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Yang T, Fan X, Hou B, Wang J, Chen X. Linguistic network in early deaf individuals: A neuroimaging meta-analysis. Neuroimage 2024:120720. [PMID: 38971484 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2024] [Revised: 07/01/2024] [Accepted: 07/03/2024] [Indexed: 07/08/2024] Open
Abstract
This meta-analysis summarizes evidence from 44 neuroimaging experiments and characterizes the general linguistic network in early deaf individuals. Meta-analytic comparisons with hearing individuals found that a specific set of regions (in particular the left inferior frontal gyrus and posterior middle temporal gyrus) participates in supramodal language processing. In addition to previously described modality-specific differences, the present study showed that the left calcarine gyrus and the right caudate were additionally recruited in deaf compared with hearing individuals. In addition, this study showed that the bilateral posterior superior temporal gyrus is shaped by cross-modal plasticity, whereas the left frontotemporal areas are shaped by early language experience. Although an overall left-lateralized pattern for language processing was observed in the early deaf individuals, regional lateralization was altered in the inferior temporal gyrus and anterior temporal lobe. These findings indicate that the core language network functions in a modality-independent manner, and provide a foundation for determining the contributions of sensory and linguistic experiences in shaping the neural bases of language processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tengyu Yang
- Department of Otolaryngology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, the People's Republic of China
| | - Xinmiao Fan
- Department of Otolaryngology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, the People's Republic of China
| | - Bo Hou
- Department of Radiology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, the People's Republic of China
| | - Jian Wang
- Department of Otolaryngology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, the People's Republic of China.
| | - Xiaowei Chen
- Department of Otolaryngology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, the People's Republic of China.
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2
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Huang Y, Huang J, Li L, Lin T, Zou L. Neural network of metaphor comprehension: an ALE meta-analysis and MACM analysis. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:10918-10930. [PMID: 37718244 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2023] [Revised: 08/25/2023] [Accepted: 08/26/2023] [Indexed: 09/19/2023] Open
Abstract
The comprehension of metaphor, a vivid and figurative language, is a complex endeavor requiring cooperation among multiple cognitive systems. There are still many important questions regarding neural mechanisms implicated in specific types of metaphor. To address these questions, we conducted activation likelihood estimation meta-analyses on 30 studies (containing data of 480 participants) and meta-analytic connectivity modeling analyses. First, the results showed that metaphor comprehension engaged the inferior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, lingual gyrus, and middle occipital gyrus-all in the left hemisphere. In addition to the commonly reported networks of language and attention, metaphor comprehension engaged networks of visual. Second, sub-analysis showed that the contextual complexity can modulate figurativeness, with the convergence on the left fusiform gyrus during metaphor comprehension at discourse-level. Especially, right hemisphere only showed convergence in studies of novel metaphors, suggesting that the right hemisphere is more associated with difficulty than metaphorical. The work here extends knowledge of the neural mechanisms underlying metaphor comprehension in individual brain regions and neural networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanyang Huang
- Department of Psychiatry, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510280, China
- Chemical Senses and Mental Health Lab, Department of Psychology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, China
| | - Jiayu Huang
- Department of Psychiatry, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510280, China
- Chemical Senses and Mental Health Lab, Department of Psychology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, China
| | - Le Li
- Center for the Cognitive Science of Language, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, 100083, China
| | - Tao Lin
- Department of Psychiatry, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510280, China
- Chemical Senses and Mental Health Lab, Department of Psychology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, China
| | - Laiquan Zou
- Department of Psychiatry, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510280, China
- Chemical Senses and Mental Health Lab, Department of Psychology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, China
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3
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Papanicolaou AC. Non-Invasive Mapping of the Neuronal Networks of Language. Brain Sci 2023; 13:1457. [PMID: 37891824 PMCID: PMC10605023 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13101457] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2023] [Revised: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
This review consists of three main sections. In the first, the Introduction, the main theories of the neuronal mediation of linguistic operations, derived mostly from studies of the effects of focal lesions on linguistic performance, are summarized. These models furnish the conceptual framework on which the design of subsequent functional neuroimaging investigations is based. In the second section, the methods of functional neuroimaging, especially those of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and of Magnetoencephalography (MEG), are detailed along with the specific activation tasks employed in presurgical functional mapping. The reliability of these non-invasive methods and their validity, judged against the results of the invasive methods, namely, the "Wada" procedure and Cortical Stimulation Mapping (CSM), is assessed and their use in presurgical mapping is justified. In the third and final section, the applications of fMRI and MEG in basic research are surveyed in the following six sub-sections, each dealing with the assessment of the neuronal networks for (1) the acoustic and phonological, (2) for semantic, (3) for syntactic, (4) for prosodic operations, (5) for sign language and (6) for the operations of reading and the mechanisms of dyslexia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew C Papanicolaou
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Neurology, College of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38013, USA
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4
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Duque ACM, Cuesta TAC, Melo ADS, Maldonado IL. Right hemisphere and metaphor comprehension: A connectionist perspective. Neuropsychologia 2023; 187:108618. [PMID: 37321404 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2022] [Revised: 04/11/2023] [Accepted: 06/10/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Metaphor comprehension is a cognitively complex task, with evidence pointing to the engagement of multiple cerebral areas. In addition, the involvement of the right hemisphere appears to vary with cognitive effort. Therefore, the interconnecting pathways of such distributed cortical centers should be taken into account when studying this topic. Despite this, the potential contribution of white matter fasciculi has received very little attention in the literature to date and is not mentioned in most metaphor comprehension studies. To highlight the probable implications of the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, right superior longitudinal system, and callosal radiations, we bring together findings from different research fields. The aim is to describe important insights enabled by the cross-fertilization of functional neuroimaging, clinical findings, and structural connectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Clara Mota Duque
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Medicina e Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil
| | - Taryn Ariadna Castro Cuesta
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Medicina e Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil
| | - Ailton de Souza Melo
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Medicina e Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil; Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil
| | - Igor Lima Maldonado
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Medicina e Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil; Dep. Biomorfologia, Instituto de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil; UMR 1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours, France.
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5
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Hauptman M, Blank I, Fedorenko E. Non-literal language processing is jointly supported by the language and theory of mind networks: Evidence from a novel meta-analytic fMRI approach. Cortex 2023; 162:96-114. [PMID: 37023480 PMCID: PMC10210011 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.01.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2022] [Revised: 11/08/2022] [Accepted: 01/11/2023] [Indexed: 03/12/2023]
Abstract
Going beyond the literal meaning of language is key to communicative success. However, the mechanisms that support non-literal inferences remain debated. Using a novel meta-analytic approach, we evaluate the contribution of linguistic, social-cognitive, and executive mechanisms to non-literal interpretation. We identified 74 fMRI experiments (n = 1,430 participants) from 2001 to 2021 that contrasted non-literal language comprehension with a literal control condition, spanning ten phenomena (e.g., metaphor, irony, indirect speech). Applying the activation likelihood estimation approach to the 825 activation peaks yielded six left-lateralized clusters. We then evaluated the locations of both the individual-study peaks and the clusters against probabilistic functional atlases (cf. anatomical locations, as is typically done) for three candidate brain networks-the language-selective network (Fedorenko, Behr, & Kanwisher, 2011), which supports language processing, the Theory of Mind (ToM) network (Saxe & Kanwisher, 2003), which supports social inferences, and the domain-general Multiple-Demand (MD) network (Duncan, 2010), which supports executive control. These atlases were created by overlaying individual activation maps of participants who performed robust and extensively validated 'localizer' tasks that selectively target each network in question (n = 806 for language; n = 198 for ToM; n = 691 for MD). We found that both the individual-study peaks and the ALE clusters fell primarily within the language network and the ToM network. These results suggest that non-literal processing is supported by both i) mechanisms that process literal linguistic meaning, and ii) mechanisms that support general social inference. They thus undermine a strong divide between literal and non-literal aspects of language and challenge the claim that non-literal processing requires additional executive resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miriam Hauptman
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
| | - Idan Blank
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Psychology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; Department of Linguistics, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Evelina Fedorenko
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Program in Speech and Hearing in Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
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6
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Yin CH, Yang FPG. The Effects of Working Memory Capacity in Metaphor and Metonymy Comprehension in Mandarin-English Bilinguals’ Minds: An fMRI Study. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12050633. [PMID: 35625020 PMCID: PMC9139067 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12050633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2022] [Revised: 04/26/2022] [Accepted: 05/02/2022] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
This study investigated the role of working memory capacity (WMC) in metaphoric and metonymic processing in Mandarin–English bilinguals’ minds. It also explored the neural correlations between metaphor and metonymy computations. We adopted an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) design, which consisted of 21 English dialogic sets of stimuli and 5 conditions: systematic literal, circumstantial literal, metaphor, systematic metonymy, and circumstantial metonymy, all contextualized in daily conversations. Similar fronto-temporal networks were found for the figurative language processing patterns: the superior temporal gyrus (STG) for metaphorical comprehension, and the inferior parietal junction (IPJ) for metonymic processing. Consistent brain regions have been identified in previous studies in the homologue right hemisphere of better WMC bilinguals. The degree to which bilateral strategies that bilinguals with better WMC or larger vocabulary size resort to is differently modulated by subtypes of metonymies. In particular, when processing circumstantial metonymy, the cuneus (where putamen is contained) is activated as higher-span bilinguals filter out irrelevant information, resorting to inhibitory control use. Cingulate gyrus activation has also been revealed in better WMC bilinguals, reflecting their mental flexibility to adopt the subjective perspective of critical figurative items with self-control. It is hoped that this research provides a better understanding of Mandarin–English bilinguals’ English metaphoric and metonymic processing in Taiwan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chia-Hsin Yin
- Department of Teaching and Learning, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA;
| | - Fan-Pei Gloria Yang
- Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 300044, Taiwan
- Center for Cognition and Mind Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 300044, Taiwan
- Department of Radiology, Graduate School of Dentistry, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
- Correspondence:
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7
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Koller S, Müller N, Kauschke C. The Elephant in the Room: A Systematic Review of Stimulus Control in Neuro-Measurement Studies on Figurative Language Processing. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 15:791374. [PMID: 35126074 PMCID: PMC8814624 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.791374] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2021] [Accepted: 12/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The processing of metaphors and idioms has been the subject of neuroscientific research for several decades. However, results are often contradictory, which can be traced back to inconsistent terminology and stimulus control. In this systematic review of research methods, we analyse linguistic aspects of 116 research papers which used EEG, fMRI, PET, MEG, or NIRS to investigate the neural processing of the two figurative subtypes metaphor and idiom. We critically examine the theoretical foundations as well as stimulus control by performing a systematic literature synthesis according to the PRISMA guidelines. We explicitly do not analyse the findings of the studies but instead focus on four primary aspects: definitions of figurative language and its subtypes, linguistic theory behind the studies, control for factors influencing figurative language processing, and the relationship between theoretical and operational definitions. We found both a lack and a broad variety in existing definitions and operationalisation, especially in regard to familiarity and conventionality. We identify severe obstacles in the comparability and validation potential of the results of the papers in our review corpus. We propose the development of a consensus in fundamental terminology and more transparency in the reporting of stimulus design in the research on figurative language processing.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nadine Müller
- Department of German Studies and Arts, Institute of German Linguistics, Philipps University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
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8
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Kiroy V, Bakhtin O, Krivko E, Lazurenko D, Aslanyan E, Shaposhnikov D, Shcherban I. Spoken and Inner Speech-related EEG Connectivity in Different Spatial Direction. Biomed Signal Process Control 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bspc.2021.103224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
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9
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Yoon HD, Shin M, Jeon HA. The critical role of interference control in metaphor comprehension evidenced by the drift-diffusion model. Sci Rep 2021; 11:19292. [PMID: 34588490 PMCID: PMC8481255 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-98351-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
We address the question of, among several executive functions, which one has a strong influence on metaphor comprehension. To this end, participants took part in a metaphor comprehension task where metaphors had varying levels of familiarity (familiar vs. novel metaphors) with different conditions of context (supporting vs. opposing contexts). We scrutinized each participant's detailed executive functions using seven neuropsychological tests. More interestingly, we modelled their responses in metaphor comprehension using the drift-diffusion model, in an attempt to provide more systematic accounts of the processes underlying metaphor comprehension. Results showed that there were significant negative correlations between response times in metaphor comprehension and scores of the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT)-Semantic, suggesting that better performances in comprehending metaphors were strongly associated with better interference control. Using the drift-diffusion model, we found that the familiarity, compared to context, had greater leverage in the decision process for metaphor comprehension. Moreover, individuals with better performance in the COWAT-Semantic test demonstrated higher drift rates. In conclusion, with more fine-grained analysis of the decisions involved in metaphor comprehension using the drift-diffusion model, we argue that interference control plays an important role in processing metaphors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hee-Dong Yoon
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Daegu, Korea
- Convergence Research Advance Center for Olfaction, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Daegu, Korea
| | - Minho Shin
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Daegu, Korea
| | - Hyeon-Ae Jeon
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Daegu, Korea.
- Convergence Research Advance Center for Olfaction, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Daegu, Korea.
- Partner Group of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences at the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, DGIST, Daegu, Korea.
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10
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Ferrara K, Seydell-Greenwald A, Chambers CE, Newport EL, Landau B. Development of bilateral parietal activation for complex visual-spatial function: Evidence from a visual-spatial construction task. Dev Sci 2021; 24:e13067. [PMID: 33226713 PMCID: PMC8594159 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2019] [Revised: 09/14/2020] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The neural representation of visual-spatial functions has traditionally been ascribed to the right hemisphere, but little is known about these representations in children, including whether and how lateralization of function changes over the course of development. Some studies suggest bilateral activation early in life that develops toward right-lateralization in adulthood, while others find evidence of right-hemispheric dominance in both children and adults. We used a complex visual-spatial construction task to examine the nature of lateralization and its developmental time course in children ages 5-11 years. Participants were shown two puzzle pieces and were asked whether the pieces could fit together to make a square; responses required either mental translation of the pieces (Translation condition) or both mental translation and rotation of the pieces (Rotation condition). Both conditions were compared to a matched Luminance control condition that was similar in terms of visual content and difficulty but required no spatial analysis. Group and single-subject analyses revealed that the Rotation and Translation conditions elicited strongly bilateral activation in the same parietal and occipital locations as have been previously found for adults. These findings show that visual-spatial construction consistently elicits robust bilateral activation from age 5 through adulthood. This challenges the idea that spatial functions are all right-lateralized, either during early development or in adulthood. More generally, these findings provide insights into the developmental course of lateralization across different spatial skills and how this may be influenced by the computational requirements of the particular functions involved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katrina Ferrara
- Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery, Georgetown University, Building D, Suite 145, 4000 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20057
| | - Anna Seydell-Greenwald
- Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery, Georgetown University, Building D, Suite 145, 4000 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20057
| | - Catherine E. Chambers
- Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery, Georgetown University, Building D, Suite 145, 4000 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20057
| | - Elissa L. Newport
- Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery, Georgetown University, Building D, Suite 145, 4000 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20057
| | - Barbara Landau
- Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery, Georgetown University, Building D, Suite 145, 4000 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20057
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Krieger Hall, 2400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218
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11
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Adamczyk P, Jáni M, Ligeza TS, Płonka O, Błądziński P, Wyczesany M. On the Role of Bilateral Brain Hypofunction and Abnormal Lateralization of Cortical Information Flow as Neural Underpinnings of Conventional Metaphor Processing Impairment in Schizophrenia: An fMRI and EEG Study. Brain Topogr 2021; 34:537-554. [PMID: 33973137 PMCID: PMC8195899 DOI: 10.1007/s10548-021-00849-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Figurative language processing (e.g. metaphors) is commonly impaired in schizophrenia. In the present study, we investigated the neural activity and propagation of information within neural circuits related to the figurative speech, as a neural substrate of impaired conventional metaphor processing in schizophrenia. The study included 30 schizophrenia outpatients and 30 healthy controls, all of whom were assessed with a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) punchline-based metaphor comprehension task including literal (neutral), figurative (metaphorical) and nonsense (absurd) endings. The blood oxygenation level-dependent signal was recorded with 3T MRI scanner and direction and strength of cortical information flow in the time course of task processing was estimated with a 64-channel EEG input for directed transfer function. The presented results revealed that the behavioral manifestation of impaired figurative language in schizophrenia is related to the hypofunction in the bilateral fronto-temporo-parietal brain regions (fMRI) and various differences in effective connectivity in the fronto-temporo-parietal circuit (EEG). Schizophrenia outpatients showed an abnormal pattern of connectivity during metaphor processing which was related to bilateral (but more pronounced at the left hemisphere) hypoactivation of the brain. Moreover, we found reversed lateralization patterns, i.e. a rightward-shifted pattern during metaphor processing in schizophrenia compared to the control group. In conclusion, the presented findings revealed that the impairment of the conventional metaphor processing in schizophrenia is related to the bilateral brain hypofunction, which supports the evidence on reversed lateralization of the language neural network and the existence of compensatory recruitment of alternative neural circuits in schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Przemysław Adamczyk
- Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 6, 30-060, Kraków, Poland.
| | - Martin Jáni
- Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 6, 30-060, Kraków, Poland.,Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University and University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Tomasz S Ligeza
- Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 6, 30-060, Kraków, Poland
| | - Olga Płonka
- Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 6, 30-060, Kraków, Poland
| | - Piotr Błądziński
- Community Psychiatry and Psychosis Research Center, Chair of Psychiatry, Medical College, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
| | - Miroslaw Wyczesany
- Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 6, 30-060, Kraków, Poland
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12
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Mariana B, Carolina L, Valeria A, Bautista EA, Silvia K, Lucía AF. Functional anatomy of idiomatic expressions. Brain Topogr 2021; 34:489-503. [PMID: 33948754 DOI: 10.1007/s10548-021-00843-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2021] [Accepted: 04/21/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Idiomatic expressions (IE) are groups of words whose meaning is different from the sum of its components. Neural mechanisms underlying their processing are still debated, especially regarding lateralization, main structures involved, and whether this neural network is independent from the spoken language. To investigate the neural correlates of IE processing in healthy Spanish speakers.Twenty one native speakers of Spanish were asked to select one of 4 possible meanings for IE or literal sentences. fMRI scans were performed in a 3.0T scanner and processed by SPM 12 comparing IE vs. literal sentences. Laterality indices were calculated at the group level. IE activated a bilateral, slightly right-sided network comprising the pars triangularis and areas 9 and 10. In the left hemisphere (LH): the pars orbitalis, superior frontal, angular and fusiform gyrus. In the right hemisphere (RH): anterior insula, middle frontal, and superior temporal gyrus. This network reveals the importance of the RH, besides traditional LH areas, to comprehend IE. This agrees with the semantic coding model: the LH activates narrow semantic fields choosing one single meaning and ignoring others, and the RH detects distant semantic relationships, activating diffuse semantic fields. It is also in line with the configuration hypothesis: both meanings, literal and figurative, are executed simultaneously, until the literal meaning is definitively rejected and the figurative one is accepted. Processing IE requires the activation of fronto-temporal networks in both hemispheres. The results concur with previous studies in other languages, so these networks are independent from the spoken language. Understanding these mechanisms sheds light on IE processing difficulties in different clinical populations and must be considered when planning resective surgery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bendersky Mariana
- Living Anatomy Laboratory, 3rd Normal Anatomy Department, School of Medicine, Buenos Aires University, Paraguay 2155, Buenos Aires, Argentina. .,ENyS (Studies in Neurosciences and Complex Systems), National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), National University A. Jauretche (UNAJ), El Cruce Hospital Néstor Kirchner, Avenue Calchaquí 5402, Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
| | - Lomlomdjian Carolina
- ENyS (Studies in Neurosciences and Complex Systems), National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), National University A. Jauretche (UNAJ), El Cruce Hospital Néstor Kirchner, Avenue Calchaquí 5402, Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Department of Neurology, Hospital Austral, Pilar, Argentina
| | - Abusamra Valeria
- School of Philosophy and Literature, National Scientific and Technical Research Council-Argentina (CONICET), Buenos Aires University, Puan 480, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Elizalde Acevedo Bautista
- ENyS (Studies in Neurosciences and Complex Systems), National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), National University A. Jauretche (UNAJ), El Cruce Hospital Néstor Kirchner, Avenue Calchaquí 5402, Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Faculty of Biomedical Science, Austral University, Mariano Acosta 1611, Pilar, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,IIMT (Instituto de Investigaciones en Medicina Traslacional), CONICET-Austral University, Derqui-Pilar, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Kochen Silvia
- ENyS (Studies in Neurosciences and Complex Systems), National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), National University A. Jauretche (UNAJ), El Cruce Hospital Néstor Kirchner, Avenue Calchaquí 5402, Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Alba-Ferrara Lucía
- ENyS (Studies in Neurosciences and Complex Systems), National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), National University A. Jauretche (UNAJ), El Cruce Hospital Néstor Kirchner, Avenue Calchaquí 5402, Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Faculty of Biomedical Science, Austral University, Mariano Acosta 1611, Pilar, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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13
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Junker FB, Schlaffke L, Bellebaum C, Ghio M, Brühl S, Axmacher N, Schmidt-Wilcke T. Transition From Sublexical to Lexico-Semantic Stimulus Processing. Front Syst Neurosci 2020; 14:522384. [PMID: 33192346 PMCID: PMC7662113 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2020.522384] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2019] [Accepted: 10/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Resembling letter-by-letter translation, Morse code can be used to investigate various linguistic components by slowing down the cognitive process of language decoding. Using fMRI and Morse code, we investigated patterns of brain activation associated with decoding three-letter words or non-words and making a lexical decision. Our data suggest that early sublexical processing is associated with activation in brain regions that are involved in sound-patterns to phoneme conversion (inferior parietal lobule), phonological output buffer (inferior frontal cortex: pars opercularis) as well as phonological and semantic top-down predictions (inferior frontal cortex: pars triangularis). In addition, later lexico-semantic processing of meaningful stimuli is associated with activation of the phonological lexicon (angular gyrus) and the semantic system (default mode network). Overall, our data indicate that sublexical and lexico-semantic analyses comprise two cognitive processes that rely on neighboring networks in the left frontal cortex and parietal lobule.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederick Benjamin Junker
- Department of Neuropsychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Lara Schlaffke
- Department for Neurology, Professional Association Berufsgenossenschaft-University Hospital Bergmannsheil, Bochum, Germany
| | - Christian Bellebaum
- Institute of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Marta Ghio
- Institute of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Stefanie Brühl
- St. Mauritius Therapy Clinic, Meerbusch, Germany
- Department of Neurology, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
- Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Nikolai Axmacher
- Department of Neuropsychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Tobias Schmidt-Wilcke
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
- St. Mauritius Therapy Clinic, Meerbusch, Germany
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14
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Humphries S, Klooster N, Cardillo E, Weintraub D, Rick J, Chatterjee A. From action to abstraction: The sensorimotor grounding of metaphor in Parkinson's disease. Cortex 2019; 121:362-384. [PMID: 31678683 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2019] [Accepted: 09/06/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Embodied cognition theories propose that the semantic representations engaged in during language comprehension are partly supported by perceptual and motor systems, via simulation. Activation in modality-specific regions of cortex is associated with the comprehension of literal language that describes the analogous modalities, but studies addressing the grounding of non-literal or figurative language, such as metaphors, have yielded mixed results. Differences in the psycholinguistic characteristics of sentence stimuli across studies have likely contributed to this lack of consensus. Furthermore, previous studies have been largely correlational, whilst patient studies are a critical way of determining if intact sensorimotor function is necessary to understand language drawing on sensorimotor information. We designed a battery of metaphorical and literal sentence stimuli using action and sound words, with an unprecedented level of control over critical psycholinguistic variables, to test hypotheses about the grounding of metaphorical language. In this Registered Report, we assessed the comprehension of these sentences in 41 patients with Parkinson's disease, who were predicted to be disproportionately affected by the action sentences relative to the sound sentences, and compared their performance to that of 39 healthy age-matched controls who were predicted to show no difference in performance due to sensory modality. Using preregistered Bayesian model comparison methods, we found that PD patients' comprehension of literal action sentences was not impaired, while there was some evidence for a slowing of responses to action metaphors. Follow up exploratory analyses suggest that this response time modality effect was driven by one type of metaphor (predicate) and was absent in another (nominal), despite the fact that the action semantics were similar in both syntactic forms. These results suggest that the conditions under which PD patients demonstrate hypothesized embodiment effects are limited. We offer a critical assessment of the PD action language literature and discuss implications for the embodiment debate. In addition, we suggest how future studies could leverage Bayesian statistical methods to provide more convincing evidence for or against embodied cognition effects.
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15
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Cardillo ER, McQuire M, Chatterjee A. Selective Metaphor Impairments After Left, Not Right, Hemisphere Injury. Front Psychol 2018; 9:2308. [PMID: 30559690 PMCID: PMC6286990 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02308] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2018] [Accepted: 11/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The relative contributions of the left and right hemispheres to the processing of metaphoric language remains unresolved. Neuropsychological studies of brain-injured patients have motivated the hypothesis that the right hemisphere plays a critical role in understanding metaphors. However, the data are inconsistent and the hypothesis is not well-supported by neuroimaging research. To address this ambiguity about the right hemisphere's role, we administered a metaphor sentence comprehension task to 20 left-hemisphere injured patients, 20 right hemisphere injured patients, and 20 healthy controls. Stimuli consisted of metaphors of three different types: predicate metaphors based on action verbs, nominal metaphors based on event nouns, and nominal metaphors based on entity nouns. For each metaphor (n = 60), a closely matched literal sentence with the same source term was also generated. Each sentence was followed by four adjective-noun answer choices (target + three foil types) and participants were instructed to select the phrase that best matched the meaning of the sentence. As a group, both left and right hemisphere patients performed worse on metaphoric than literal sentences, and the degree of this difficulty varied for the different types of metaphor - but there was no difference between the two patient groups. Tests for literal-metaphor dissociations at the level of single cases revealed two types of impairments: general comprehension deficits affecting metaphors and literal sentences equally, and selective metaphor impairments that were specific to different types of metaphor. All cases with selective metaphor deficits had injury to the left hemisphere, and no known comprehension difficulties with literal language. Our results argue against the hypothesis of a specific or necessary contribution of the right hemisphere for understanding metaphoric language. Further, they reveal deficits in metaphoric language comprehension not captured by traditional language assessments, suggesting overlooked communication difficulties in left hemisphere patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eileen R Cardillo
- Department of Neurology and Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Marguerite McQuire
- Department of Neurology and Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Anjan Chatterjee
- Department of Neurology and Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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A Quantitative Meta-analysis of Neuroimaging Studies of Pragmatic Language Comprehension: In Search of a Universal Neural Substrate. Neuroscience 2018; 395:60-88. [PMID: 30414881 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2018.10.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2018] [Revised: 10/27/2018] [Accepted: 10/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Pragmatics may be defined as the ability to communicate by expressing and recognizing intentions. The objective of this meta-analysis was to identify neural substrates for comprehension of pragmatic content in general, as well as the differences between pragmatic forms, and to describe if there is differential recruitment of brain areas according to natural language. This meta-analysis included 48 functional magnetic resonance imaging studies that reported pragmatic versus literal language contrasts. The pragmatic forms were speech acts, metaphors, idioms, and irony. Effect Size-Signed Differential Mapping software was used to calculate the mean for all contrasts as well as for each pragmatic form, and make comparisons among all forms. Due to variations in pragmatic content configuration such as natural language, stimulus modality, and writing systems, these variations were also analyzed with subgroups' analyses. The analyses found a highly reproducible bilateral fronto-temporal and medial prefrontal cortex network for pragmatic comprehension. Each pragmatic form showed a specific convergence pattern within this bilateral network. Natural language analyses showed that fronto-temporal regions were recruited by Germanic languages, while only left frontal areas were recruited by Romance languages, and right medial prefrontal cortex by Japanese. In conclusion, pragmatic language comprehension involves classical language areas in bilateral perisylvian regions, along with the medial prefrontal cortex, an area involved in social cognition. Together, these areas could represent the "pragmatic language network". Nonetheless, when proposing a universal neural substrate for all forms of pragmatic language, the diversity among studies in terms of pragmatic form, and configuration, must be taken into consideration.
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17
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Spectral and phase-amplitude coupling signatures in human deep brain oscillations during propofol-induced anaesthesia. Br J Anaesth 2018; 121:303-313. [PMID: 29935585 DOI: 10.1016/j.bja.2018.04.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2017] [Revised: 03/19/2018] [Accepted: 04/30/2018] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Both the cerebral cortex and subcortical structures play important roles in consciousness. Some evidence points to general anaesthesia-induced unconsciousness being associated with distinct patterns of superficial cortical electrophysiological oscillations, but how general anaesthetics influence deep brain neural oscillations and interactions between oscillations in humans is poorly understood. METHODS Local field potentials were recorded in discrete deep brain regions, including anterior cingulate cortex, sensory thalamus, and periaqueductal grey, in humans with implanted deep brain electrodes during induction of unconsciousness with propofol. Power-frequency spectra, phase-amplitude coupling, coherence, and directed functional connectivity analysis were used to characterise local field potentials in the awake and unconscious states. RESULTS An increase in alpha (7-13 Hz) power and decrease in gamma (30-90 Hz) power were observed in both deep cortical (ACC, anterior cingulate cortex) and subcortical (sensory thalamus, periaqueductal grey) areas during propofol-induced unconsciousness. Robust alpha-low gamma (30-60 Hz) phase-amplitude coupling induced by general anaesthesia was observed in the anterior cingulate cortex but not in other regions studied. Moreover, alpha oscillations during unconsciousness were highly coherent within the anterior cingulate cortex, and this rhythm exhibited a bidirectional information flow between left and right anterior cingulate cortex but stronger left-to-right flow. CONCLUSION Propofol increases alpha oscillations and attenuates gamma oscillations in both cortical and subcortical areas. The alpha-gamma phase-amplitude coupling and the functional connectivity of alpha oscillations in the anterior cingulate cortex could be specific markers for loss of consciousness.
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Rossetti I, Brambilla P, Papagno C. Metaphor Comprehension in Schizophrenic Patients. Front Psychol 2018; 9:670. [PMID: 29867648 PMCID: PMC5954116 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00670] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2017] [Accepted: 04/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
People with schizophrenia often exhibit difficulties to comprehend figurative expressions, such as irony, proverbs, metaphors and idioms, with a general proneness to neglect the figurative meaning and to accept the more literal one. This inability is usually referred to as concretism and it constitutes a clinical manifestation of the broader language dysfunction called Formal Thought Disorder. The current review focuses on the neuropsychological and neuroanatomical underpinnings of schizophrenics’ misinterpretation of a subgroup of figurative expressions, i.e., metaphors. Metaphors are heterogeneous in nature, classifiable according to various criteria; for instance, metaphors can be conventional and familiar, or conversely, novel and unusual. These linguistic distinctions are substantial because the comprehension of the different types of metaphor entails partially different cognitive strategies and neural substrates. This review gathers studies that have directly investigated which neurocognitive deficits explain the inefficient comprehension of metaphor in schizophrenia. Several impairments have been put forward, such as general intelligence, executive functions and theory of mind deficits. Moreover, the neural correlates of metaphor comprehension in schizophrenia, like the left inferior/medial frontal gyrus and the temporal lobe, match those cortices affected by the neuropathology of schizophrenia. Even though the causal defective mechanism is still a matter of investigation, we provide an attempt to integrate existing findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ileana Rossetti
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Paolo Brambilla
- Scientific Institute IRCCS "E. Medea", Bosisio Parini, Italy.,Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Costanza Papagno
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.,Center for Mind/Brain Sciences and Centro di Riabilitazione Neurocognitiva, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
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19
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Diaz MT, Eppes A. Factors Influencing Right Hemisphere Engagement During Metaphor Comprehension. Front Psychol 2018; 9:414. [PMID: 29643825 PMCID: PMC5883147 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2017] [Accepted: 03/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Although the left hemisphere is critical for language, clinical, behavioral, and neuroimaging research suggest that the right hemisphere also contributes to language comprehension. In particular, research has suggested that figurative language may be one type of language that preferentially engages right hemisphere regions. However, there is disagreement about whether these regions within the right hemisphere are sensitive to figurative language per se or to other factors that co-vary with figurativeness. In this article, we will review the neuroimaging literature on figurative language processing, focusing on metaphors, within the context of several theoretical perspectives that have been proposed about hemispheric function in language. Then we will examine three factors that may influence right hemisphere engagement: novelty, task difficulty, and context. We propose that factors that increase integration demands drive right hemisphere involvement in language processing, and that such recruitment is not limited to figurative language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele T Diaz
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
| | - Anna Eppes
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
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20
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Are subjective ratings of metaphors a red herring? The big two dimensions of metaphoric sentences. Behav Res Methods 2017; 50:759-772. [DOI: 10.3758/s13428-017-0903-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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21
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Siddi S, Petretto DR, Scanu R, Burrai C, Baita A, Trincas P, Trogu E, Campus L, Contu A, Preti A. Deficits in metaphor but not in idiomatic processing are related to verbal hallucinations in patients with psychosis. Psychiatry Res 2016; 246:101-112. [PMID: 27690132 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2016.09.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2016] [Revised: 09/16/2016] [Accepted: 09/18/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
There is scant evidence that the verbal cognitive deficits observed in patients with psychosis are related to auditory verbal hallucinations. The understanding of metaphors and idiomatic expressions was investigated in a cohort of 90 patients with active psychosis, and in 44 healthy controls. The Psychotic Symptom Rating Scales (PSYRATS: verbal hallucinations subscale) was used to measure the current verbal hallucinations episode; a subscore of the Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale was used to measure long-term propensity to auditory verbal hallucination-like experiences (HLEs) in the sample. The concurrent influence of education, IQ, and cognitive functioning in memory, attention, fluency, and processing speed on metaphor and idioms processing was investigated. Patients performed worse than healthy controls on all neuropsychological measures. Metaphor, but not idioms processing was poorer in patients with verbal hallucinations (n=46) when compared to patients without verbal hallucinations in the current episode (n=44). By taking into account confounding variables, the ability to produce explanations of metaphors was related to scores on the verbal HLEs in the whole sample of patients. Metaphor-comprehension deficit was related to the occurrence of auditory verbal hallucinations in patients with psychosis, suggesting that abnormal pragmatic inferential abilities have an impact on the mechanisms that cause hallucinatory experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Siddi
- Section of Clinical Psychology, Department of Education, Psychology, and Philosophy, University of Cagliari, Italy; Research and Development Unit, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Spain, CIBERSAM; Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Donatella Rita Petretto
- Section of Clinical Psychology, Department of Education, Psychology, and Philosophy, University of Cagliari, Italy
| | - Rosanna Scanu
- Section of Clinical Psychology, Department of Education, Psychology, and Philosophy, University of Cagliari, Italy
| | - Caterina Burrai
- Psychiatric Diagnosis and Treatment Service I, Department of Mental Health, ASL Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Antonella Baita
- Psychiatric Diagnosis and Treatment Service I, Department of Mental Health, ASL Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Pierfranco Trincas
- Psychiatric Diagnosis and Treatment Service II, Department of Mental Health, ASL Cagliari, Cagliary, Italy
| | - Emanuela Trogu
- Psychiatric Diagnosis and Treatment Service II, Department of Mental Health, ASL Cagliari, Cagliary, Italy
| | - Liliana Campus
- Psychiatric Diagnosis and Treatment Service I, Department of Mental Health, ASL Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Augusto Contu
- Head, Department of Mental Health, ASL Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Antonio Preti
- Section of Clinical Psychology, Department of Education, Psychology, and Philosophy, University of Cagliari, Italy; Genneruxi Medical Center, Cagliari, Italy
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Tylén K, Philipsen JS, Roepstorff A, Fusaroli R. Trails of meaning construction: Symbolic artifacts engage the social brain. Neuroimage 2016; 134:105-112. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.03.056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2016] [Revised: 02/24/2016] [Accepted: 03/21/2016] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
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23
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Thompson HE, Henshall L, Jefferies E. The role of the right hemisphere in semantic control: A case-series comparison of right and left hemisphere stroke. Neuropsychologia 2016; 85:44-61. [PMID: 26945505 PMCID: PMC4863527 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.02.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2015] [Revised: 02/28/2016] [Accepted: 02/29/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Semantic control processes guide conceptual retrieval so that we are able to focus on non-dominant associations and features when these are required for the task or context, yet the neural basis of semantic control is not fully understood. Neuroimaging studies have emphasised the role of left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in controlled retrieval, while neuropsychological investigations of semantic control deficits have almost exclusively focussed on patients with left-sided damage (e.g., patients with semantic aphasia, SA). Nevertheless, activation in fMRI during demanding semantic tasks typically extends to right IFG. To investigate the role of the right hemisphere (RH) in semantic control, we compared nine RH stroke patients with 21 left-hemisphere SA patients, 11 mild SA cases and 12 healthy, aged-matched controls on semantic and executive tasks, plus experimental tasks that manipulated semantic control in paradigms particularly sensitive to RH damage. RH patients had executive deficits to parallel SA patients but they performed well on standard semantic tests. Nevertheless, multimodal semantic control deficits were found in experimental tasks involving facial emotions and the 'summation' of meaning across multiple items. On these tasks, RH patients showed effects similar to those in SA cases - multimodal deficits that were sensitive to distractor strength and cues and miscues, plus increasingly poor performance in cyclical matching tasks which repeatedly probed the same set of concepts. Thus, despite striking differences in single-item comprehension, evidence presented here suggests semantic control is bilateral, and disruption of this component of semantic cognition can be seen following damage to either hemisphere.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah E Thompson
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK.
| | - Lauren Henshall
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
| | - Elizabeth Jefferies
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, UK
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24
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Van Ettinger-Veenstra H, McAllister A, Lundberg P, Karlsson T, Engström M. Higher Language Ability is Related to Angular Gyrus Activation Increase During Semantic Processing, Independent of Sentence Incongruency. Front Hum Neurosci 2016; 10:110. [PMID: 27014040 PMCID: PMC4786547 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2015] [Accepted: 02/29/2016] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
This study investigates the relation between individual language ability and neural semantic processing abilities. Our aim was to explore whether high-level language ability would correlate to decreased activation in language-specific regions or rather increased activation in supporting language regions during processing of sentences. Moreover, we were interested if observed neural activation patterns are modulated by semantic incongruency similarly to previously observed changes upon syntactic congruency modulation. We investigated 27 healthy adults with a sentence reading task—which tapped language comprehension and inference, and modulated sentence congruency—employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We assessed the relation between neural activation, congruency modulation, and test performance on a high-level language ability assessment with multiple regression analysis. Our results showed increased activation in the left-hemispheric angular gyrus extending to the temporal lobe related to high language ability. This effect was independent of semantic congruency, and no significant relation between language ability and incongruency modulation was observed. Furthermore, there was a significant increase of activation in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) bilaterally when the sentences were incongruent, indicating that processing incongruent sentences was more demanding than processing congruent sentences and required increased activation in language regions. The correlation of high-level language ability with increased rather than decreased activation in the left angular gyrus, a region specific for language processing, is opposed to what the neural efficiency hypothesis would predict. We can conclude that no evidence is found for an interaction between semantic congruency related brain activation and high-level language performance, even though the semantic incongruent condition shows to be more demanding and evoking more neural activation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helene Van Ettinger-Veenstra
- Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), Linköping UniversityLinköping, Sweden; Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping UniversityLinköping, Sweden; Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping UniversityLinköping, Sweden
| | - Anita McAllister
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping UniversityLinköping, Sweden; Division of Speech and Language Pathology, CLINTEC, Karolinska InstitutetStockholm, Sweden
| | - Peter Lundberg
- Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), Linköping UniversityLinköping, Sweden; Radiation Physics, Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping UniversityLinköping, Sweden; Radiology, Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping UniversityLinköping, Sweden
| | - Thomas Karlsson
- Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), Linköping UniversityLinköping, Sweden; Department of Behavioral Science and Learning and Linnaeus Centre HEAD, Linköping UniversityLinköping, Sweden
| | - Maria Engström
- Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), Linköping UniversityLinköping, Sweden; Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping UniversityLinköping, Sweden
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25
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Stimulus needs are a moving target: 240 additional matched literal and metaphorical sentences for testing neural hypotheses about metaphor. Behav Res Methods 2016; 49:471-483. [DOI: 10.3758/s13428-016-0717-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
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26
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Piñango MM, Zhang M, Foster-Hanson E, Negishi M, Lacadie C, Constable RT. Metonymy as Referential Dependency: Psycholinguistic and Neurolinguistic Arguments for a Unified Linguistic Treatment. Cogn Sci 2016; 41 Suppl 2:351-378. [PMID: 26887916 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2015] [Revised: 11/09/2015] [Accepted: 11/10/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
We examine metonymy at psycho- and neurolinguistic levels, seeking to adjudicate between two possible processing implementations (one- vs. two-mechanism). We compare highly conventionalized systematic metonymy (producer-for-product: "All freshmen read O'Connell") to lesser-conventionalized circumstantial metonymy ("[a waitress says to another:] 'Table 2 asked for more coffee."'). Whereas these two metonymy types differ in terms of contextual demands, they each reveal a similar dependency between the named and intended conceptual entities (e.g., Jackendoff, 1997; Nunberg, 1979, 1995). We reason that if each metonymy yields a distinct processing time course and substantially non-overlapping preferential localization pattern, it would not only support a two-mechanism view (one lexical, one pragmatic) but would suggest that conventionalization acts as a linguistic categorizer. By contrast, a similar behavior in time course and localization would support a one-mechanism view and the inference that conventionalization acts instead as a modulator of contextual felicitousness, and that differences in interpretation introduced by conventionalization are of degree, not of kind. Results from three paradigms: self-paced reading (SPR), event-related potentials (ERP), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), reveal the following: no main effect by condition (metonymy vs. matched literal control) for either metonymy type immediately after the metonymy trigger, and a main effect for only the Circumstantial metonymy one word post-trigger (SPR); a N400 effect across metonymy types and a late positivity for Circumstantial metonymy (ERP); and a highly overlapping activation connecting the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (fMRI). Altogether, the pattern observed does not reach the threshold required to justify a two-mechanism system. Instead, the pattern is more naturally (and conservatively) understood as resulting from the implementation of a generalized referential dependency mechanism, modulated by degree of context dependence/conventionalization, thus supporting architectures of language whereby "lexical" and "pragmatic" meaning relations are encoded along a cline of contextual underspecification.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Muye Zhang
- Department of Linguistics, Yale University
| | - Emily Foster-Hanson
- Department of Linguistics, Yale University.,Department of Psychology, New York University
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27
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Siler T. Neuroart: picturing the neuroscience of intentional actions in art and science. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:410. [PMID: 26257629 PMCID: PMC4511838 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2015] [Accepted: 07/02/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Intentional actions cover a broad spectrum of human behaviors involving consciousness, creativity, innovative thinking, problem-solving, critical thinking, and other related cognitive processes self-evident in the arts and sciences. The author discusses the brain activity associated with action intentions, connecting this activity with the creative process. Focusing on one seminal artwork created and exhibited over a period of three decades, Thought Assemblies (1979–82, 2014), he describes how this symbolic art interprets the neuropsychological processes of intuition and analytical reasoning. It explores numerous basic questions concerning observed interactions between artistic and scientific inquiries, conceptions, perceptions, and representations connecting mind and nature. Pointing to some key neural mechanisms responsible for forming and implementing intentions, he considers why and how we create, discover, invent, and innovate. He suggests ways of metaphorical thinking and symbolic modeling that can help integrate the neuroscience of intentional actions with the neuroscience of creativity, art and neuroaesthetics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Todd Siler
- ArtScience® Publications Denver, CO, USA
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28
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Lai VT, van Dam W, Conant LL, Binder JR, Desai RH. Familiarity differentially affects right hemisphere contributions to processing metaphors and literals. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:44. [PMID: 25713522 PMCID: PMC4322727 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2014] [Accepted: 01/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The role of the two hemispheres in processing metaphoric language is controversial. While some studies have reported a special role of the right hemisphere (RH) in processing metaphors, others indicate no difference in laterality relative to literal language. Some studies have found a role of the RH for novel/unfamiliar metaphors, but not conventional/familiar metaphors. It is not clear, however, whether the role of the RH is specific to metaphor novelty, or whether it reflects processing, reinterpretation or reanalysis of novel/unfamiliar language in general. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the effects of familiarity in both metaphoric and non-metaphoric sentences. A left lateralized network containing the middle and inferior frontal gyri, posterior temporal regions in the left hemisphere (LH), and inferior frontal regions in the RH, was engaged across both metaphoric and non-metaphoric sentences; engagement of this network decreased as familiarity decreased. No region was engaged selectively for greater metaphoric unfamiliarity. An analysis of laterality, however, showed that the contribution of the RH relative to that of LH does increase in a metaphor-specific manner as familiarity decreases. These results show that RH regions, taken by themselves, including commonly reported regions such as the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), are responsive to increased cognitive demands of processing unfamiliar stimuli, rather than being metaphor-selective. The division of labor between the two hemispheres, however, does shift towards the right for metaphoric processing. The shift results not because the RH contributes more to metaphoric processing. Rather, relative to its contribution for processing literals, the LH contributes less.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vicky T Lai
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Wessel van Dam
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Lisa L Conant
- Department of Neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Jeffrey R Binder
- Department of Neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Rutvik H Desai
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina Columbia, SC, USA
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Ianni GR, Cardillo ER, McQuire M, Chatterjee A. Flying under the radar: figurative language impairments in focal lesion patients. Front Hum Neurosci 2014; 8:871. [PMID: 25404906 PMCID: PMC4217389 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00871] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2014] [Accepted: 10/08/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite the prevalent and natural use of metaphor in everyday language, the neural basis of this powerful communication device remains poorly understood. Early studies of brain-injured patients suggested the right hemisphere plays a critical role in metaphor comprehension, but more recent patient and neuroimaging studies do not consistently support this hypothesis. One explanation for this discrepancy is the challenge in designing optimal tasks for brain-injured populations. As traditional aphasia assessments do not assess figurative language comprehension, we designed a new metaphor comprehension task to consider whether impaired metaphor processing is missed by standard clinical assessments. Stimuli consisted of 60 pairs of moderately familiar metaphors and closely matched literal sentences. Sentences were presented visually in a randomized order, followed by four adjective-noun answer choices (target + three foil types). Participants were instructed to select the phrase that best matched the meaning of the sentence. We report the performance of three focal lesion patients and a group of 12 healthy, older controls. Controls performed near ceiling in both conditions, with slightly more accurate performance on literal than metaphoric sentences. While the Western Aphasia Battery (Kertesz, 1982) and the objects and actions naming battery (Druks and Masterson, 2000) indicated minimal to no language difficulty, our metaphor comprehension task indicated three different profiles of metaphor comprehension impairment in the patients’ performance. Single case statistics revealed comparable impairment on metaphoric and literal sentences, disproportionately greater impairment on metaphors than literal sentences, and selective impairment on metaphors. We conclude our task reveals that patients can have selective metaphor comprehension deficits. These deficits are not captured by traditional neuropsychological language assessments, suggesting overlooked communication difficulties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geena R Ianni
- Section on Neurocircuitry, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Eileen R Cardillo
- Department of Neurology, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Marguerite McQuire
- Department of Neurology, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Anjan Chatterjee
- Department of Neurology, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA
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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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Basso F, Robert-Demontrond P, Hayek M, Anton JL, Nazarian B, Roth M, Oullier O. Why people drink shampoo? Food Imitating Products are fooling brains and endangering consumers for marketing purposes. PLoS One 2014; 9:e100368. [PMID: 25207971 PMCID: PMC4160172 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2013] [Accepted: 05/22/2014] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
A Food Imitating Product (FIP) is a household cleaner or a personal care product that exhibits food attributes in order to enrich consumption experience. As revealed by many cases worldwide, such a marketing strategy led to unintentional self-poisonings and deaths. FIPs therefore constitute a very serious health and public policy issue. To understand why FIPs are a threat, we first conducted a qualitative analysis on real-life cases of household cleaners and personal care products-related phone calls at a poison control center followed by a behavioral experiment. Unintentional self-poisoning in the home following the accidental ingestion of a hygiene product by a healthy adult is very likely to result from these products being packaged like foodstuffs. Our hypothesis is that FIPs are non-verbal food metaphors that could fool the brain of consumers. We therefore conducted a subsequent functional neuroimaging (fMRI) experiment that revealed how visual processing of FIPs leads to cortical taste inferences. Considered in the grounded cognition perspective, the results of our studies reveal that healthy adults can unintentionally categorize a personal care product as something edible when a food-like package is employed to market nonedible and/or dangerous products. Our methodology combining field (qualitative) and laboratory (behavioral and functional neuroimaging) findings could be of particular relevance for policy makers, as it can help screening products prior to their market release – e.g. the way they are packaged and how they can potentially confuse the mind of consumers – and therefore save lives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frédéric Basso
- Psychology@LSE, London School of Economics and Political Science, St Clements Building, London, United Kingdom
- Graduate School of Management, University Rennes 1 & Center for Research in Economics and Management, UMR CNRS 6211, Rennes, France
- Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, LPC UMR 7290, Cognitive Psychology Laboratory, Fédération de Recherche 3C, FR 3512, Case D, Marseille, France
- * E-mail:
| | - Philippe Robert-Demontrond
- Graduate School of Management, University Rennes 1 & Center for Research in Economics and Management, UMR CNRS 6211, Rennes, France
| | | | - Jean-Luc Anton
- Centre d’IRM Fonctionnelle Cérébrale, Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, UMR 7289, Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - Bruno Nazarian
- Centre d’IRM Fonctionnelle Cérébrale, Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, UMR 7289, Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - Muriel Roth
- Centre d’IRM Fonctionnelle Cérébrale, Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, UMR 7289, Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - Olivier Oullier
- Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, LPC UMR 7290, Cognitive Psychology Laboratory, Fédération de Recherche 3C, FR 3512, Case D, Marseille, France
- * E-mail:
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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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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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Zhang H, Liu J, Zhang Q. Neural representations for the generation of inventive conceptions inspired by adaptive feature optimization of biological species. Cortex 2014; 50:162-73. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2013.01.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2012] [Revised: 11/22/2012] [Accepted: 01/28/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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35
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Yang FPG, Khodaparast N, Bradley K, Fang MC, Bernstein A, Krawczyk DC. The influence of semantic property and grammatical class on semantic selection. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2013; 124:194-203. [PMID: 23376367 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2012.12.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2012] [Revised: 12/19/2012] [Accepted: 12/27/2012] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Research to-date has not successfully demonstrated consistent neural distinctions for different types of ambiguity or explored the effect of grammatical class on semantic selection. We conducted a relatedness judgment task using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to further explore these topics. Participants judged relatedness within word pairs. Consistent and inconsistent conditions were included along with filler items. Imaging results revealed a main effect of ambiguity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and parietal cortices. A main effect of grammatical class was observed in the parahippocampal and lingual gyri, and a main effect of consistency was found in the DLPFC, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and occipital cortices. Interactions among these factors were observed in the cingulate gyrus and motor cortices in addition to the DLPFC. These results suggest that both ambiguity type and grammatical class modulate semantic selection through different neural regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fan-pei Gloria Yang
- National Tsing Hua University, No. 101, Section 2, Kuang-Fu Road, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan.
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36
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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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37
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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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38
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Bohrn IC, Altmann U, Lubrich O, Menninghaus W, Jacobs AM. Old proverbs in new skins - an FMRI study on defamiliarization. Front Psychol 2012; 3:204. [PMID: 22783212 PMCID: PMC3389387 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2012] [Accepted: 06/01/2012] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigated how processing fluency and defamiliarization (the art of rendering familiar notions unfamiliar) contribute to the affective and esthetic processing of reading in an event-related functional magnetic-resonance-imaging experiment. We compared the neural correlates of processing (a) familiar German proverbs, (b) unfamiliar proverbs, (c) defamiliarized variations with altered content relative to the original proverb (proverb-variants), (d) defamiliarized versions with unexpected wording but the same content as the original proverb (proverb-substitutions), and (e) non-rhetorical sentences. Here, we demonstrate that defamiliarization is an effective way of guiding attention, but that the degree of affective involvement depends on the type of defamiliarization: enhanced activation in affect-related regions (orbito-frontal cortex, medPFC) was found only if defamiliarization altered the content of the original proverb. Defamiliarization on the level of wording was associated with attention processes and error monitoring. Although proverb-variants evoked activation in affect-related regions, familiar proverbs received the highest beauty ratings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel C Bohrn
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin Berlin, Germany
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39
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Rosch RE, Bishop DVM, Badcock NA. Lateralised visual attention is unrelated to language lateralisation, and not influenced by task difficulty - a functional transcranial Doppler study. Neuropsychologia 2012; 50:810-5. [PMID: 22285903 PMCID: PMC3334833 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.01.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2011] [Revised: 10/15/2011] [Accepted: 01/12/2012] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Historically, most theoretical accounts of hemispheric specialisation have proposed a single underlying factor that leads to left hemisphere language and right hemisphere visuospatial processing in the majority of people. More recently empirical evidence has started to challenge this view, suggesting lateralisation of language and visuospatial attention are independent. However, so far studies did not control for a possible confound, task difficulty. For this study, 20 healthy right-handed volunteers underwent functional laterality assessment using functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound (fTCD). We assessed laterality using both a word generation task and a novel variation of the visuospatial landmark task that can be adjusted along two dimensions of difficulty (temporal and spatial). The visuospatial laterality measures were highly intercorrelated and unaffected by task difficulty. Furthermore, there was no correlation between visuospatial and verbal lateralisation within individuals – neither qualitatively (in direction of lateralisation), nor quantitatively (in laterality index size). These results substantiate a growing body of evidence suggesting multiple independent biases leading to the hemispheric lateralisation of different cognitive domains, thus further questioning previously accepted models of laterality development and evolution.
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40
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The cognition and neuroscience of relational reasoning. Brain Res 2012; 1428:13-23. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2010.11.080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 101] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2010] [Revised: 10/27/2010] [Accepted: 11/23/2010] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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41
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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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42
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Rapp AM, Erb M, Grodd W, Bartels M, Markert K. Neural correlates of metonymy resolution. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2011; 119:196-205. [PMID: 21889196 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2011.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2010] [Revised: 07/19/2011] [Accepted: 07/21/2011] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Metonymies are exemplary models for complex semantic association processes at the sentence level. We investigated processing of metonymies using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During an 1.5Tesla fMRI scan, 14 healthy subjects (12 female) read 124 short German sentences with either literal (like "Africa is arid"), metonymic ("Africa is hungry"), or nonsense ("Africa is woollen") content. Sentences were constructed so that they obey certain grammatical, semantic, and plausibility conditions and were matched for word frequency, semantic association, length and syntactic structure. We concentrated on metonymies that were not yet fossilised; we also examined a wide variety of metonymic readings. Reading metonymies relative to literal sentences revealed signal changes in a predominantly left-lateralised fronto-temporal network with maxima in the left and right inferior frontal as well as left middle temporal gyri. Left inferior frontal activation may reflect both inference processes and access to world knowledge during metonymy resolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander M Rapp
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Tuebingen, Osianderstrasse 26, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany.
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Prat CS, Mason RA, Just MA. An fMRI investigation of analogical mapping in metaphor comprehension: the influence of context and individual cognitive capacities on processing demands. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 2011; 38:282-94. [PMID: 22122242 DOI: 10.1037/a0026037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
This study used fMRI to investigate the neural correlates of analogical mapping during metaphor comprehension, with a focus on dynamic configuration of neural networks with changing processing demands and individual abilities. Participants with varying vocabulary sizes and working memory capacities read 3-sentence passages ending in nominal critical utterances of the form "X is a Y." Processing demands were manipulated by varying preceding contexts. Three figurative conditions manipulated difficulty by varying the extent to which preceding contexts mentioned relevant semantic features for relating the vehicle and topic of the critical utterance to one another. In the easy condition, supporting information was mentioned. In the neutral condition, no relevant information was mentioned. In the most difficult condition, opposite features were mentioned, resulting in an ironic interpretation of the critical utterance. A fourth, literal condition included context that supported a literal interpretation of the critical utterance. Activation in lateral and medial frontal regions increased with increasing contextual difficulty. Lower vocabulary readers also had greater activation across conditions in the right inferior frontal gyrus. In addition, volumetric analyses showed increased right temporo-parietal junction and superior medial frontal activation for all figurative conditions over the literal condition. The results from this experiment imply that the cortical regions are dynamically recruited in language comprehension as a function of the processing demands of a task. Individual differences in cognitive capacities were also associated with differences in recruitment and modulation of working memory and executive function regions, highlighting the overlapping computations in metaphor comprehension and general thinking and reasoning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chantel S Prat
- University of Washington, Department of Psychology and Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, USA.
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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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Vartanian O. Dissociable neural systems for analogy and metaphor: Implications for the neuroscience of creativity. Br J Psychol 2011; 103:302-16. [DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8295.2011.02073.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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46
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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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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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Vigneau M, Beaucousin V, Hervé PY, Jobard G, Petit L, Crivello F, Mellet E, Zago L, Mazoyer B, Tzourio-Mazoyer N. What is right-hemisphere contribution to phonological, lexico-semantic, and sentence processing? Neuroimage 2011; 54:577-93. [PMID: 20656040 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.07.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 292] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2010] [Revised: 07/08/2010] [Accepted: 07/19/2010] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- M Vigneau
- Groupe d'Imagerie Neurofonctionnelle, UMR CI-NAPS 6232, CNRS CEA, GIP Cyceron, Caen, France
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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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Desai RH, Binder JR, Conant LL, Mano QR, Seidenberg MS. The neural career of sensory-motor metaphors. J Cogn Neurosci 2010; 23:2376-86. [PMID: 21126156 DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2010.21596] [Citation(s) in RCA: 110] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
The role of sensory-motor systems in conceptual understanding has been controversial. It has been proposed that many abstract concepts are understood metaphorically through concrete sensory-motor domains such as actions. Using fMRI, we compared neural responses with literal action (Lit; The daughter grasped the flowers), metaphoric action (Met; The public grasped the idea), and abstract (Abs; The public understood the idea) sentences of varying familiarity. Both Lit and Met sentences activated the left anterior inferior parietal lobule, an area involved in action planning, with Met sentences also activating a homologous area in the right hemisphere, relative to Abs sentences. Both Met and Abs sentences activated the left superior temporal regions associated with abstract language. Importantly, activation in primary motor and biological motion perception regions was inversely correlated with Lit and Met familiarity. These results support the view that the understanding of metaphoric action retains a link to sensory-motor systems involved in action performance. However, the involvement of sensory-motor systems in metaphor understanding changes through a gradual abstraction process whereby relatively detailed simulations are used for understanding unfamiliar metaphors, and these simulations become less detailed and involve only secondary motor regions as familiarity increases. Consistent with these data, we propose that anterior inferior parietal lobule serves as an interface between sensory-motor and conceptual systems and plays an important role in both domains. The similarity of abstract and metaphoric sentences in the activation of left superior temporal regions suggests that action metaphor understanding is not completely based on sensory-motor simulations but relies also on abstract lexical-semantic codes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rutvik H Desai
- Department of Neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Rd., MEB 4550, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA.
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