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Cometa A, Battaglini C, Artoni F, Greco M, Frank R, Repetto C, Bottoni F, Cappa SF, Micera S, Ricciardi E, Moro A. Brain and grammar: revealing electrophysiological basic structures with competing statistical models. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae317. [PMID: 39098819 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2024] [Revised: 07/08/2024] [Accepted: 07/24/2024] [Indexed: 08/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Acoustic, lexical, and syntactic information are simultaneously processed in the brain requiring complex strategies to distinguish their electrophysiological activity. Capitalizing on previous works that factor out acoustic information, we could concentrate on the lexical and syntactic contribution to language processing by testing competing statistical models. We exploited electroencephalographic recordings and compared different surprisal models selectively involving lexical information, part of speech, or syntactic structures in various combinations. Electroencephalographic responses were recorded in 32 participants during listening to affirmative active declarative sentences. We compared the activation corresponding to basic syntactic structures, such as noun phrases vs. verb phrases. Lexical and syntactic processing activates different frequency bands, partially different time windows, and different networks. Moreover, surprisal models based on part of speech inventory only do not explain well the electrophysiological data, while those including syntactic information do. By disentangling acoustic, lexical, and syntactic information, we demonstrated differential brain sensitivity to syntactic information. These results confirm and extend previous measures obtained with intracranial recordings, supporting our hypothesis that syntactic structures are crucial in neural language processing. This study provides a detailed understanding of how the brain processes syntactic information, highlighting the importance of syntactic surprisal in shaping neural responses during language comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Cometa
- MoMiLab, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Piazza S.Francesco, 19, Lucca 55100, Italy
- The BioRobotics Institute and Department of Excellence in Robotics and AI, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, Pontedera 56025, Italy
- Cognitive Neuroscience (ICoN) Center, University School for Advanced Studies IUSS, Piazza Vittoria 15, Pavia 27100, Italy
| | - Chiara Battaglini
- Neurolinguistics and Experimental Pragmatics (NEP) Lab, University School for Advanced Studies IUSS Pavia, Piazza della Vittoria 15, Pavia 27100, Italy
| | - Fiorenzo Artoni
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, 1, rue Michel-Servet, Genéve 1211, Switzerland
| | - Matteo Greco
- Cognitive Neuroscience (ICoN) Center, University School for Advanced Studies IUSS, Piazza Vittoria 15, Pavia 27100, Italy
| | - Robert Frank
- Department of Linguistics, Yale University, 370 Temple St, New Haven, CT 06511, United States
| | - Claudia Repetto
- Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo A. Gemelli 1, Milan 20123, Italy
| | - Franco Bottoni
- Istituto Clinico Humanitas, IRCCS, Via Alessandro Manzoni 56, Rozzano 20089, Italy
| | - Stefano F Cappa
- Cognitive Neuroscience (ICoN) Center, University School for Advanced Studies IUSS, Piazza Vittoria 15, Pavia 27100, Italy
- Dementia Research Center, IRCCS Mondino Foundation National Institute of Neurology, Via Mondino 2, Pavia 27100, Italy
| | - Silvestro Micera
- The BioRobotics Institute and Department of Excellence in Robotics and AI, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, Pontedera 56025, Italy
- Bertarelli Foundation Chair in Translational NeuroEngineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics and School of Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Campus Biotech, Chemin des Mines 9, Geneva, GE CH 1202, Switzerland
| | - Emiliano Ricciardi
- MoMiLab, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Piazza S.Francesco, 19, Lucca 55100, Italy
| | - Andrea Moro
- Cognitive Neuroscience (ICoN) Center, University School for Advanced Studies IUSS, Piazza Vittoria 15, Pavia 27100, Italy
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Lamekina Y, Titone L, Maess B, Meyer L. Speech Prosody Serves Temporal Prediction of Language via Contextual Entrainment. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e1041232024. [PMID: 38839302 PMCID: PMC11236583 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1041-23.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2023] [Revised: 03/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Temporal prediction assists language comprehension. In a series of recent behavioral studies, we have shown that listeners specifically employ rhythmic modulations of prosody to estimate the duration of upcoming sentences, thereby speeding up comprehension. In the current human magnetoencephalography (MEG) study on participants of either sex, we show that the human brain achieves this function through a mechanism termed entrainment. Through entrainment, electrophysiological brain activity maintains and continues contextual rhythms beyond their offset. Our experiment combined exposure to repetitive prosodic contours with the subsequent presentation of visual sentences that either matched or mismatched the duration of the preceding contour. During exposure to prosodic contours, we observed MEG coherence with the contours, which was source-localized to right-hemispheric auditory areas. During the processing of the visual targets, activity at the frequency of the preceding contour was still detectable in the MEG; yet sources shifted to the (left) frontal cortex, in line with a functional inheritance of the rhythmic acoustic context for prediction. Strikingly, when the target sentence was shorter than expected from the preceding contour, an omission response appeared in the evoked potential record. We conclude that prosodic entrainment is a functional mechanism of temporal prediction in language comprehension. In general, acoustic rhythms appear to endow language for employing the brain's electrophysiological mechanisms of temporal prediction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yulia Lamekina
- Research Group Language Cycles, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Lorenzo Titone
- Research Group Language Cycles, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Burkhard Maess
- Methods and Development Group Brain Networks, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Lars Meyer
- Research Group Language Cycles, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany
- University Clinic Münster, Münster 48149, Germany
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Wu J, Cheng Y, Qu X, Kang T, Cai Y, Wang P, Zaccarella E, Friederici AD, Hartwigsen G, Chen L. Continuous Theta-Burst Stimulation on the Left Posterior Inferior Frontal Gyrus Perturbs Complex Syntactic Processing Stability in Mandarin Chinese. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2024; 5:608-627. [PMID: 38939729 PMCID: PMC11210936 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2023] [Accepted: 02/12/2024] [Indexed: 06/29/2024]
Abstract
The structure of human language is inherently hierarchical. The left posterior inferior frontal gyrus (LpIFG) is proposed to be a core region for constructing syntactic hierarchies. However, it remains unclear whether LpIFG plays a causal role in syntactic processing in Mandarin Chinese and whether its contribution depends on syntactic complexity, working memory, or both. We addressed these questions by applying inhibitory continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) over LpIFG. Thirty-two participants processed sentences containing embedded relative clauses (i.e., complex syntactic processing), syntactically simpler coordinated sentences (i.e., simple syntactic processing), and non-hierarchical word lists (i.e., word list processing) after receiving real or sham cTBS. We found that cTBS significantly increased the coefficient of variation, a representative index of processing stability, in complex syntactic processing (esp., when subject relative clause was embedded) but not in the other two conditions. No significant changes in d' and reaction time were detected in these conditions. The findings suggest that (a) inhibitory effect of cTBS on the LpIFG might be prominent in perturbing the complex syntactic processing stability but subtle in altering the processing quality; and (b) the causal role of the LpIFG seems to be specific for syntactic processing rather than working memory capacity, further evidencing their separability in LpIFG. Collectively, these results support the notion of the LpIFG as a core region for complex syntactic processing across languages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junjie Wu
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Yao Cheng
- Max Planck Partner Group, School of International Chinese Language Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Xingfang Qu
- Max Planck Partner Group, School of International Chinese Language Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Tianmin Kang
- Department of Psychology, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, USA
| | - Yimin Cai
- Max Planck Partner Group, School of International Chinese Language Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Peng Wang
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
- Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Emiliano Zaccarella
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Angela D. Friederici
- Department of Neuropsychology, 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
- Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Luyao Chen
- Max Planck Partner Group, School of International Chinese Language Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Educational System Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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Kauf C, Kim HS, Lee EJ, Jhingan N, Selena She J, Taliaferro M, Gibson E, Fedorenko E. Linguistic inputs must be syntactically parsable to fully engage the language network. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.06.21.599332. [PMID: 38948870 PMCID: PMC11212959 DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.21.599332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/02/2024]
Abstract
Human language comprehension is remarkably robust to ill-formed inputs (e.g., word transpositions). This robustness has led some to argue that syntactic parsing is largely an illusion, and that incremental comprehension is more heuristic, shallow, and semantics-based than is often assumed. However, the available data are also consistent with the possibility that humans always perform rule-like symbolic parsing and simply deploy error correction mechanisms to reconstruct ill-formed inputs when needed. We put these hypotheses to a new stringent test by examining brain responses to a) stimuli that should pose a challenge for syntactic reconstruction but allow for complex meanings to be built within local contexts through associative/shallow processing (sentences presented in a backward word order), and b) grammatically well-formed but semantically implausible sentences that should impede semantics-based heuristic processing. Using a novel behavioral syntactic reconstruction paradigm, we demonstrate that backward-presented sentences indeed impede the recovery of grammatical structure during incremental comprehension. Critically, these backward-presented stimuli elicit a relatively low response in the language areas, as measured with fMRI. In contrast, semantically implausible but grammatically well-formed sentences elicit a response in the language areas similar in magnitude to naturalistic (plausible) sentences. In other words, the ability to build syntactic structures during incremental language processing is both necessary and sufficient to fully engage the language network. Taken together, these results provide strongest to date support for a generalized reliance of human language comprehension on syntactic parsing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carina Kauf
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
| | - Hee So Kim
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
| | - Elizabeth J. Lee
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
| | - Niharika Jhingan
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
| | - Jingyuan Selena She
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
| | - Maya Taliaferro
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10012 USA
| | - Edward Gibson
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
| | - Evelina Fedorenko
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
- The Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
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Morgan AM, Devinsky O, Doyle WK, Dugan P, Friedman D, Flinker A. A low-activity cortical network selectively encodes syntax. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.06.20.599931. [PMID: 38948730 PMCID: PMC11212956 DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.20.599931] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/02/2024]
Abstract
Syntax, the abstract structure of language, is a hallmark of human cognition. Despite its importance, its neural underpinnings remain obscured by inherent limitations of non-invasive brain measures and a near total focus on comprehension paradigms. Here, we address these limitations with high-resolution neurosurgical recordings (electrocorticography) and a controlled sentence production experiment. We uncover three syntactic networks that are broadly distributed across traditional language regions, but with focal concentrations in middle and inferior frontal gyri. In contrast to previous findings from comprehension studies, these networks process syntax mostly to the exclusion of words and meaning, supporting a cognitive architecture with a distinct syntactic system. Most strikingly, our data reveal an unexpected property of syntax: it is encoded independent of neural activity levels. We propose that this "low-activity coding" scheme represents a novel mechanism for encoding information, reserved for higher-order cognition more broadly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam M. Morgan
- Neurology Department, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, 550 1st Ave, New York, 10016, NY, USA
| | - Orrin Devinsky
- Neurosurgery Department, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, 550 1st Ave, New York, 10016, NY, USA
| | - Werner K. Doyle
- Neurology Department, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, 550 1st Ave, New York, 10016, NY, USA
| | - Patricia Dugan
- Neurology Department, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, 550 1st Ave, New York, 10016, NY, USA
| | - Daniel Friedman
- Neurology Department, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, 550 1st Ave, New York, 10016, NY, USA
| | - Adeen Flinker
- Neurology Department, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, 550 1st Ave, New York, 10016, NY, USA
- Biomedical Engineering Department, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, 6 MetroTech Center Ave, Brooklyn, 11201, NY, USA
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Fahey D, Fridriksson J, Hickok G, Matchin W. Lesion-symptom Mapping of Acceptability Judgments in Chronic Poststroke Aphasia Reveals the Neurobiological Underpinnings of Receptive Syntax. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:1141-1155. [PMID: 38437175 PMCID: PMC11095916 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/06/2024]
Abstract
Disagreements persist regarding the neural basis of syntactic processing, which has been linked both to inferior frontal and posterior temporal regions of the brain. One focal point of the debate concerns the role of inferior frontal areas in receptive syntactic ability, which is mostly assessed using sentence comprehension involving complex syntactic structures, a task that is potentially confounded with working memory. Syntactic acceptability judgments may provide a better measure of receptive syntax by reducing the need to use high working memory load and complex sentences and by enabling assessment of various types of syntactic violations. We therefore tested the perception of grammatical violations by people with poststroke aphasia (n = 25), along with matched controls (n = 16), using English sentences involving errors in word order, agreement, or subcategorization. Lesion data were also collected. Control participants performed near ceiling in accuracy with higher discriminability of agreement and subcategorization violations than word order; aphasia participants were less able to discriminate violations, but, on average, paralleled control participants discriminability of types of violations. Lesion-symptom mapping showed a correlation between discriminability and posterior temporal regions, but not inferior frontal regions. We argue that these results diverge from models holding that frontal areas are amodal core regions in syntactic structure building and favor models that posit a core hierarchical system in posterior temporal regions.
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Shain C, Kean H, Casto C, Lipkin B, Affourtit J, Siegelman M, Mollica F, Fedorenko E. Distributed Sensitivity to Syntax and Semantics throughout the Language Network. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:1427-1471. [PMID: 38683732 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
Human language is expressive because it is compositional: The meaning of a sentence (semantics) can be inferred from its structure (syntax). It is commonly believed that language syntax and semantics are processed by distinct brain regions. Here, we revisit this claim using precision fMRI methods to capture separation or overlap of function in the brains of individual participants. Contrary to prior claims, we find distributed sensitivity to both syntax and semantics throughout a broad frontotemporal brain network. Our results join a growing body of evidence for an integrated network for language in the human brain within which internal specialization is primarily a matter of degree rather than kind, in contrast with influential proposals that advocate distinct specialization of different brain areas for different types of linguistic functions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hope Kean
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Matchin W, Almeida D, Hickok G, Sprouse J. Cortical networks responsive to phrase structure and subject island violations. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.05.592579. [PMID: 38746262 PMCID: PMC11092748 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.05.592579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
In principle, functional neuroimaging provides uniquely informative data in addressing linguistic questions, because it can indicate distinct processes that are not apparent from behavioral data alone. This could involve adjudicating the source of unacceptability via the different patterns of elicited brain responses to different ungrammatical sentence types. However, it is difficult to interpret brain activations to syntactic violations. Such responses could reflect processes that have nothing intrinsically related to linguistic representations, such as domain-general executive function abilities. In order to facilitate the potential use of functional neuroimaging methods to identify the source of different syntactic violations, we conducted an fMRI experiment to identify the brain activation maps associated with two distinct syntactic violation types: phrase structure (created by inverting the order of two adjacent words within a sentence) and subject islands (created by extracting a wh-phrase out of an embedded subject). The comparison of these violations to control sentences surprisingly showed no indication of a generalized violation response, with almost completely divergent activation patterns. Phrase structure violations seemingly activated regions previously implicated in verbal working memory and structural complexity in sentence processing, whereas the subject islands appeared to activate regions previously implicated in conceptual-semantic processing, broadly defined. We review our findings in the context of previous research on syntactic and semantic violations using event-related potentials. We suggest that functional neuroimaging is a potentially fruitful technique in unpacking the distinct sets of cognitive processes elicited by theoretically-relevant syntactic violations, when interpreted with care and paired with appropriate control conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Matchin
- Dept. of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina
| | | | - Gregory Hickok
- Dept. of Cognitive Sciences and Dept. of Language Science, University of California, Irvine
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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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Liu X, Zhang L, Yu S, Bai Z, Qi T, Mao H, Zhen Z, Dong Q, Liu L. The Effects of Age and Reading Experience on the Lifespan Neurodevelopment for Reading Comprehension. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:239-260. [PMID: 38010312 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2023]
Abstract
Reading comprehension is a vital cognitive skill that individuals use throughout their lives. The neurodevelopment of reading comprehension across the lifespan, however, remains underresearched. Furthermore, factors such as maturation and experience significantly influence functional brain development. Given the complexity of reading comprehension, which incorporates lower-level word reading process and higher-level semantic integration process, our study aims to investigate how age and reading experience influence the neurobiology underpinning these two processes across the lifespan. fMRI data of 158 participants aged from 7 to 77 years were collected during a passive word viewing task and a sentence comprehension task to engage the lower- and higher-level processes, respectively. We found that the neurodevelopment of the lower-level process was primarily influenced by age, showing increased activation and connectivity with age in parieto-occipital and middle/inferior frontal lobes related to morphological-semantic mapping while decreased activation in the temporoparietal regions linked to phonological processing. However, the brain function of the higher-level process was primarily influenced by reading experience, exhibiting a greater reliance on the frontotemporal semantic network with enhanced sentence-level reading performance. Furthermore, reading experience did not significantly affect the brain function of children, but had a positive effect on young adults in the lower-level process and on middle-aged and older adults in the higher-level process. These findings indicate that the brain function for lower- and higher-level processes of reading comprehension is differently affected by maturation and reading experience, and the experience effect is contingent on age regarding the two processes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Ting Qi
- Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
| | | | | | | | - Li Liu
- Beijing Normal University
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de Jesus Dias Martins M. Cognitive and Neural Representations of Fractals in Vision, Music, and Action. ADVANCES IN NEUROBIOLOGY 2024; 36:935-951. [PMID: 38468070 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-47606-8_46] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/13/2024]
Abstract
The concept of fractal was popularized by Mandelbrot as a tool to tame the geometrical structure of objects with infinite hierarchical depth. The key aspect of fractals is the use of simple parsimonious rules and initial conditions, which when applied recursively can generate unbounded complexity. Fractals are structures ubiquitous in nature, being present in coast lines, bacteria colonies, trees, and physiological time series. However, within the field of cognitive science, the core question is not which phenomena can generate fractal structures, but whether human or animal minds can represent recursive processes, and if so in which domains. In this chapter, we will explore the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying the representation of recursive hierarchical embedding. Language is the domain in which this capacity is best studied. Humans can generate an infinite array of hierarchically structured sentences, and this capacity distinguishes us from other species. However, recent research suggests that humans can represent similar structures in the domains of music, vision, and action and has provided additional cues as to how these capacities are cognitively implemented. Using a comparative approach, we will map the commonalities and differences across domains and offer a roadmap to understand the neurobiological implementation of fractal cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mauricio de Jesus Dias Martins
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, SCAN-Unit, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
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Yu J, Zou Y, Wu Y. The neural mechanisms underlying the processing of consonant, vowel and tone during Chinese typing: an fNIRS study. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1258480. [PMID: 38178832 PMCID: PMC10766364 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1258480] [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: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 11/29/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Many studies have explored the role of consonant, vowel, and tone in Chinese word identification or sentence comprehension. However, few studies have explored their roles and neural basis during Chinese word production, especially when involving neural basis. The present fNIRS study investigated the neural mechanisms of consonant, vowel, and tone processing during Chinese typing. Participants were asked to name the Chinese characters displayed on a computer screen by typing on a keyboard while hearing a simultaneously presented auditory stimulus. The auditory stimulus was either consistent with the characters' pronunciation (consistent condition) or mismatched in the consonant, vowel, or tone of the character pronunciation. The fNIRS results showed that compared with the consistent condition (as baseline), the consonant mismatch condition evoked lower levels of oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus Broca's triangle and left superior temporal gyrus. Vowel mismatch condition evoked a higher level of HbO activation in the top of the left inferior frontal gyrus and left middle frontal gyrus. The regions and patterns of brain activation evoked by tone mismatch were the same as those of vowel mismatch. The study indicated that consonant, vowel and tone all play a role in Chinese character production. The sensitive brain areas were all in the left hemisphere. However, the neural mechanism of consonant processing differed from vowel processing in both brain regions and patterns, while tone and vowel processing shared the same regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianan Yu
- School of Psychology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, Jilin, China
| | - Yun Zou
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, United States
| | - Yan Wu
- School of Psychology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, Jilin, China
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Pasquiou A, Lakretz Y, Thirion B, Pallier C. Information-Restricted Neural Language Models Reveal Different Brain Regions' Sensitivity to Semantics, Syntax, and Context. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2023; 4:611-636. [PMID: 38144237 PMCID: PMC10745090 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 12/26/2023]
Abstract
A fundamental question in neurolinguistics concerns the brain regions involved in syntactic and semantic processing during speech comprehension, both at the lexical (word processing) and supra-lexical levels (sentence and discourse processing). To what extent are these regions separated or intertwined? To address this question, we introduce a novel approach exploiting neural language models to generate high-dimensional feature sets that separately encode semantic and syntactic information. More precisely, we train a lexical language model, GloVe, and a supra-lexical language model, GPT-2, on a text corpus from which we selectively removed either syntactic or semantic information. We then assess to what extent the features derived from these information-restricted models are still able to predict the fMRI time courses of humans listening to naturalistic text. Furthermore, to determine the windows of integration of brain regions involved in supra-lexical processing, we manipulate the size of contextual information provided to GPT-2. The analyses show that, while most brain regions involved in language comprehension are sensitive to both syntactic and semantic features, the relative magnitudes of these effects vary across these regions. Moreover, regions that are best fitted by semantic or syntactic features are more spatially dissociated in the left hemisphere than in the right one, and the right hemisphere shows sensitivity to longer contexts than the left. The novelty of our approach lies in the ability to control for the information encoded in the models' embeddings by manipulating the training set. These "information-restricted" models complement previous studies that used language models to probe the neural bases of language, and shed new light on its spatial organization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandre Pasquiou
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit (UNICOG), NeuroSpin, National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Frédéric Joliot Life Sciences Institute, Paris-Saclay University, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Models and Inference for Neuroimaging Data (MIND), NeuroSpin, French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Inria Saclay, Frédéric Joliot Life Sciences Institute, Paris-Saclay University, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Yair Lakretz
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit (UNICOG), NeuroSpin, National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Frédéric Joliot Life Sciences Institute, Paris-Saclay University, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Bertrand Thirion
- Models and Inference for Neuroimaging Data (MIND), NeuroSpin, French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Inria Saclay, Frédéric Joliot Life Sciences Institute, Paris-Saclay University, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Christophe Pallier
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit (UNICOG), NeuroSpin, National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Frédéric Joliot Life Sciences Institute, Paris-Saclay University, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
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14
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van der Burght CL, Friederici AD, Maran M, Papitto G, Pyatigorskaya E, Schroën JAM, Trettenbrein PC, Zaccarella E. Cleaning up the Brickyard: How Theory and Methodology Shape Experiments in Cognitive Neuroscience of Language. J Cogn Neurosci 2023; 35:2067-2088. [PMID: 37713672 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/17/2023]
Abstract
The capacity for language is a defining property of our species, yet despite decades of research, evidence on its neural basis is still mixed and a generalized consensus is difficult to achieve. We suggest that this is partly caused by researchers defining "language" in different ways, with focus on a wide range of phenomena, properties, and levels of investigation. Accordingly, there is very little agreement among cognitive neuroscientists of language on the operationalization of fundamental concepts to be investigated in neuroscientific experiments. Here, we review chains of derivation in the cognitive neuroscience of language, focusing on how the hypothesis under consideration is defined by a combination of theoretical and methodological assumptions. We first attempt to disentangle the complex relationship between linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience in the field. Next, we focus on how conclusions that can be drawn from any experiment are inherently constrained by auxiliary assumptions, both theoretical and methodological, on which the validity of conclusions drawn rests. These issues are discussed in the context of classical experimental manipulations as well as study designs that employ novel approaches such as naturalistic stimuli and computational modeling. We conclude by proposing that a highly interdisciplinary field such as the cognitive neuroscience of language requires researchers to form explicit statements concerning the theoretical definitions, methodological choices, and other constraining factors involved in their work.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Angela D Friederici
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Matteo Maran
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Giorgio Papitto
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Elena Pyatigorskaya
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Joëlle A M Schroën
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Patrick C Trettenbrein
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication, Leipzig, Germany
- University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Emiliano Zaccarella
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
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15
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Zora H, Wester J, Csépe V. Predictions about prosody facilitate lexical access: Evidence from P50/N100 and MMN components. Int J Psychophysiol 2023; 194:112262. [PMID: 37924955 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2023.112262] [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: 06/17/2023] [Revised: 08/23/2023] [Accepted: 10/28/2023] [Indexed: 11/06/2023]
Abstract
Research into the neural foundation of perception asserts a model where top-down predictions modulate the bottom-up processing of sensory input. Despite becoming increasingly influential in cognitive neuroscience, the precise account of this predictive coding framework remains debated. In this study, we aim to contribute to this debate by investigating how predictions about prosody facilitate speech perception, and to shed light especially on lexical access influenced by simultaneous predictions in different domains, inter alia, prosodic and semantic. Using a passive auditory oddball paradigm, we examined neural responses to prosodic changes, leading to a semantic change as in Dutch nouns canon ['kaːnɔn] 'canon' vs kanon [kaː'nɔn] 'cannon', and used acoustically identical pseudowords as controls. Results from twenty-eight native speakers of Dutch (age range 18-32 years) indicated an enhanced P50/N100 complex to prosodic change in pseudowords as well as an MMN response to both words and pseudowords. The enhanced P50/N100 response to pseudowords is claimed to indicate that all relevant auditory information is still processed by the brain, whereas the reduced response to words might reflect the suppression of information that has already been encoded. The MMN response to pseudowords and words, on the other hand, is best justified by the unification of previously established prosodic representations with sensory and semantic input respectively. This pattern of results is in line with the predictive coding framework acting on multiple levels and is of crucial importance to indicate that predictions about linguistic prosodic information are utilized by the brain as early as 50 ms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hatice Zora
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, P.O. Box 310 6500, AH, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Janniek Wester
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, P.O. Box 310 6500, AH, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Valéria Csépe
- HUN-REN Research Centre of Natural Sciences, Brain Imaging Centre, P.O. Box 286 1519, Budapest, Hungary
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16
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Mai G, Wang WSY. Distinct roles of delta- and theta-band neural tracking for sharpening and predictive coding of multi-level speech features during spoken language processing. Hum Brain Mapp 2023; 44:6149-6172. [PMID: 37818940 PMCID: PMC10619373 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Revised: 08/17/2023] [Accepted: 09/13/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The brain tracks and encodes multi-level speech features during spoken language processing. It is evident that this speech tracking is dominant at low frequencies (<8 Hz) including delta and theta bands. Recent research has demonstrated distinctions between delta- and theta-band tracking but has not elucidated how they differentially encode speech across linguistic levels. Here, we hypothesised that delta-band tracking encodes prediction errors (enhanced processing of unexpected features) while theta-band tracking encodes neural sharpening (enhanced processing of expected features) when people perceive speech with different linguistic contents. EEG responses were recorded when normal-hearing participants attended to continuous auditory stimuli that contained different phonological/morphological and semantic contents: (1) real-words, (2) pseudo-words and (3) time-reversed speech. We employed multivariate temporal response functions to measure EEG reconstruction accuracies in response to acoustic (spectrogram), phonetic and phonemic features with the partialling procedure that singles out unique contributions of individual features. We found higher delta-band accuracies for pseudo-words than real-words and time-reversed speech, especially during encoding of phonetic features. Notably, individual time-lag analyses showed that significantly higher accuracies for pseudo-words than real-words started at early processing stages for phonetic encoding (<100 ms post-feature) and later stages for acoustic and phonemic encoding (>200 and 400 ms post-feature, respectively). Theta-band accuracies, on the other hand, were higher when stimuli had richer linguistic content (real-words > pseudo-words > time-reversed speech). Such effects also started at early stages (<100 ms post-feature) during encoding of all individual features or when all features were combined. We argue these results indicate that delta-band tracking may play a role in predictive coding leading to greater tracking of pseudo-words due to the presence of unexpected/unpredicted semantic information, while theta-band tracking encodes sharpened signals caused by more expected phonological/morphological and semantic contents. Early presence of these effects reflects rapid computations of sharpening and prediction errors. Moreover, by measuring changes in EEG alpha power, we did not find evidence that the observed effects can be solitarily explained by attentional demands or listening efforts. Finally, we used directed information analyses to illustrate feedforward and feedback information transfers between prediction errors and sharpening across linguistic levels, showcasing how our results fit with the hierarchical Predictive Coding framework. Together, we suggest the distinct roles of delta and theta neural tracking for sharpening and predictive coding of multi-level speech features during spoken language processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guangting Mai
- Hearing Theme, National Institute for Health Research Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Nottingham, UK
- Academic Unit of Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, UK
| | - William S-Y Wang
- Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong
- Language Engineering Laboratory, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
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17
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Schroën JAM, Gunter TC, Numssen O, Kroczek LOH, Hartwigsen G, Friederici AD. Causal evidence for a coordinated temporal interplay within the language network. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2306279120. [PMID: 37963247 PMCID: PMC10666120 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2306279120] [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: 04/18/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent neurobiological models on language suggest that auditory sentence comprehension is supported by a coordinated temporal interplay within a left-dominant brain network, including the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG), posterior superior temporal gyrus and sulcus (pSTG/STS), and angular gyrus (AG). Here, we probed the timing and causal relevance of the interplay between these regions by means of concurrent transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalography (TMS-EEG). Our TMS-EEG experiments reveal region- and time-specific causal evidence for a bidirectional information flow from left pSTG/STS to left pIFG and back during auditory sentence processing. Adapting a condition-and-perturb approach, our findings further suggest that the left pSTG/STS can be supported by the left AG in a state-dependent manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joëlle A. M. Schroën
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig04103, Germany
| | - Thomas C. Gunter
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig04103, Germany
| | - Ole Numssen
- Methods and Development Group Brain Networks, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig04103, Germany
- Lise Meitner Research Group Cognition and Plasticity, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig04103, Germany
| | - Leon O. H. Kroczek
- Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Universität Regensburg, Regensburg93053, Germany
| | - Gesa Hartwigsen
- Lise Meitner Research Group Cognition and Plasticity, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig04103, Germany
- Cognitive and Biological Psychology, Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, Leipzig04109, Germany
| | - Angela D. Friederici
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig04103, Germany
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18
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El Ouardi L, Yeou M, Faroqi-Shah Y. Neural correlates of pronoun processing: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2023; 246:105347. [PMID: 37847932 PMCID: PMC11305457 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Revised: 08/30/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023]
Abstract
Pronouns are unique linguistic devices that allow for the expression of referential relationships. Despite their communicative utility, the neural correlates of the operations involved in reference assignment and/or resolution, are not well-understood. The present study synthesized the neuroimaging literature on pronoun processing to test extant theories of pronoun comprehension. Following the PRISMA guidelines and thebest-practice recommendations for neuroimaging meta-analyses, a systematic literature search and record assessment were performed. As a result, 16 fMRI studies were included in the meta-analysis, and were coded in Scribe 3.6 for inclusion in the BrainMap database. The activation coordinates for the contrasts of interest were transformed into Talairach space and submitted to an Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis in GingerALE 3.0.1. The results indicated that pronoun processing had functional convergence in the left posterior middle and superior temporal gyri, potentially reflecting the retrieval, prediction and integration roles of these areas for pronoun processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Loubna El Ouardi
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States; Applied Language and Culture Studies Laboratory, Chouaib Doukkali University, El Jadida, Morocco.
| | - Mohamed Yeou
- Applied Language and Culture Studies Laboratory, Chouaib Doukkali University, El Jadida, Morocco
| | - Yasmeen Faroqi-Shah
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States
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19
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Matchin W, den Ouden DB, Basilakos A, Stark BC, Fridriksson J, Hickok G. Grammatical Parallelism in Aphasia: A Lesion-Symptom Mapping Study. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2023; 4:550-574. [PMID: 37946730 PMCID: PMC10631800 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023]
Abstract
Sentence structure, or syntax, is potentially a uniquely creative aspect of the human mind. Neuropsychological experiments in the 1970s suggested parallel syntactic production and comprehension deficits in agrammatic Broca's aphasia, thought to result from damage to syntactic mechanisms in Broca's area in the left frontal lobe. This hypothesis was sometimes termed overarching agrammatism, converging with developments in linguistic theory concerning central syntactic mechanisms supporting language production and comprehension. However, the evidence supporting an association among receptive syntactic deficits, expressive agrammatism, and damage to frontal cortex is equivocal. In addition, the relationship among a distinct grammatical production deficit in aphasia, paragrammatism, and receptive syntax has not been assessed. We used lesion-symptom mapping in three partially overlapping groups of left-hemisphere stroke patients to investigate these issues: grammatical production deficits in a primary group of 53 subjects and syntactic comprehension in larger sample sizes (N = 130, 218) that overlapped with the primary group. Paragrammatic production deficits were significantly associated with multiple analyses of syntactic comprehension, particularly when incorporating lesion volume as a covariate, but agrammatic production deficits were not. The lesion correlates of impaired performance of syntactic comprehension were significantly associated with damage to temporal lobe regions, which were also implicated in paragrammatism, but not with the inferior and middle frontal regions implicated in expressive agrammatism. Our results provide strong evidence against the overarching agrammatism hypothesis. By contrast, our results suggest the possibility of an alternative grammatical parallelism hypothesis rooted in paragrammatism and a central syntactic system in the posterior temporal lobe.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Matchin
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Dirk-Bart den Ouden
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Alexandra Basilakos
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Brielle Caserta Stark
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Program for Neuroscience, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Julius Fridriksson
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Gregory Hickok
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, Department of Language Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
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20
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Xu N, Qin X, Zhou Z, Shan W, Ren J, Yang C, Lu L, Wang Q. Age differentially modulates the cortical tracking of the lower and higher level linguistic structures during speech comprehension. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:10463-10474. [PMID: 37566910 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad296] [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: 12/10/2022] [Revised: 07/23/2023] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 08/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Speech comprehension requires listeners to rapidly parse continuous speech into hierarchically-organized linguistic structures (i.e. syllable, word, phrase, and sentence) and entrain the neural activities to the rhythm of different linguistic levels. Aging is accompanied by changes in speech processing, but it remains unclear how aging affects different levels of linguistic representation. Here, we recorded magnetoencephalography signals in older and younger groups when subjects actively and passively listened to the continuous speech in which hierarchical linguistic structures of word, phrase, and sentence were tagged at 4, 2, and 1 Hz, respectively. A newly-developed parameterization algorithm was applied to separate the periodically linguistic tracking from the aperiodic component. We found enhanced lower-level (word-level) tracking, reduced higher-level (phrasal- and sentential-level) tracking, and reduced aperiodic offset in older compared with younger adults. Furthermore, we observed the attentional modulation on the sentential-level tracking being larger for younger than for older ones. Notably, the neuro-behavior analyses showed that subjects' behavioral accuracy was positively correlated with the higher-level linguistic tracking, reversely correlated with the lower-level linguistic tracking. Overall, these results suggest that the enhanced lower-level linguistic tracking, reduced higher-level linguistic tracking and less flexibility of attentional modulation may underpin aging-related decline in speech comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Na Xu
- Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100070, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing 100070, China
| | - Xiaoxiao Qin
- Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100070, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing 100070, China
| | - Ziqi Zhou
- Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100070, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing 100070, China
| | - Wei Shan
- Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100070, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing 100070, China
| | - Jiechuan Ren
- Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100070, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing 100070, China
| | - Chunqing Yang
- Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100070, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing 100070, China
| | - Lingxi Lu
- Center for the Cognitive Science of Language, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Qun Wang
- Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100070, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing 100070, China
- Beijing Institute of Brain Disorders, Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
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21
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Graessner A, Duchow C, Zaccarella E, Friederici AD, Obrig H, Hartwigsen G. Electrophysiological correlates of basic semantic composition in people with aphasia. Neuroimage Clin 2023; 40:103516. [PMID: 37769366 PMCID: PMC10540050 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2023.103516] [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: 05/02/2023] [Revised: 09/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/22/2023] [Indexed: 09/30/2023]
Abstract
The neuroanatomical correlates of basic semantic composition have been investigated in previous neuroimaging and lesion studies, but research on the electrophysiology of the involved processes is scarce. A large literature on sentence-level event-related potentials (ERPs) during semantic processing has identified at least two relevant components - the N400 and the P600. Other studies demonstrated that these components are reduced and/or delayed in people with aphasia (PWA). However, it remains to be shown if these findings generalize beyond the sentence level. Specifically, it is an open question if an alteration in ERP responses in PWA can also be observed during basic semantic composition, providing a potential future diagnostic tool. The present study aimed to elucidate the electrophysiological dynamics of basic semantic composition in a group of post-stroke PWA. We included 20 PWA and 20 age-matched controls (mean age 58 years) and measured ERP responses while they performed a plausibility judgment task on two-word phrases that were either meaningful ("anxious horse"), anomalous ("anxious wood") or had the noun replaced by a pseudoword ("anxious gufel"). The N400 effect for anomalous versus meaningful phrases was similar in both groups. In contrast, unlike the control group, PWA did not show an N400 effect between pseudoword and meaningful phrases. Moreover, both groups exhibited a parietal P600 effect towards pseudoword phrases, while PWA showed an additional P600 over frontal electrodes. Finally, PWA showed an inverse correlation between the magnitude of the N400 and P600 effects: PWA exhibiting no or even reversed N400 effects towards anomalous and pseudoword phrases showed a stronger P600 effect. These results may reflect a compensatory mechanism which allows PWA to arrive at the correct interpretation of the phrase. When compositional processing capacities are impaired in the early N400 time-window, PWA may make use of a more elaborate re-analysis process reflected in the P600.
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Affiliation(s)
- Astrid Graessner
- Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, Leipzig University, Germany; Lise-Meitner Research Group Cognition and Plasticity, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Caroline Duchow
- 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
| | - Angela D Friederici
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Hellmuth Obrig
- Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig, Germany; Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Gesa Hartwigsen
- Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, Leipzig University, Germany; Lise-Meitner Research Group Cognition and Plasticity, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
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22
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Wang J, Wang X, Zou J, Duan J, Shen Z, Xu N, Chen Y, Zhang J, He H, Bi Y, Ding N. Neural substrate underlying the learning of a passage with unfamiliar vocabulary and syntax. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:10036-10046. [PMID: 37491998 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad263] [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: 03/23/2023] [Revised: 06/26/2023] [Accepted: 06/27/2023] [Indexed: 07/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Speech comprehension is a complex process involving multiple stages, such as decoding of phonetic units, recognizing words, and understanding sentences and passages. In this study, we identify cortical networks beyond basic phonetic processing using a novel passage learning paradigm. Participants learn to comprehend a story composed of syllables of their native language, but containing unfamiliar vocabulary and syntax. Three learning methods are employed, each resulting in some degree of learning within a 12-min learning session. Functional magnetic resonance imaging results reveal that, when listening to the same story, the classic temporal-frontal language network is significantly enhanced by learning. Critically, activation of the left anterior and posterior temporal lobe correlates with the learning outcome that is assessed behaviorally through, e.g. word recognition and passage comprehension tests. This study demonstrates that a brief learning session is sufficient to induce neural plasticity in the left temporal lobe, which underlies the transformation from phonetic units to the units of meaning, such as words and sentences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Wang
- Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Center for Brain Imaging Science and Technology, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Xiaosha Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Jiajie Zou
- Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Center for Brain Imaging Science and Technology, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Jipeng Duan
- Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Center for Brain Imaging Science and Technology, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Zhuowen Shen
- Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Center for Brain Imaging Science and Technology, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Nannan Xu
- School of Linguistic Sciences and Arts, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221009, China
| | - Yan Chen
- Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Center for Brain Imaging Science and Technology, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Jianfeng Zhang
- Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Center for Brain Imaging Science and Technology, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Hongjian He
- Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Center for Brain Imaging Science and Technology, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Yanchao Bi
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Nai Ding
- Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Center for Brain Imaging Science and Technology, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
- MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science & Brain-machine Integration, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
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23
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Liu Y, Gao C, Wang P, Friederici AD, Zaccarella E, Chen L. Exploring the neurobiology of Merge at a basic level: insights from a novel artificial grammar paradigm. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1151518. [PMID: 37287773 PMCID: PMC10242141 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1151518] [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: 01/26/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Human language allows us to generate an infinite number of linguistic expressions. It's proposed that this competence is based on a binary syntactic operation, Merge, combining two elements to form a new constituent. An increasing number of recent studies have shifted from complex syntactic structures to two-word constructions to investigate the neural representation of this operation at the most basic level. Methods This fMRI study aimed to develop a highly flexible artificial grammar paradigm for testing the neurobiology of human syntax at a basic level. During scanning, participants had to apply abstract syntactic rules to assess whether a given two-word artificial phrase could be further merged with a third word. To control for lower-level template-matching and working memory strategies, an additional non-mergeable word-list task was set up. Results Behavioral data indicated that participants complied with the experiment. Whole brain and region of interest (ROI) analyses were performed under the contrast of "structure > word-list." Whole brain analysis confirmed significant involvement of the posterior inferior frontal gyrus [pIFG, corresponding to Brodmann area (BA) 44]. Furthermore, both the signal intensity in Broca's area and the behavioral performance showed significant correlations with natural language performance in the same participants. ROI analysis within the language atlas and anatomically defined Broca's area revealed that only the pIFG was reliably activated. Discussion Taken together, these results support the notion that Broca's area, particularly BA 44, works as a combinatorial engine where words are merged together according to syntactic information. Furthermore, this study suggests that the present artificial grammar may serve as promising material for investigating the neurobiological basis of syntax, fostering future cross-species studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Liu
- Max Planck Partner Group, School of International Chinese Language Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Chenyang Gao
- School of Global Education and Development, University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Peng Wang
- Method and Development Group (MEG and Cortical Networks), Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
- Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Angela D. Friederici
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Emiliano Zaccarella
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Luyao Chen
- Max Planck Partner Group, School of International Chinese Language Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Educational System Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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Woolnough O, Donos C, Murphy E, Rollo PS, Roccaforte ZJ, Dehaene S, Tandon N. Spatiotemporally distributed frontotemporal networks for sentence reading. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2300252120. [PMID: 37068244 PMCID: PMC10151604 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2300252120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 04/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Reading a sentence entails integrating the meanings of individual words to infer more complex, higher-order meaning. This highly rapid and complex human behavior is known to engage the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and middle temporal gyrus (MTG) in the language-dominant hemisphere, yet whether there are distinct contributions of these regions to sentence reading is still unclear. To probe these neural spatiotemporal dynamics, we used direct intracranial recordings to measure neural activity while reading sentences, meaning-deficient Jabberwocky sentences, and lists of words or pseudowords. We isolated two functionally and spatiotemporally distinct frontotemporal networks, each sensitive to distinct aspects of word and sentence composition. The first distributed network engages the IFG and MTG, with IFG activity preceding MTG. Activity in this network ramps up over the duration of a sentence and is reduced or absent during Jabberwocky and word lists, implying its role in the derivation of sentence-level meaning. The second network engages the superior temporal gyrus and the IFG, with temporal responses leading those in frontal lobe, and shows greater activation for each word in a list than those in sentences, suggesting that sentential context enables greater efficiency in the lexical and/or phonological processing of individual words. These adjacent, yet spatiotemporally dissociable neural mechanisms for word- and sentence-level processes shed light on the richly layered semantic networks that enable us to fluently read. These results imply distributed, dynamic computation across the frontotemporal language network rather than a clear dichotomy between the contributions of frontal and temporal structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oscar Woolnough
- Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery, McGovern Medical School at UT Health Houston, Houston, TX77030
- Texas Institute for Restorative Neurotechnologies, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX77030
| | - Cristian Donos
- Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery, McGovern Medical School at UT Health Houston, Houston, TX77030
- Faculty of Physics, University of Bucharest, 050663Bucharest, Romania
| | - Elliot Murphy
- Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery, McGovern Medical School at UT Health Houston, Houston, TX77030
- Texas Institute for Restorative Neurotechnologies, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX77030
| | - Patrick S. Rollo
- Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery, McGovern Medical School at UT Health Houston, Houston, TX77030
- Texas Institute for Restorative Neurotechnologies, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX77030
| | - Zachary J. Roccaforte
- Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery, McGovern Medical School at UT Health Houston, Houston, TX77030
- Texas Institute for Restorative Neurotechnologies, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX77030
| | - Stanislas Dehaene
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Université Paris-Saclay, INSERM, CEA, NeuroSpin Center, 91191Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Collège de France, 75005Paris, France
| | - Nitin Tandon
- Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery, McGovern Medical School at UT Health Houston, Houston, TX77030
- Texas Institute for Restorative Neurotechnologies, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX77030
- Memorial Hermann Hospital, Texas Medical Center, Houston, TX77030
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25
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Shekari E, Nozari N. A narrative review of the anatomy and function of the white matter tracts in language production and comprehension. Front Hum Neurosci 2023; 17:1139292. [PMID: 37051488 PMCID: PMC10083342 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1139292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2023] [Accepted: 02/24/2023] [Indexed: 03/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Much is known about the role of cortical areas in language processing. The shift towards network approaches in recent years has highlighted the importance of uncovering the role of white matter in connecting these areas. However, despite a large body of research, many of these tracts’ functions are not well-understood. We present a comprehensive review of the empirical evidence on the role of eight major tracts that are hypothesized to be involved in language processing (inferior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, uncinate fasciculus, extreme capsule, middle longitudinal fasciculus, superior longitudinal fasciculus, arcuate fasciculus, and frontal aslant tract). For each tract, we hypothesize its role based on the function of the cortical regions it connects. We then evaluate these hypotheses with data from three sources: studies in neurotypical individuals, neuropsychological data, and intraoperative stimulation studies. Finally, we summarize the conclusions supported by the data and highlight the areas needing further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ehsan Shekari
- Department of Neuroscience, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Nazbanou Nozari
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
- Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC), Pittsburgh, PA, United States
- *Correspondence: Nazbanou Nozari
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26
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Mak M, Faber M, Willems RM. Different kinds of simulation during literary reading: Insights from a combined fMRI and eye-tracking study. Cortex 2023; 162:115-135. [PMID: 37023479 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.01.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2022] [Revised: 11/02/2022] [Accepted: 01/22/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2023]
Abstract
Mental simulation is an important aspect of narrative reading. In a previous study, we found that gaze durations are differentially impacted by different kinds of mental simulation. Motor simulation, perceptual simulation, and mentalizing as elicited by literary short stories influenced eye movements in distinguishable ways (Mak & Willems, 2019). In the current study, we investigated the existence of a common neural locus for these different kinds of simulation. We additionally investigated whether individual differences during reading, as indexed by the eye movements, are reflected in domain-specific activations in the brain. We found a variety of brain areas activated by simulation-eliciting content, both modality-specific brain areas and a general simulation area. Individual variation in percent signal change in activated areas was related to measures of story appreciation as well as personal characteristics (i.e., transportability, perspective taking). Taken together, these findings suggest that mental simulation is supported by both domain-specific processes grounded in previous experiences, and by the neural mechanisms that underlie higher-order language processing (e.g., situation model building, event indexing, integration).
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Affiliation(s)
- Marloes Mak
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Erasmusplein 1, 6525 HT Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Myrthe Faber
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Department of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg Center for Cognition and Communication, Tilburg University, Warandelaan 2, 5037 AB Tilburg, the Netherlands
| | - Roel M Willems
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Erasmusplein 1, 6525 HT Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, the Netherlands
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27
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Hardy SM, Jensen O, Wheeldon L, Mazaheri A, Segaert K. Modulation in alpha band activity reflects syntax composition: an MEG study of minimal syntactic binding. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:497-511. [PMID: 35311899 PMCID: PMC9890467 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2021] [Revised: 02/06/2022] [Accepted: 02/07/2022] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Successful sentence comprehension requires the binding, or composition, of multiple words into larger structures to establish meaning. Using magnetoencephalography, we investigated the neural mechanisms involved in binding at the syntax level, in a task where contributions from semantics were minimized. Participants were auditorily presented with minimal sentences that required binding (pronoun and pseudo-verb with the corresponding morphological inflection; "she grushes") and pseudo-verb wordlists that did not require binding ("cugged grushes"). Relative to no binding, we found that syntactic binding was associated with a modulation in alpha band (8-12 Hz) activity in left-lateralized language regions. First, we observed a significantly smaller increase in alpha power around the presentation of the target word ("grushes") that required binding (-0.05 to 0.1 s), which we suggest reflects an expectation of binding to occur. Second, during binding of the target word (0.15-0.25 s), we observed significantly decreased alpha phase-locking between the left inferior frontal gyrus and the left middle/inferior temporal cortex, which we suggest reflects alpha-driven cortical disinhibition serving to strengthen communication within the syntax composition neural network. Altogether, our findings highlight the critical role of rapid spatial-temporal alpha band activity in controlling the allocation, transfer, and coordination of the brain's resources during syntax composition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie M Hardy
- Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
| | - Ole Jensen
- Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - Linda Wheeldon
- Department of Foreign Languages and Translations, University of Agder, Kristiansand 4630, Norway
| | - Ali Mazaheri
- Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - Katrien Segaert
- Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
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28
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Schell M, Friederici AD, Zaccarella E. Neural classification maps for distinct word combinations in Broca's area. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:930849. [PMID: 36405085 PMCID: PMC9671167 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.930849] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans are equipped with the remarkable ability to comprehend an infinite number of utterances. Relations between grammatical categories restrict the way words combine into phrases and sentences. How the brain recognizes different word combinations remains largely unknown, although this is a necessary condition for combinatorial unboundedness in language. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and multivariate pattern analysis to explore whether distinct neural populations of a known language network hub-Broca's area-are specialized for recognizing distinct simple word combinations. The phrases consisted of a noun (flag) occurring either with a content word, an adjective (green flag), or with a function word, a determiner (that flag). The key result is that the distribution of neural populations classifying word combination in Broca's area seems sensitive to neuroanatomical subdivisions within this area, irrespective of task. The information patterns for adjective + noun were localized in its anterior part (BA45) whereas those for determiner + noun were localized in its posterior part (BA44). Our findings provide preliminary answers to the fundamental question of how lexical and grammatical category information interact during simple word combination, with the observation that Broca's area is sensitive to the recognition of categorical relationships during combinatory processing, based on different demands placed on syntactic and semantic information. This supports the hypothesis that the combinatorial power of language consists of some neural computation capturing phrasal differences when processing linguistic input.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marianne Schell
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Neuroradiology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Angela D. Friederici
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Emiliano Zaccarella
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
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29
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Syntax through the looking glass: A review on two-word linguistic processing across behavioral, neuroimaging and neurostimulation studies. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 142:104881. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Revised: 09/13/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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30
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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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31
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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: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [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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32
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Pei C, Qiu Y, Li F, Huang X, Si Y, Li Y, Zhang X, Chen C, Liu Q, Cao Z, Ding N, Gao S, Alho K, Yao D, Xu P. The different brain areas occupied for integrating information of hierarchical linguistic units: a study based on EEG and TMS. Cereb Cortex 2022; 33:4740-4751. [PMID: 36178127 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac376] [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: 06/21/2022] [Revised: 08/29/2022] [Accepted: 08/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Human language units are hierarchical, and reading acquisition involves integrating multisensory information (typically from auditory and visual modalities) to access meaning. However, it is unclear how the brain processes and integrates language information at different linguistic units (words, phrases, and sentences) provided simultaneously in auditory and visual modalities. To address the issue, we presented participants with sequences of short Chinese sentences through auditory, visual, or combined audio-visual modalities while electroencephalographic responses were recorded. With a frequency tagging approach, we analyzed the neural representations of basic linguistic units (i.e. characters/monosyllabic words) and higher-level linguistic structures (i.e. phrases and sentences) across the 3 modalities separately. We found that audio-visual integration occurs in all linguistic units, and the brain areas involved in the integration varied across different linguistic levels. In particular, the integration of sentences activated the local left prefrontal area. Therefore, we used continuous theta-burst stimulation to verify that the left prefrontal cortex plays a vital role in the audio-visual integration of sentence information. Our findings suggest the advantage of bimodal language comprehension at hierarchical stages in language-related information processing and provide evidence for the causal role of the left prefrontal regions in processing information of audio-visual sentences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Changfu Pei
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.,School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in BioMedicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China
| | - Yuan Qiu
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.,School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in BioMedicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China
| | - Fali Li
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.,School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in BioMedicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.,Research Unit of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, 2019RU035, Chengdu, China
| | - Xunan Huang
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.,School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in BioMedicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.,School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan, 611731, China
| | - Yajing Si
- School of Psychology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003, China
| | - Yuqin Li
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.,School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in BioMedicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China
| | - Xiabing Zhang
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.,School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in BioMedicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China
| | - Chunli Chen
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.,School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in BioMedicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China
| | - Qiang Liu
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610066, China
| | - Zehong Cao
- STEM, Mawson Lakes Campus, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5095, Australia
| | - Nai Ding
- College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Sciences, Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310007, China
| | - Shan Gao
- School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan, 611731, China
| | - Kimmo Alho
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, FI 00014, Finland
| | - Dezhong Yao
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.,School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in BioMedicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.,Research Unit of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, 2019RU035, Chengdu, China
| | - Peng Xu
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.,School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in BioMedicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.,Research Unit of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Medical Science, 2019RU035, Chengdu, China.,Radiation Oncology Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, 610041, China
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Lo CW, Tung TY, Ke AH, Brennan JR. Hierarchy, Not Lexical Regularity, Modulates Low-Frequency Neural Synchrony During Language Comprehension. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2022; 3:538-555. [PMID: 37215342 PMCID: PMC10158645 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2022] [Accepted: 06/20/2022] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Neural responses appear to synchronize with sentence structure. However, researchers have debated whether this response in the delta band (0.5-3 Hz) really reflects hierarchical information or simply lexical regularities. Computational simulations in which sentences are represented simply as sequences of high-dimensional numeric vectors that encode lexical information seem to give rise to power spectra similar to those observed for sentence synchronization, suggesting that sentence-level cortical tracking findings may reflect sequential lexical or part-of-speech information, and not necessarily hierarchical syntactic information. Using electroencephalography (EEG) data and the frequency-tagging paradigm, we develop a novel experimental condition to tease apart the predictions of the lexical and the hierarchical accounts of the attested low-frequency synchronization. Under a lexical model, synchronization should be observed even when words are reversed within their phrases (e.g., "sheep white grass eat" instead of "white sheep eat grass"), because the same lexical items are preserved at the same regular intervals. Critically, such stimuli are not syntactically well-formed; thus a hierarchical model does not predict synchronization of phrase- and sentence-level structure in the reversed phrase condition. Computational simulations confirm these diverging predictions. EEG data from N = 31 native speakers of Mandarin show robust delta synchronization to syntactically well-formed isochronous speech. Importantly, no such pattern is observed for reversed phrases, consistent with the hierarchical, but not the lexical, accounts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chia-Wen Lo
- Research Group Language Cycles, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Linguistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Tzu-Yun Tung
- Department of Linguistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Alan Hezao Ke
- Department of Linguistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- Department of Linguistics, Languages and Cultures, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
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Yu M, Song Y, Liu J. The posterior middle temporal gyrus serves as a hub in syntactic comprehension: A model on the syntactic neural network. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2022; 232:105162. [PMID: 35908340 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2021] [Revised: 06/18/2022] [Accepted: 07/21/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Neuroimaging studies have revealed a distributed neural network involving multiple fronto-temporal regions that are active during syntactic processing. Here, we investigated how these regions work collaboratively to support syntactic comprehension by examining the behavioral relevance of the global functional integration of the syntax network (SN). We found that individuals with a stronger resting-state within-network integration in the left posterior middle temporal gyrus (lpMTG) were better at syntactic comprehension. Furthermore, the pair-wise functional connectivity between the lpMTG and the Broca's area, the middle frontal gyrus, and the angular and supramarginal gyri was positively correlated with participants' syntactic processing ability. In short, our study reveals the behavioral significance of intrinsic functional integration of the SN in syntactic comprehension, and provides empirical evidence for the hub-like role of the lpMTG. We proposed a neural model for syntactic comprehension highlighting the hub of the SN and its interactions with other regions in the network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengxia Yu
- Bilingual Cognition and Development Lab, Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou 510420, China
| | - Yiying Song
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
| | - Jia Liu
- Department of Psychology & Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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Matchin W, den Ouden DB, Hickok G, Hillis AE, Bonilha L, Fridriksson J. The Wernicke conundrum revisited: evidence from connectome-based lesion-symptom mapping. Brain 2022; 145:3916-3930. [PMID: 35727949 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awac219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2021] [Revised: 05/25/2022] [Accepted: 06/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Wernicke's area has been assumed since the 1800s to be the primary region supporting word and sentence comprehension. However, in 2015 and 2019, Mesulam and colleagues raised what they termed the 'Wernicke conundrum', noting widespread variability in the anatomical definition of this area and presenting data from primary progressive aphasia that challenged this classical assumption. To resolve the conundrum, they posited a 'double disconnection' hypothesis: that word and sentence comprehension deficits in stroke-based aphasia result from disconnection of anterior temporal and inferior frontal regions from other parts of the brain due to white matter damage, rather than dysfunction of Wernicke's area itself. To test this hypothesis, we performed lesion-deficit correlations, including connectome-based lesion-symptom mapping, in four large, partially overlapping groups of English-speaking chronic left hemisphere stroke survivors. After removing variance due to object recognition and associative semantic processing, the same middle and posterior temporal lobe regions were implicated in both word comprehension deficits and complex noncanonical sentence comprehension deficits. Connectome lesion-symptom mapping revealed similar temporal-occipital white matter disconnections for impaired word and noncanonical sentence comprehension, including the temporal pole. We found an additional significant temporal-parietal disconnection for noncanonical sentence comprehension deficits, which may indicate a role for phonological working memory in processing complex syntax, but no significant frontal disconnections. Moreover, damage to these middle-posterior temporal lobe regions was associated with both word and noncanonical sentence comprehension deficits even when accounting for variance due to the strongest anterior temporal and inferior frontal white matter disconnections, respectively. Our results largely agree with the classical notion that Wernicke's area, defined here as middle superior temporal gyrus and middle-posterior superior temporal sulcus, supports both word and sentence comprehension, suggest a supporting role for temporal pole in both word and sentence comprehension, and speak against the hypothesis that comprehension deficits in Wernicke's aphasia result from double disconnection.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Matchin
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
| | - Dirk Bart den Ouden
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
| | - Gregory Hickok
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.,Department of Language Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Argye E Hillis
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.,Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.,Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Leonardo Bonilha
- Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Julius Fridriksson
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
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Riccardi N, Rorden C, Fridriksson J, Desai RH. Canonical Sentence Processing and the Inferior Frontal Cortex: Is There a Connection? NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2022; 3:318-344. [PMID: 37215558 PMCID: PMC10158581 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Accepted: 01/21/2022] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
The role of left inferior frontal cortex (LIFC) in canonical sentence comprehension is controversial. Many studies have found involvement of LIFC in sentence production or complex sentence comprehension, but negative or mixed results are often found in comprehension of simple or canonical sentences. We used voxel-, region-, and connectivity-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM, RLSM, CLSM) in left-hemisphere chronic stroke survivors to investigate canonical sentence comprehension while controlling for lexical-semantic, executive, and phonological processes. We investigated how damage and disrupted white matter connectivity of LIFC and two other language-related regions, the left anterior temporal lobe (LATL) and posterior temporal-inferior parietal area (LpT-iP), affected sentence comprehension. VLSM and RLSM revealed that LIFC damage was not associated with canonical sentence comprehension measured by a sensibility judgment task. LIFC damage was associated instead with impairments in a lexical semantic similarity judgment task with high semantic/executive demands. Damage to the LpT-iP, specifically posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG), predicted worse sentence comprehension after controlling for visual lexical access, semantic knowledge, and auditory-verbal short-term memory (STM), but not auditory single-word comprehension, suggesting pMTG is vital for auditory language comprehension. CLSM revealed that disruption of left-lateralized white-matter connections from LIFC to LATL and LpT-iP was associated with worse sentence comprehension, controlling for performance in tasks related to lexical access, auditory word comprehension, and auditory-verbal STM. However, the LIFC connections were accounted for by the lexical semantic similarity judgment task, which had high semantic/executive demands. This suggests that LIFC connectivity is relevant to canonical sentence comprehension when task-related semantic/executive demands are high.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas Riccardi
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
| | - Chris Rorden
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
- Institute for Mind and Brain, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
| | - Julius Fridriksson
- Institute for Mind and Brain, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
| | - Rutvik H. Desai
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
- Institute for Mind and Brain, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
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37
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Neural segregation in left inferior frontal gyrus of semantic processes at different levels of syntactic hierarchy. Neuropsychologia 2022; 171:108254. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2021] [Revised: 03/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Rødland E, Melleby KM, Specht K. Evaluation of a Simple Clinical Language Paradigm With Respect to Sensory Independency, Functional Asymmetry, and Effective Connectivity. Front Behav Neurosci 2022; 16:806520. [PMID: 35309683 PMCID: PMC8928437 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.806520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2021] [Accepted: 02/10/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The present study replicates a known visual language paradigm, and extends it to a paradigm that is independent from the sensory modality of the stimuli and, hence, could be administered either visually or aurally, such that both patients with limited sight or hearing could be examined. The stimuli were simple sentences, but required the subject not only to understand the content of the sentence but also to formulate a response that had a semantic relation to the content of the presented sentence. Thereby, this paradigm does not only test perception of the stimuli, but also to some extend sentence and semantic processing, and covert speech production within one task. When the sensory base-line condition was subtracted, both the auditory and visual version of the paradigm demonstrated a broadly overlapping and asymmetric network, comprising distinct areas of the left posterior temporal lobe, left inferior frontal areas, left precentral gyrus, and supplementary motor area. The consistency of activations and their asymmetry was evaluated with a conjunction analysis, probability maps, and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). This underlying network was further analyzed with dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to explore whether not only the same brain areas were involved, but also the network structure and information flow were the same between the sensory modalities. In conclusion, the paradigm reliably activated the most central parts of the speech and language network with a great consistency across subjects, and independently of whether the stimuli were administered aurally or visually. However, there was individual variability in the degree of functional asymmetry between the two sensory conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik Rødland
- Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Division of Psychiatry, Department of Child and Adolescent, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
| | - Kathrine Midgaard Melleby
- Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Adult Habilitation Section, Telemark Hospital Skien, Skien, Norway
| | - Karsten Specht
- Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Mohn Medical Imaging and Visualization Centre, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
- Department of Education, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
- *Correspondence: Karsten Specht,
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Matchin W, Basilakos A, Ouden DBD, Stark BC, Hickok G, Fridriksson J. Functional differentiation in the language network revealed by lesion-symptom mapping. Neuroimage 2022; 247:118778. [PMID: 34896587 PMCID: PMC8830186 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2021] [Revised: 11/17/2021] [Accepted: 12/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Theories of language organization in the brain commonly posit that different regions underlie distinct linguistic mechanisms. However, such theories have been criticized on the grounds that many neuroimaging studies of language processing find similar effects across regions. Moreover, condition by region interaction effects, which provide the strongest evidence of functional differentiation between regions, have rarely been offered in support of these theories. Here we address this by using lesion-symptom mapping in three large, partially-overlapping groups of aphasia patients with left hemisphere brain damage due to stroke (N = 121, N = 92, N = 218). We identified multiple measure by region interaction effects, associating damage to the posterior middle temporal gyrus with syntactic comprehension deficits, damage to posterior inferior frontal gyrus with expressive agrammatism, and damage to inferior angular gyrus with semantic category word fluency deficits. Our results are inconsistent with recent hypotheses that regions of the language network are undifferentiated with respect to high-level linguistic processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Matchin
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Discovery 1, Room 202D, 915 Greene St., Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
| | - Alexandra Basilakos
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Discovery 1, Room 202D, 915 Greene St., Columbia, SC 29208, United States
| | - Dirk-Bart den Ouden
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Discovery 1, Room 202D, 915 Greene St., Columbia, SC 29208, United States
| | - Brielle C Stark
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Program in Neuroscience, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, United States
| | - Gregory Hickok
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, Department of Language Science, University of California, Irvine, California, United States
| | - Julius Fridriksson
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Discovery 1, Room 202D, 915 Greene St., Columbia, SC 29208, United States
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40
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Cruz Heredia AAL, Dickerson B, Lau E. Towards Understanding Sustained Neural Activity Across Syntactic Dependencies. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2022; 3:87-108. [PMID: 37215332 PMCID: PMC10158612 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2020] [Accepted: 06/22/2021] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Sustained anterior negativities have been the focus of much neurolinguistics research concerned with the language-memory interface, but what neural computations do they actually reflect? During the comprehension of sentences with long-distance dependencies between elements (such as object wh-questions), prior event-related potential work has demonstrated sustained anterior negativities (SANs) across the dependency region. SANs have been traditionally interpreted as an index of working memory resources responsible for storing the first element (e.g., wh-phrase) until the second element (e.g., verb) is encountered and the two can be integrated. However, it is also known that humans pursue top-down approaches in processing long-distance dependencies-predicting units and structures before actually encountering them. This study tests the hypothesis that SANs are a more general neural index of syntactic prediction. Across three experiments, we evaluated SANs in traditional wh-dependency contrasts, but also in sentences in which subordinating adverbials (e.g., although) trigger a prediction for a second clause, compared to temporal adverbials (e.g., today) that do not. We find no SAN associated with subordinating adverbials, contra the syntactic prediction hypothesis. More surprisingly, we observe SANs across matrix questions but not embedded questions. Since both involved identical long-distance dependencies, these results are also inconsistent with the traditional syntactic working memory account of the SAN. We suggest that a more general hypothesis that sustained neural activity supports working memory can be maintained, however, if the sustained anterior negativity reflects working memory encoding at the non-linguistic discourse representation level, rather than at the sentence level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aura A. L. Cruz Heredia
- Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Bethany Dickerson
- Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
- Department of Linguistics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA
| | - Ellen Lau
- Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
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41
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Parrish A, Pylkkänen L. Conceptual Combination in the LATL With and Without Syntactic Composition. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2022; 3:46-66. [PMID: 37215334 PMCID: PMC10158584 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2021] [Accepted: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
The relationship among syntactic, semantic, and conceptual processes in language comprehension is a central question to the neurobiology of language. Several studies have suggested that conceptual combination in particular can be localized to the left anterior temporal lobe (LATL), while syntactic processes are more often associated with the posterior temporal lobe or inferior frontal gyrus. However, LATL activity can also correlate with syntactic computations, particularly in narrative comprehension. Here we investigated the degree to which LATL conceptual combination is dependent on syntax, specifically asking whether rapid (∼200 ms) magnetoencephalography effects of conceptual combination in the LATL can occur in the absence of licit syntactic phrase closure and in the absence of a semantically plausible output for the composition. We find that such effects do occur: LATL effects of conceptual combination were observed even when there was no syntactic phrase closure or plausible meaning. But syntactic closure did have an additive effect such that LATL signals were the highest for expressions that composed both conceptually and syntactically. Our findings conform to an account in which LATL conceptual composition is influenced by local syntactic composition but is also able to operate without it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alicia Parrish
- Department of Linguistics, New York University, New York, USA
| | - Liina Pylkkänen
- Department of Linguistics, New York University, New York, USA
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, USA
- NYUAD Institute, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
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42
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Sheppard SM, Meier EL, Kim KT, Breining BL, Keator LM, Tang B, Caffo BS, Hillis AE. Neural correlates of syntactic comprehension: A longitudinal study. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2022; 225:105068. [PMID: 34979477 PMCID: PMC9232253 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2021.105068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Revised: 12/18/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Broca's area is frequently implicated in sentence comprehension but its specific role is debated. Most lesion studies have investigated deficits at the chronic stage. We aimed (1) to use acute imaging to predict which left hemisphere stroke patients will recover sentence comprehension; and (2) to better understand the role of Broca's area in sentence comprehension by investigating acute deficits prior to functional reorganization. We assessed comprehension of canonical and noncanonical sentences in 15 patients with left hemisphere stroke at acute and chronic stages. LASSO regression was used to conduct lesion symptom mapping analyses. Patients with more severe word-level comprehension deficits and a greater proportion of damage to supramarginal gyrus and superior longitudinal fasciculus were likely to experience acute deficits prior to functional reorganization. Broca's area was only implicated in chronic deficits. We propose that when temporoparietal regions are damaged, intact Broca's area can support syntactic processing after functional reorganization occurs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shannon M Sheppard
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States; Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Chapman University, Irvine, CA 92618, United States.
| | - Erin L Meier
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States
| | - Kevin T Kim
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States
| | - Bonnie L Breining
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States
| | - Lynsey M Keator
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States
| | - Bohao Tang
- Department of Biostatics, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States
| | - Brian S Caffo
- Department of Biostatics, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States
| | - Argye E Hillis
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States; Department of Cognitive Science, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, United States
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43
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Ma X, Tao Y, Yang Y. Factors inducing complexities in musical embedded structure processing. Neuropsychologia 2022; 169:108153. [PMID: 35114217 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108153] [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: 09/26/2021] [Revised: 12/31/2021] [Accepted: 01/06/2022] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
The organizational structure of music is similar to that found in language, involving a large number of complicated hierarchical and embedded structures. The factors inducing complexities and difficulties in embedded structure processing are important subjects of inquiry in areas of cognitive neuroscience, such as music and language domains. Enlightened by relevant linguistic theories, this study investigated the influence of dependency lengthening and structural shift on musical embedded sequences processing. Results showed that final chords in sequences with long dependence elicited larger ERAN and N5 under near-key shift conditions, while elicited larger ERAN and LPC under far-key shift conditions, when compared to the sequences with short dependence; Further, the final chords in sequences with far-key shift elicited larger N5 under short dependence conditions, while elicited larger LPC under long dependence conditions when compared to the sequences with near-key shift. These results indicate that both dependency lengthening and structure shift could be the factors inducing complexities and difficulties in the processing of musical embedded structures, and there might be some common mechanisms underlying the processing of center-embedded structure across music and language domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xie Ma
- Faculty of Education, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, China; Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Key Laboratory of Educational Informatization for Nationalities, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, China
| | - Yun Tao
- Faculty of Education, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, China; Key Laboratory of Educational Informatization for Nationalities, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, China
| | - Yufang Yang
- Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
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44
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Rootes-Murdy K, Goldsmith DR, Turner JA. Clinical and Structural Differences in Delusions Across Diagnoses: A Systematic Review. Front Integr Neurosci 2022; 15:726321. [PMID: 35140591 PMCID: PMC8818879 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2021.726321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2021] [Accepted: 12/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Delusions are marked, fixed beliefs that are incongruent with reality. Delusions, with comorbid hallucinations, are a hallmark of certain psychotic disorders (e.g., schizophrenia). Delusions can present transdiagnostically, in neurodegenerative (e.g., Alzheimer's disease and fronto-temporal dementia), nervous system disorders (e.g., Parkinson's disease) and across other psychiatric disorders (e.g., bipolar disorder). The burden of delusions is severe and understanding the heterogeneity of delusions may delineate a more valid nosology of not only psychiatric disorders but also neurodegenerative and nervous system disorders. We systematically reviewed structural neuroimaging studies reporting on delusions in four disorder types [schizophrenia (SZ), bipolar disorder (BP), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and Parkinson's disease (PD)] to provide a comprehensive overview of neural changes and clinical presentations associated with delusions. Twenty-eight eligible studies were identified. This review found delusions were most associated with gray matter reductions in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (SZ, BP, and AD), left claustrum (SZ and AD), hippocampus (SZ and AD), insula (SZ, BP, and AD), amygdala (SZ and BP), thalamus (SZ and AD), superior temporal gyrus (SZ, BP, and AD), and middle frontal gyrus (SZ, BP, AD, and PD). However, there was a great deal of variability in the findings of each disorder. There is some support for the current dopaminergic hypothesis of psychosis, but we also propose new hypotheses related to the belief formation network and cognitive biases. We also propose a standardization of assessments to aid future transdiagnostic study approaches. Future studies should explore the neural and biological underpinnings of delusions to hopefully, inform future treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly Rootes-Murdy
- Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United States
- Tri-institutional Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS), Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
- *Correspondence: Kelly Rootes-Murdy
| | - David R. Goldsmith
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Jessica A. Turner
- Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United States
- Tri-institutional Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS), Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
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45
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Zhang W, Xiang M, Wang S. The role of left angular gyrus in the representation of linguistic composition relations. Hum Brain Mapp 2022; 43:2204-2217. [PMID: 35064707 PMCID: PMC8996362 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25781] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2021] [Revised: 12/24/2021] [Accepted: 12/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Language comprehension is compositional: individual words are combined structurally to form larger meaning representations. The neural basis for compositionality is at the center of a growing body of recent research. Previous work has largely used univariate analysis to investigate the question, a technique that could potentially lead to the loss of fined‐grained information due to the procedure of averaging over neural responses. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment, the present study examined different types of composition relations in Chinese phrases, using a 1‐back composition relation probe (CRP) task and a 1‐back word probe (WP) task. We first analyzed the data using the multivariate representation similarity analysis, which better captures the fine‐grained representational differences in the stimuli. The results showed that the left angular gyrus (AG) represents different types of composition relations in the CRP task, but no brain areas were identified in the WP task. We also conducted a traditional univariate analysis and found greater activations in the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus in the CRP task relative to the WP task. We discuss the methodological and theoretical implications of our findings in the context of the larger language neural network identified in previous studies. Our findings highlight the role of left AG in representing and distinguishing fine‐grained linguistic composition relations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenjia Zhang
- Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University) Ministry of Education Guangzhou China
- School of Psychology South China Normal University Guangzhou China
| | - Ming Xiang
- Department of Linguistics University of Chicago Chicago Illinois USA
| | - Suiping Wang
- Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University) Ministry of Education Guangzhou China
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46
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Matchin W, İlkbaşaran D, Hatrak M, Roth A, Villwock A, Halgren E, Mayberry RI. The Cortical Organization of Syntactic Processing Is Supramodal: Evidence from American Sign Language. J Cogn Neurosci 2022; 34:224-235. [PMID: 34964898 PMCID: PMC8764739 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Areas within the left-lateralized neural network for language have been found to be sensitive to syntactic complexity in spoken and written language. Previous research has revealed that these areas are active for sign language as well, but whether these areas are specifically responsive to syntactic complexity in sign language independent of lexical processing has yet to be found. To investigate the question, we used fMRI to neuroimage deaf native signers' comprehension of 180 sign strings in American Sign Language (ASL) with a picture-probe recognition task. The ASL strings were all six signs in length but varied at three levels of syntactic complexity: sign lists, two-word sentences, and complex sentences. Syntactic complexity significantly affected comprehension and memory, both behaviorally and neurally, by facilitating accuracy and response time on the picture-probe recognition task and eliciting a left lateralized activation response pattern in anterior and posterior superior temporal sulcus (aSTS and pSTS). Minimal or absent syntactic structure reduced picture-probe recognition and elicited activation in bilateral pSTS and occipital-temporal cortex. These results provide evidence from a sign language, ASL, that the combinatorial processing of anterior STS and pSTS is supramodal in nature. The results further suggest that the neurolinguistic processing of ASL is characterized by overlapping and separable neural systems for syntactic and lexical processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Matchin
- University of California San Diego
- University of South Carolina, Columbia
| | | | | | | | - Agnes Villwock
- University of California San Diego
- Humboldt University of Berlin
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47
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Ferreira F, Qiu Z. Predicting syntactic structure. Brain Res 2021; 1770:147632. [PMID: 34453937 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2021.147632] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2021] [Revised: 08/20/2021] [Accepted: 08/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Prediction in language processing has been a topic of major interest in psycholinguistics for at least the last two decades, but most investigations focus on semantic rather than syntactic prediction. This review begins with a discussion of some influential models of parsing which assume that comprehenders have the ability to anticipate syntactic nodes, beginning with left-corner parsers and the garden-path model and ending with current information-theoretic approaches that emphasize online probabilistic prediction. We then turn to evidence for the prediction of specific syntactic forms, including coordinate clauses and noun phrases, verb arguments, and individual nouns, as well as studies that use morphosyntactic constraints to assess whether a specific semantic prediction has been made. The last section considers the implications of syntactic prediction for theories of language architecture and describes four avenues for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Zhuang Qiu
- University of California, Davis, United States.
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48
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Giglio L, Ostarek M, Weber K, Hagoort P. Commonalities and Asymmetries in the Neurobiological Infrastructure for Language Production and Comprehension. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:1405-1418. [PMID: 34491301 PMCID: PMC8971077 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2021] [Revised: 07/19/2021] [Accepted: 07/20/2021] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
The neurobiology of sentence production has been largely understudied compared to the neurobiology of sentence comprehension, due to difficulties with experimental control and motion-related artifacts in neuroimaging. We studied the neural response to constituents of increasing size and specifically focused on the similarities and differences in the production and comprehension of the same stimuli. Participants had to either produce or listen to stimuli in a gradient of constituent size based on a visual prompt. Larger constituent sizes engaged the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and middle temporal gyrus (LMTG) extending to inferior parietal areas in both production and comprehension, confirming that the neural resources for syntactic encoding and decoding are largely overlapping. An ROI analysis in LIFG and LMTG also showed that production elicited larger responses to constituent size than comprehension and that the LMTG was more engaged in comprehension than production, while the LIFG was more engaged in production than comprehension. Finally, increasing constituent size was characterized by later BOLD peaks in comprehension but earlier peaks in production. These results show that syntactic encoding and parsing engage overlapping areas, but there are asymmetries in the engagement of the language network due to the specific requirements of production and comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Giglio
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Donders Institute for Cognition, Brain and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Markus Ostarek
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Donders Institute for Cognition, Brain and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Kirsten Weber
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Donders Institute for Cognition, Brain and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Peter Hagoort
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Donders Institute for Cognition, Brain and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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49
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Venezia JH, Richards VM, Hickok G. Speech-Driven Spectrotemporal Receptive Fields Beyond the Auditory Cortex. Hear Res 2021; 408:108307. [PMID: 34311190 PMCID: PMC8378265 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2021.108307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2021] [Revised: 06/15/2021] [Accepted: 06/30/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
We recently developed a method to estimate speech-driven spectrotemporal receptive fields (STRFs) using fMRI. The method uses spectrotemporal modulation filtering, a form of acoustic distortion that renders speech sometimes intelligible and sometimes unintelligible. Using this method, we found significant STRF responses only in classic auditory regions throughout the superior temporal lobes. However, our analysis was not optimized to detect small clusters of STRFs as might be expected in non-auditory regions. Here, we re-analyze our data using a more sensitive multivariate statistical test for cross-subject alignment of STRFs, and we identify STRF responses in non-auditory regions including the left dorsal premotor cortex (dPM), left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and bilateral calcarine sulcus (calcS). All three regions responded more to intelligible than unintelligible speech, but left dPM and calcS responded significantly to vocal pitch and demonstrated strong functional connectivity with early auditory regions. Left dPM's STRF generated the best predictions of activation on trials rated as unintelligible by listeners, a hallmark auditory profile. IFG, on the other hand, responded almost exclusively to intelligible speech and was functionally connected with classic speech-language regions in the superior temporal sulcus and middle temporal gyrus. IFG's STRF was also (weakly) able to predict activation on unintelligible trials, suggesting the presence of a partial 'acoustic trace' in the region. We conclude that left dPM is part of the human dorsal laryngeal motor cortex, a region previously shown to be capable of operating in an 'auditory mode' to encode vocal pitch. Further, given previous observations that IFG is involved in syntactic working memory and/or processing of linear order, we conclude that IFG is part of a higher-order speech circuit that exerts a top-down influence on processing of speech acoustics. Finally, because calcS is modulated by emotion, we speculate that changes in the quality of vocal pitch may have contributed to its response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan H Venezia
- VA Loma Linda Healthcare System, Loma Linda, CA, United States; Dept. of Otolaryngology, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda, CA, United States.
| | - Virginia M Richards
- Depts. of Cognitive Sciences and Language Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Gregory Hickok
- Depts. of Cognitive Sciences and Language Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
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Flick G, Abdullah O, Pylkkänen L. From letters to composed concepts: A magnetoencephalography study of reading. Hum Brain Mapp 2021; 42:5130-5153. [PMID: 34402114 PMCID: PMC8449097 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2020] [Revised: 06/23/2021] [Accepted: 07/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Language comprehension requires the recognition of individual words and the combination of their meanings to yield complex concepts or interpretations. This combinatory process often requires the insertion of unstated semantic material between words, based on thematic or feature knowledge. For example, the phrase horse barn is not interpreted as a blend of a horse and a barn, but specifically a barn where horses are kept. Previous neuroscientific evidence suggests that left posterior and anterior temporal cortex underpin thematic and feature‐based concept knowledge, respectively, but much remains unclear about how these areas contribute to combinatory language processing. Using magnetoencephalography, we contrasted source‐localized responses to modifier‐noun phrases involving thematic relations versus feature modifications, while also examining how lower‐level orthographic processing fed composition. Participants completed three procedures examining responses to letter‐strings, adjective‐noun phrases, and noun–noun combinations that varied the semantic relations between words. We found that sections of the left anterior temporal lobe, posterior temporal lobe, and cortex surrounding the angular gyrus were all engaged in the minimal composition of adjective‐noun phrases, a more distributed network than in most prior studies of minimal composition. Of these regions, only the left posterior temporal lobe was additionally sensitive to implicit thematic relations between composing words, suggesting that it houses a specialized relational processing component in a wider composition network. We additionally identified a left occipitotemporal progression from orthographic to lexical processing, feeding ventral anterior areas engaged in the combination of word meanings. Finally, by examining source signal leakage, we characterized the degree to which these responses could be distinguished from one another using source estimation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Graham Flick
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA.,NYUAD Research Institute, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Osama Abdullah
- NYUAD Research Institute, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Liina Pylkkänen
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA.,NYUAD Research Institute, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.,Department of Linguistics, New York University, New York, New York, USA
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