stuttering severity, persistency, and etiology. A remarkable phenomenon accompanying stuttering is the preserved ability to sing. Speaking and singing are connatural behaviours recruiting largely overlapping brain networks including left and right area 44. Analysing which potential subregions of area 44 are malfunctioning in adults who stutter, and what effectively suppresses stuttering during singing, may provide a better understanding of the coordination and reorganization of large-scale brain networks dedicated to speaking and singing in general. We used fMRI to investigate functionally distinct subregions of area 44 during imagery of speaking and imaginary of humming a melody in 15 dextral males who stutter and 17 matched control participants. Our results are fourfold. First, stuttering was specifically linked to a reduced activation of left posterior-dorsal area 44, a subregion that is involved in speech production, including phonological word processing, pitch processing, working memory processes, sequencing, motor planning, pseudoword learning, and action inhibition. Second, functional coupling between left posterior area 44 and left inferior parietal lobule was deficient in stuttering. Third, despite the preserved ability to sing, males who stutter showed bilaterally a reduced activation of area 44 when imagine humming a melody, suggesting that this fluency-enhancing condition seems to bypass posterior-dorsal area 44 to achieve fluency. Fourth, time courses of the posterior subregions in area 44 showed delayed peak activations in the right hemisphere in both groups, possibly signaling the offset response. Because these offset response-related activations in the right hemisphere were comparably large in males who stutter, our data suggest a hyperactive mechanism to stop speech motor responses and thus possibly reflect a pathomechanism, which, until now, has been neglected. Overall, the current results confirmed a recently described co-activation based parcellation supporting the idea of functionally distinct subregions of left area 44.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole E Neef
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Georg-August-University, Robert-Koch-Straße 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany; Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1a, 03104 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Christoph Bütfering
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Georg-August-University, Robert-Koch-Straße 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Alfred Anwander
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1a, 03104 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Angela D Friederici
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1a, 03104 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Walter Paulus
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Georg-August-University, Robert-Koch-Straße 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Martin Sommer
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Georg-August-University, Robert-Koch-Straße 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany.
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Schönberger E, Heim S, Meffert E, Pieperhoff P, da Costa Avelar P, Huber W, Binkofski F, Grande M. The neural correlates of agrammatism: Evidence from aphasic and healthy speakers performing an overt picture description task. Front Psychol 2014; 5:246. [PMID: 24711802 PMCID: PMC3968764 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00246] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2013] [Accepted: 03/05/2014] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Functional brain imaging studies have improved our knowledge of the neural localization of language functions and the functional reorganization after a lesion. However, the neural correlates of agrammatic symptoms in aphasia remain largely unknown. The present fMRI study examined the neural correlates of morpho-syntactic encoding and agrammatic errors in continuous language production by combining three approaches. First, the neural mechanisms underlying natural morpho-syntactic processing in a picture description task were analyzed in 15 healthy speakers. Second, agrammatic-like speech behavior was induced in the same group of healthy speakers to study the underlying functional processes by limiting the utterance length. In a third approach, five agrammatic participants performed the picture description task to gain insights in the neural correlates of agrammatism and the functional reorganization of language processing after stroke. In all approaches, utterances were analyzed for syntactic completeness, complexity, and morphology. Event-related data analysis was conducted by defining every clause-like unit (CLU) as an event with its onset-time and duration. Agrammatic and correct CLUs were contrasted. Due to the small sample size as well as heterogeneous lesion sizes and sites with lesion foci in the insula lobe, inferior frontal, superior temporal and inferior parietal areas the activation patterns in the agrammatic speakers were analyzed on a single subject level. In the group of healthy speakers, posterior temporal and inferior parietal areas were associated with greater morpho-syntactic demands in complete and complex CLUs. The intentional manipulation of morpho-syntactic structures and the omission of function words were associated with additional inferior frontal activation. Overall, the results revealed that the investigation of the neural correlates of agrammatic language production can be reasonably conducted with an overt language production paradigm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva Schönberger
- Section Neurological Cognition Research, Department of Neurology, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen Aachen, Germany
| | - Stefan Heim
- Section Neurological Cognition Research, Department of Neurology, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen Aachen, Germany ; Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen Aachen, Germany ; Research Centre Juelich, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1) Juelich, Germany
| | - Elisabeth Meffert
- Section Neurological Cognition Research, Department of Neurology, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen Aachen, Germany ; Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen Aachen, Germany
| | - Peter Pieperhoff
- Research Centre Juelich, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1) Juelich, Germany
| | - Patricia da Costa Avelar
- Section Neurological Cognition Research, Department of Neurology, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen Aachen, Germany
| | - Walter Huber
- Section Neurological Cognition Research, Department of Neurology, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen Aachen, Germany
| | - Ferdinand Binkofski
- Section Neurological Cognition Research, Department of Neurology, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen Aachen, Germany
| | - Marion Grande
- Section Neurological Cognition Research, Department of Neurology, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen Aachen, Germany
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Molinaro N, Barber HA, Pérez A, Parkkonen L, Carreiras M. Left fronto-temporal dynamics during agreement processing: Evidence for feature-specific computations. Neuroimage 2013; 78:339-52. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.04.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2013] [Revised: 03/18/2013] [Accepted: 04/10/2013] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
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