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León-Cabrera P, Hjortdal A, Berthelsen SG, Rodríguez-Fornells A, Roll M. Neurophysiological signatures of prediction in language: A critical review of anticipatory negativities. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 160:105624. [PMID: 38492763 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105624] [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: 06/22/2023] [Revised: 02/09/2024] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 03/18/2024]
Abstract
Recent event-related potential (ERP) studies in language comprehension converge in finding anticipatory negativities preceding words or word segments that can be pre-activated based on either sentence contexts or phonological cues. We review these findings from different paradigms in the light of evidence from other cognitive domains in which slow negative potentials have long been associated with anticipatory processes and discuss their potential underlying mechanisms. We propose that this family of anticipatory negativities captures common mechanisms associated with the pre-activation of linguistic information both within words and within sentences. Future studies could utilize these anticipatory negativities in combination with other, well-established ERPs, to simultaneously track prediction-related processes emerging at different time intervals (before and after the perception of pre-activated input) and with distinct time courses (shorter-lived and longer-lived cognitive operations).
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia León-Cabrera
- Cognition and Brain Plasticity Unit, Department of Cognition, Development and Educational Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Basic Sciences, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Anna Hjortdal
- Centre for Languages and Literature (SOL), Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Sabine Gosselke Berthelsen
- Centre for Languages and Literature (SOL), Lund University, Lund, Sweden; Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics (NorS), University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Antoni Rodríguez-Fornells
- Cognition and Brain Plasticity Unit, Department of Cognition, Development and Educational Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain; Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Mikael Roll
- Centre for Languages and Literature (SOL), Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
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Söderström P, Cutler A. Early neuro-electric indication of lexical match in English spoken-word recognition. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0285286. [PMID: 37200324 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285286] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Accepted: 04/19/2023] [Indexed: 05/20/2023] Open
Abstract
We investigated early electrophysiological responses to spoken English words embedded in neutral sentence frames, using a lexical decision paradigm. As words unfold in time, similar-sounding lexical items compete for recognition within 200 milliseconds after word onset. A small number of studies have previously investigated event-related potentials in this time window in English and French, with results differing in direction of effects as well as component scalp distribution. Investigations of spoken-word recognition in Swedish have reported an early left-frontally distributed event-related potential that increases in amplitude as a function of the probability of a successful lexical match as the word unfolds. Results from the present study indicate that the same process may occur in English: we propose that increased certainty of a 'word' response in a lexical decision task is reflected in the amplitude of an early left-anterior brain potential beginning around 150 milliseconds after word onset. This in turn is proposed to be connected to the probabilistically driven activation of possible upcoming word forms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pelle Söderström
- Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour & Development, Western Sydney University, Penrith, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, St Lucia, Australia
| | - Anne Cutler
- MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour & Development, Western Sydney University, Penrith, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, St Lucia, Australia
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
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Maran M, Numssen O, Hartwigsen G, Zaccarella E. Online neurostimulation of Broca's area does not interfere with syntactic predictions: A combined TMS-EEG approach to basic linguistic combination. Front Psychol 2022; 13:968836. [PMID: 36619118 PMCID: PMC9815778 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.968836] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2022] [Accepted: 09/13/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Categorical predictions have been proposed as the key mechanism supporting the fast pace of syntactic composition in language. Accordingly, grammar-based expectations are formed-e.g., the determiner "a" triggers the prediction for a noun-and facilitate the analysis of incoming syntactic information, which is then checked against a single or few other word categories. Previous functional neuroimaging studies point towards Broca's area in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) as one fundamental cortical region involved in categorical prediction during incremental language processing. Causal evidence for this hypothesis is however still missing. In this study, we combined Electroencephalography (EEG) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to test whether Broca's area is functionally relevant in predictive mechanisms for language. We transiently perturbed Broca's area during the first word in a two-word construction, while simultaneously measuring the Event-Related Potential (ERP) correlates of syntactic composition. We reasoned that if Broca's area is involved in predictive mechanisms for syntax, disruptive TMS during the first word would mitigate the difference in the ERP responses for predicted and unpredicted categories in basic two-word constructions. Contrary to this hypothesis, perturbation of Broca's area at the predictive stage did not affect the ERP correlates of basic composition. The correlation strength between the electrical field induced by TMS and the ERP responses further confirmed this pattern. We discuss the present results considering an alternative account of the role of Broca's area in syntactic composition, namely the bottom-up integration of words into constituents, and of compensatory mechanisms within the language predictive network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matteo Maran
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany,International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication: Function, Structure, and Plasticity, Leipzig, Germany,*Correspondence: Matteo Maran,
| | - Ole Numssen
- Lise Meitner Research Group Cognition and Plasticity, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Gesa Hartwigsen
- Lise Meitner Research Group Cognition and Plasticity, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Emiliano Zaccarella
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
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van der Burght CL, Numssen O, Schlaak B, Goucha T, Hartwigsen G. Differential contributions of inferior frontal gyrus subregions to sentence processing guided by intonation. Hum Brain Mapp 2022; 44:585-598. [PMID: 36189774 PMCID: PMC9842926 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2022] [Revised: 08/30/2022] [Accepted: 08/31/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Auditory sentence comprehension involves processing content (semantics), grammar (syntax), and intonation (prosody). The left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is involved in sentence comprehension guided by these different cues, with neuroimaging studies preferentially locating syntactic and semantic processing in separate IFG subregions. However, this regional specialisation has not been confirmed with a neurostimulation method. Consequently, the causal role of such a specialisation remains unclear. This study probed the role of the posterior IFG (pIFG) for syntactic processing and the anterior IFG (aIFG) for semantic processing with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in a task that required the interpretation of the sentence's prosodic realisation. Healthy participants performed a sentence completion task with syntactic and semantic decisions, while receiving 10 Hz rTMS over either left aIFG, pIFG, or vertex (control). Initial behavioural analyses showed an inhibitory effect on accuracy without task-specificity. However, electric field simulations revealed differential effects for both subregions. In the aIFG, stronger stimulation led to slower semantic processing, with no effect of pIFG stimulation. In contrast, we found a facilitatory effect on syntactic processing in both aIFG and pIFG, where higher stimulation strength was related to faster responses. Our results provide first evidence for the functional relevance of left aIFG in semantic processing guided by intonation. The stimulation effect on syntactic responses emphasises the importance of the IFG for syntax processing, without supporting the hypothesis of a pIFG-specific involvement. Together, the results support the notion of functionally specialised IFG subregions for diverse but fundamental cues for language processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Constantijn L. van der Burght
- Department of NeuropsychologyMax Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLeipzigGermany,Lise Meitner Research Group Cognition and PlasticityMax Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLeipzigGermany,Psychology of Language DepartmentMax Planck Institute for PsycholinguisticsNijmegen
| | - Ole Numssen
- Lise Meitner Research Group Cognition and PlasticityMax Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLeipzigGermany
| | - Benito Schlaak
- Lise Meitner Research Group Cognition and PlasticityMax Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLeipzigGermany
| | - Tomás Goucha
- Department of NeuropsychologyMax Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLeipzigGermany
| | - Gesa Hartwigsen
- Lise Meitner Research Group Cognition and PlasticityMax Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLeipzigGermany
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Li J, Hong B, Nolte G, Engel AK, Zhang D. Preparatory delta phase response is correlated with naturalistic speech comprehension performance. Cogn Neurodyn 2021; 16:337-352. [PMID: 35401861 PMCID: PMC8934811 DOI: 10.1007/s11571-021-09711-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Revised: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
While human speech comprehension is thought to be an active process that involves top-down predictions, it remains unclear how predictive information is used to prepare for the processing of upcoming speech information. We aimed to identify the neural signatures of the preparatory processing of upcoming speech. Participants selectively attended to one of two competing naturalistic, narrative speech streams, and a temporal response function (TRF) method was applied to derive event-related-like neural responses from electroencephalographic data. The phase responses to the attended speech at the delta band (1-4 Hz) were correlated with the comprehension performance of individual participants, with a latency of - 200-0 ms relative to the onset of speech amplitude envelope fluctuations over the fronto-central and left-lateralized parietal electrodes. The phase responses to the attended speech at the alpha band also correlated with comprehension performance but with a latency of 650-980 ms post-onset over the fronto-central electrodes. Distinct neural signatures were found for the attentional modulation, taking the form of TRF-based amplitude responses at a latency of 240-320 ms post-onset over the left-lateralized fronto-central and occipital electrodes. Our findings reveal how the brain gets prepared to process an upcoming speech in a continuous, naturalistic speech context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiawei Li
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Room 334, Mingzhai Building, Beijing, China
- Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Bo Hong
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
- Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Guido Nolte
- Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Andreas K. Engel
- Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Dan Zhang
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Room 334, Mingzhai Building, Beijing, China
- Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
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Iwabuchi T, Makuuchi M. When a sentence loses semantics: Selective involvement of a left anterior temporal subregion in semantic processing. Eur J Neurosci 2020; 53:929-942. [PMID: 33103315 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15022] [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: 01/03/2019] [Revised: 10/15/2020] [Accepted: 10/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Although the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL) has been associated with semantic processing, the role of this region in syntactic structure building of sentences remains a subject of debate. Functional neuroimaging studies contrasting well-formed sentences with word lists lacking syntactic structure have produced mixed results. The current functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined whether the left ATL is selectively involved in semantic processing or also plays a role in syntactic structure building by manipulating syntactic complexity and meaningfulness in a novel way. To deprive semantic/pragmatic information from a sentence, we replaced all content words with pronounceable meaningless placeholders. We conducted an experiment with a 2 × 2 factorial design with factors of SEMANTICS (natural sentences [NAT]; sentences with placeholders [SPH]) and SYNTAX (the basic Japanese Subject-Object-Verb [SOV] word order; a changed Object-Subject-Verb [OSV] word order). A main effect of SEMANTICS (NAT > SPH) was found in the left ATL, as well as in the ventral occipitotemporal regions. The opposite contrast (SPH > NAT) revealed activation in the dorsal regions encompassing Brodmann area 44, the premotor area, and the parietal cortex in the left hemisphere. We found no main effect of SYNTAX (OSV > SOV) in a subregion of the left ATL that was more responsive to natural sentences than meaningless sentences. These results indicate selective involvement of a subregion of the left ATL in semantic/pragmatic processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Toshiki Iwabuchi
- Section of Neuropsychology, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Japan
| | - Michiru Makuuchi
- Section of Neuropsychology, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Japan
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