Impact of multisensory learning on perceptual and lexical processing of unisensory Morse code

The angular gyrus serves as an interface between the non-lexical reading network and the semantic system: evidence from dynamic causal modeling

Understanding encoded language, such as written words, requires multiple cognitive processes that act in a parallel and interactive fashion. These processes and their interactions, however, are not fully understood. Various conceptual and methodical approaches including computational modeling and neuroimaging have been applied to better understand the neural underpinnings of these complex processes in the human brain. In this study, we tested different predictions of cortical interactions that derived from computational models for reading using dynamic causal modeling. Morse code was used as a model for non-lexical decoding followed by a lexical-decision during a functional magnetic resonance examination. Our results suggest that individual letters are first converted into phonemes within the left supramarginal gyrus, followed by a phoneme assembly to reconstruct word phonology, involving the left inferior frontal cortex. To allow the identification and comprehension of known words, the inferior frontal cortex then interacts with the semantic system via the left angular gyrus. As such, the left angular gyrus is likely to host phonological and semantic representations and serves as a bidirectional interface between the networks involved in language perception and word comprehension.

Enriched learning: behavior, brain, and computation

The presence of complementary information across multiple sensory or motor modalities during learning, referred to as multimodal enrichment, can markedly benefit learning outcomes. Why is this? Here, we integrate cognitive, neuroscientific, and computational approaches to understanding the effectiveness of enrichment and discuss recent neuroscience findings indicating that crossmodal responses in sensory and motor brain regions causally contribute to the behavioral benefits of enrichment. The findings provide novel evidence for multimodal theories of enriched learning, challenge assumptions of longstanding cognitive theories, and provide counterevidence to unimodal neurobiologically inspired theories. Enriched educational methods are likely effective not only because they may engage greater levels of attention or deeper levels of processing, but also because multimodal interactions in the brain can enhance learning and memory.