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Reißner B, Grohmann W, Peiseler N, Pinho J, Hußmann K, Werner CJ, Heim S. Quantifier processing and semantic flexibility in patients with aphasia. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1328853. [PMID: 39100551 PMCID: PMC11294751 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1328853] [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: 10/27/2023] [Accepted: 06/10/2024] [Indexed: 08/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Processing of quantifiers such as "many" and "few" relies on number knowledge, linguistic abilities, and working memory. Negative quantifiers (e.g., "few," "less than half") induce higher processing costs than their positive counterparts. Furthermore, the meaning of some quantifiers is flexible and thus adaptable. Importantly, in neurotypical individuals, changing the meaning of one quantifier also leads to a generalized change in meaning for its polar opposite (e.g., the change of the meaning of "many" leads to the change of that of "few"). Here, we extended this research to patients with fluent and non-fluent aphasia after stroke. In two experiments, participants heard sentences of the type "Many/few of the circles are yellow/blue," each followed by a picture with different quantities of blue and yellow circles. The participants judged whether the sentence adequately described the picture. Each experiment consisted of three blocks: a baseline block to assess the participants' criteria for both quantifiers, a training block to shift the criteria for "many," and a test block, identical to the baseline to capture any changes in quantifier semantics. In Experiment 1, the change of the meaning of "many" was induced by using adaptation to small numbers (20-50%) of circles of the named color. In Experiment 2, explicit feedback was given in the training block after each response to rate proportions of 40% (or higher) as "many," whereas 40% is normally rather rated as "few." The objective was to determine whether people with fluent or non-fluent aphasia were able to process quantifiers appropriately and whether generalized semantic flexibility was present after brain damage. Sixteen out of 21 patients were able to perform the task. People with fluent aphasia showed the expected polarity effect in the reaction times and shifted their criteria for "many" with generalization to the untrained quantifier "few." This effect, however, was only obtained after explicit feedback (Experiment 2) but not by mere adaptation (Experiment 1). In contrast, people with non-fluent aphasia did not change the quantifier semantics in either experiment. This study contributes to gaining new insights into quantifier processing and semantic flexibility in people with aphasia and general underlying processing mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Birte Reißner
- Department of Neurology, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Wiebke Grohmann
- Department of Neurology, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Natalja Peiseler
- Department of Linguistics, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - João Pinho
- Department of Neurology, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Katja Hußmann
- Department of Neurology, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Cornelius J. Werner
- Department of Neurology, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
- Johanniter Hospital Stendal, Stendal, Germany
| | - Stefan Heim
- Department of Neurology, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany
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Szymanik J, Kochari A, Bremnes HS. Questions About Quantifiers: Symbolic and Nonsymbolic Quantity Processing by the Brain. Cogn Sci 2023; 47:e13346. [PMID: 37867321 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13346] [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: 06/08/2020] [Revised: 05/11/2023] [Accepted: 09/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/24/2023]
Abstract
One approach to understanding how the human cognitive system stores and operates with quantifiers such as "some," "many," and "all" is to investigate their interaction with the cognitive mechanisms for estimating and comparing quantities from perceptual input (i.e., nonsymbolic quantities). While a potential link between quantifier processing and nonsymbolic quantity processing has been considered in the past, it has never been discussed extensively. Simultaneously, there is a long line of research within the field of numerical cognition on the relationship between processing exact number symbols (such as "3" or "three") and nonsymbolic quantity. This accumulated knowledge can potentially be harvested for research on quantifiers since quantifiers and number symbols are two different ways of referring to quantity information symbolically. The goal of the present review is to survey the research on the relationship between quantifiers and nonsymbolic quantity processing mechanisms and provide a set of research directions and specific questions for the investigation of quantifier processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakub Szymanik
- Center for Brain/Mind Sciences and the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento
| | - Arnold Kochari
- Institute for Logic, Language, and Computation, University of Amsterdam
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Computational complexity explains neural differences in quantifier verification. Cognition 2022; 223:105013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2021] [Revised: 12/29/2021] [Accepted: 01/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Howard E, Ballinger S, Kinney NG, Balgenorth Y, Ehrhardt A, Phillips JS, Irwin DJ, Grossman M, Cousins KA. Frontal Atrophy and Executive Dysfunction Relate to Complex Numbers Impairment in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. J Alzheimers Dis 2022; 88:1553-1566. [PMID: 35811515 PMCID: PMC9915885 DOI: 10.3233/jad-215327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Previous research finds a range of numbers impairments in Parkinsonian syndromes (PS), but has largely focused on how visuospatial impairments impact deficits in basic numerical processes (e.g., magnitude judgments, chunking). Differentiation between these basic functions and more complex numerical processes often utilized in everyday tasks may help elucidate neurocognitive and neuroanatomic bases of numbers deficits in PS. OBJECTIVE To test neurocognitive and neuroanatomic correlates of complex numerical processing in PS, we assessed number abilities, neuropsychological performance, and cortical thickness in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and Lewy body spectrum disorders (LBSD). METHODS Fifty-six patients (LBSD = 35; PSP = 21) completed a Numbers Battery, including basic and complex numerical tasks. The Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE), letter fluency (LF), and Judgment of Line Orientation (JOLO) assessed global, executive, and visuospatial functioning respectively. Mann-Whitney U tests compared neuropsychological testing and rank-transformed analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) compared numbers performance between groups while adjusting for demographic variables. Spearman's and partial correlations related numbers performance to neuropsychological tasks. Neuroimaging assessed cortical thickness in disease groups and demographically-matched healthy controls. RESULTS PSP had worse complex numbers performance than LBSD (F = 6.06, p = 0.02) but similar basic numbers performance (F = 0.38, p > 0.1), covarying for MMSE and sex. Across syndromes, impaired complex numbers performance was linked to poor LF (rho = 0.34, p = 0.01) but not JOLO (rho = 0.23, p > 0.05). Imaging revealed significant frontal atrophy in PSP compared to controls, which was associated with worse LF and complex numbers performance. CONCLUSION PSP demonstrated selective impairments in complex numbers processing compared to LBSD. This complex numerical deficit may relate to executive dysfunction and frontal atrophy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erica Howard
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA,Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Samantha Ballinger
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA,Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Nikolas G. Kinney
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA,Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Yvonne Balgenorth
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA,Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Annabess Ehrhardt
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA,Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Jeffrey S. Phillips
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA,Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - David J. Irwin
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA,Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA,Digital Neuropathology Laboratory, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Murray Grossman
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA,Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Katheryn A.Q. Cousins
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA,Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA,Correspondence to: Katheryn A.Q. Cousins, PhD, 3400 Spruce St, Department of Neurology, 3W Gates Building, Philadel phia, PA 19104, USA. Tel.: +1 215 349 5863; Fax: +1 215 349 8464;
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Suárez‐González A, Cassani A, Gopalan R, Stott J, Savage S. When it is not primary progressive aphasia: A scoping review of spoken language impairment in other neurodegenerative dementias. ALZHEIMER'S & DEMENTIA (NEW YORK, N. Y.) 2021; 7:e12205. [PMID: 34485677 PMCID: PMC8409087 DOI: 10.1002/trc2.12205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Progressive difficulties with spoken language occur across the spectrum of degenerative dementia. When not a primary presenting and dominant symptom, language difficulties may be overlooked in favor of more prominent cognitive, behavior, or motor deficits. The aim of this scoping review is to examine the extent and nature of the research evidence describing (1) the spoken language impairments found in non-language led dementias, (2) their impact on everyday living, and (3) the reported language interventions. METHODS We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, OVID-EMBASE, PsycINFO, and SpeechBITE using terms related to spoken language for the following dementia types: Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), cortico-basal syndrome (CBS), behavior variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD), posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), and motor neuron disease associated with FTD (MND+FTD). Risk of bias was assessed with the QualSyst tool. RESULTS Seventy-three eligible studies were included. A wide range of spoken language impairments were reported, involving both linguistic (e.g., syntactic processing) and other cognitive (e.g., sustained attention) underlying mechanisms. Although the severity of these deficits was scarcely reported, in some cases they manifested as non-fluent, dynamic, and global aphasias. No papers in the review described either the impact of these language impairments on everyday living or language therapies to treat them. DISCUSSION There is a need to understand better the level of disability produced by language impairment in people living with non-language-led dementias. Our findings suggest three calls for action: (1) research studies should assess the clinical relevance of any spoken language deficits examined, (2) both linguistic and cognitive underlying mechanisms should be fully described (to inform the design of effective language and behavioral interventions), and (3) trials of language therapy should be conducted in those groups of individuals where significant language impairment is proved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aida Suárez‐González
- Dementia Research CentreUCL Queen Square Institute of NeurologyUniversity College LondonLondonUK
| | - Alice Cassani
- Discipline of PsychologyWashington Singer LaboratoriesUniversity of ExeterExeterUK
| | - Ragaviveka Gopalan
- Discipline of PsychologyWashington Singer LaboratoriesUniversity of ExeterExeterUK
| | - Joshua Stott
- Research Department of ClinicalEducational and Health PsychologyUniversity College LondonLondonUK
| | - Sharon Savage
- School of PsychologyUniversity of NewcastleNewcastleNew South WalesAustralia
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Conca F, Borsa VM, Cappa SF, Catricalà E. The multidimensionality of abstract concepts: A systematic review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 127:474-491. [PMID: 33979574 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2020] [Revised: 05/01/2021] [Accepted: 05/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The neuroscientific study of conceptual representation has largely focused on categories of concrete entities (biological entities, tools…), while abstract knowledge has been less extensively investigated. The possible presence of a categorical organization of abstract knowledge is a debated issue. An embodied cognition framework predicts an organization of the abstract domain into different dimensions, grounded in the brain regions engaged by the corresponding experience. Here we review the types of experience that have been proposed to characterize different categories of abstract concepts, and the evidence supporting a corresponding organization derived from behavioural, neuroimaging (i.e., fMRI, MRI, PET, SPECT), EEG, and neurostimulation (i.e., TMS) studies in healthy and clinical populations. The available data provide substantial converging evidence in favour of the presence of distinct neural representations of social and emotional knowledge, mental states and magnitude concepts, engaging brain systems involved in the corresponding experiences. This evidence is supporting an extension of embodied models of semantic memory organization to several types of abstract knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Conca
- Institute for Advanced Studies, IUSS, Pavia, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Istituto Neurologico Casimiro Mondino, Pavia, Italy
| | - V M Borsa
- Università degli Studi di Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
| | - S F Cappa
- Institute for Advanced Studies, IUSS, Pavia, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Istituto Neurologico Casimiro Mondino, Pavia, Italy.
| | - E Catricalà
- Institute for Advanced Studies, IUSS, Pavia, Italy
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Catricalà E, Conca F, Fertonani A, Miniussi C, Cappa SF. State-dependent TMS reveals the differential contribution of ATL and IPS to the representation of abstract concepts related to social and quantity knowledge. Cortex 2020; 123:30-41. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.09.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2019] [Revised: 06/17/2019] [Accepted: 09/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Phillips JS, Da Re F, Dratch L, Xie SX, Irwin DJ, McMillan CT, Vaishnavi SN, Ferrarese C, Lee EB, Shaw LM, Trojanowski JQ, Wolk DA, Grossman M. Neocortical origin and progression of gray matter atrophy in nonamnestic Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiol Aging 2017; 63:75-87. [PMID: 29223682 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2017.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2017] [Revised: 10/27/2017] [Accepted: 11/15/2017] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Amnestic Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by early atrophy of the hippocampus and medial temporal lobes before spreading to the neocortex. In contrast, nonamnestic Alzheimer's patients have relative sparing of the hippocampus, but the pattern in which the disease spreads is unclear. We examined spreading disease in nonamnestic AD using a novel magnetic resonance imaging-based analysis adapted from pathologic staging studies, applied here to cross-sectional imaging data. We selected 240 T1-weighted scans from 129 patients with pathology confirmed by autopsy or cerebrospinal fluid, and atrophy maps were computed relative to 238 scans from 115 elderly controls. For each phenotype, the frequency of atrophy in 116 brain regions was used to infer the anatomical origin of disease and its progression across 4 phases of atrophy. Results from the amnestic cohort were used to determine appropriate parameter settings for the phase assignment algorithm, based on correspondence to Braak pathology staging. Phase 1 regions, which represent the origin of disease, included the hippocampus for the amnestic group (comprising 33 scans); left lateral temporal lobe for logopenic-variant primary progressive aphasia (88 scans); occipitoparietal cortex for posterior cortical atrophy (51 scans); temporoparietal cortex for corticobasal syndrome (31 scans); and frontotemporal cortex for behavioral/dysexecutive variant AD (37 scans). In nonamnestic patients, atrophy spread to other neocortical areas in later phases, but the hippocampus exhibited only late-phase atrophy in posterior cortical atrophy and corticobasal syndrome. Region-specific phase values were also associated with regional measures of tau, beta amyloid, neuronal loss, and gliosis for the subset of patients (n = 17) with neuropathology findings; this comparison represented a first validation of the phase assignment algorithm. We subsequently assigned a phase to each patient scan based on the similarity of regional atrophy patterns with atrophy predicted for the corresponding phenotype at each phase. Scan-specific phases were correlated with disease duration as well as global and domain-specific cognition, supporting these phase values as global estimates of patients' disease progression. Logistic regression models based on spatial overlap with model-predicted atrophy patterns reliably discriminated nonamnestic phenotypes from each other and from amnestic AD. The frequency-based phase assignment algorithm used in the present study thus represents a promising approach for studying the neocortical origin and spread of disease in nonamnestic AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey S Phillips
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
| | - Fulvio Da Re
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; PhD Program in Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy; School of Medicine and Surgery, Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMI), University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Laynie Dratch
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Sharon X Xie
- Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - David J Irwin
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Corey T McMillan
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Sanjeev N Vaishnavi
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Carlo Ferrarese
- School of Medicine and Surgery, Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMI), University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Edward B Lee
- Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Leslie M Shaw
- Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - John Q Trojanowski
- Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - David A Wolk
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Penn Memory Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Murray Grossman
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
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McMillan CT, Boyd C, Gross RG, Weinstein J, Firn K, Toledo JB, Rascovsky K, Shaw L, Wolk DA, Irwin DJ, Lee EB, Trojanowski JQ, Grossman M. Multimodal imaging evidence of pathology-mediated disease distribution in corticobasal syndrome. Neurology 2016; 87:1227-34. [PMID: 27543644 DOI: 10.1212/wnl.0000000000003119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2015] [Accepted: 06/07/2016] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To use multimodal neuroimaging to evaluate the influence of heterogeneous underlying pathology in corticobasal syndrome (CBS) on the neuroanatomical distribution of disease. METHODS We performed a retrospective evaluation of 35 patients with CBS with T1-weighted MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, and neuropathologic, genetic, or CSF evidence of underlying pathology. Patients were assigned to 2 groups: those with evidence of Alzheimer pathology (CBS-AD) and those without Alzheimer pathology (CBS-non-AD). Group comparisons of CBS-AD and CBS-non-AD assessed clinical features, gray matter (GM) cortical thickness, and white matter (WM) fractional anisotropy. RESULTS CBS-AD was found in 34% (n = 12) and CBS-non-AD in 66% (n = 23) of CBS patients. Clinical evaluations revealed that CBS-non-AD had a higher frequency of asymmetric rigidity compared to CBS-AD, but groups otherwise did not differ in dementia severity, impairments in cognition, or rates of extrapyramidal symptoms. We found frontoparietal GM and WM disease in each group compared to healthy, demographically comparable controls, as well as multimodal neuroimaging evidence of a double dissociation: CBS-non-AD had WM disease in the corpus callosum, corticospinal tract, and superior longitudinal fasciculus relative to CBS-AD, and CBS-AD had reduced temporoparietal GM relative to CBS-non-AD, including the precuneus and posterior cingulate. CONCLUSIONS Patients with CBS have a pathology-mediated dissociation of GM and WM disease. Multimodality neuroimaging may be useful for improving in vivo pathologic diagnosis of CBS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Corey T McMillan
- From the Department of Neurology (C.T.M., C.B., R.G.G., J.W., K.F., K.R., D.A.W., D.J.I., M.G.) and Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (J.B.T., L.S., D.J.I., E.B.L., J.Q.T.), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
| | - Clara Boyd
- From the Department of Neurology (C.T.M., C.B., R.G.G., J.W., K.F., K.R., D.A.W., D.J.I., M.G.) and Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (J.B.T., L.S., D.J.I., E.B.L., J.Q.T.), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
| | - Rachel G Gross
- From the Department of Neurology (C.T.M., C.B., R.G.G., J.W., K.F., K.R., D.A.W., D.J.I., M.G.) and Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (J.B.T., L.S., D.J.I., E.B.L., J.Q.T.), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
| | - Jessica Weinstein
- From the Department of Neurology (C.T.M., C.B., R.G.G., J.W., K.F., K.R., D.A.W., D.J.I., M.G.) and Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (J.B.T., L.S., D.J.I., E.B.L., J.Q.T.), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
| | - Kim Firn
- From the Department of Neurology (C.T.M., C.B., R.G.G., J.W., K.F., K.R., D.A.W., D.J.I., M.G.) and Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (J.B.T., L.S., D.J.I., E.B.L., J.Q.T.), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
| | - Jon B Toledo
- From the Department of Neurology (C.T.M., C.B., R.G.G., J.W., K.F., K.R., D.A.W., D.J.I., M.G.) and Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (J.B.T., L.S., D.J.I., E.B.L., J.Q.T.), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
| | - Katya Rascovsky
- From the Department of Neurology (C.T.M., C.B., R.G.G., J.W., K.F., K.R., D.A.W., D.J.I., M.G.) and Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (J.B.T., L.S., D.J.I., E.B.L., J.Q.T.), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
| | - Leslie Shaw
- From the Department of Neurology (C.T.M., C.B., R.G.G., J.W., K.F., K.R., D.A.W., D.J.I., M.G.) and Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (J.B.T., L.S., D.J.I., E.B.L., J.Q.T.), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
| | - David A Wolk
- From the Department of Neurology (C.T.M., C.B., R.G.G., J.W., K.F., K.R., D.A.W., D.J.I., M.G.) and Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (J.B.T., L.S., D.J.I., E.B.L., J.Q.T.), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
| | - David J Irwin
- From the Department of Neurology (C.T.M., C.B., R.G.G., J.W., K.F., K.R., D.A.W., D.J.I., M.G.) and Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (J.B.T., L.S., D.J.I., E.B.L., J.Q.T.), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
| | - Edward B Lee
- From the Department of Neurology (C.T.M., C.B., R.G.G., J.W., K.F., K.R., D.A.W., D.J.I., M.G.) and Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (J.B.T., L.S., D.J.I., E.B.L., J.Q.T.), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
| | - John Q Trojanowski
- From the Department of Neurology (C.T.M., C.B., R.G.G., J.W., K.F., K.R., D.A.W., D.J.I., M.G.) and Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (J.B.T., L.S., D.J.I., E.B.L., J.Q.T.), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
| | - Murray Grossman
- From the Department of Neurology (C.T.M., C.B., R.G.G., J.W., K.F., K.R., D.A.W., D.J.I., M.G.) and Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (J.B.T., L.S., D.J.I., E.B.L., J.Q.T.), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
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Ash S, Ternes K, Bisbing T, Min NE, Moran E, York C, McMillan CT, Irwin DJ, Grossman M. Dissociation of quantifiers and object nouns in speech in focal neurodegenerative disease. Neuropsychologia 2016; 89:141-152. [PMID: 27301638 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.06.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2015] [Revised: 06/10/2016] [Accepted: 06/10/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Quantifiers such as many and some are thought to depend in part on the conceptual representation of number knowledge, while object nouns such as cookie and boy appear to depend in part on visual feature knowledge associated with object concepts. Further, number knowledge is associated with a frontal-parietal network while object knowledge is related in part to anterior and ventral portions of the temporal lobe. We examined the cognitive and anatomic basis for the spontaneous speech production of quantifiers and object nouns in non-aphasic patients with focal neurodegenerative disease associated with corticobasal syndrome (CBS, n=33), behavioral variant frontotemporal degeneration (bvFTD, n=54), and semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA, n=19). We recorded a semi-structured speech sample elicited from patients and healthy seniors (n=27) during description of the Cookie Theft scene. We observed a dissociation: CBS and bvFTD were significantly impaired in the production of quantifiers but not object nouns, while svPPA were significantly impaired in the production of object nouns but not quantifiers. MRI analysis revealed that quantifier production deficits in CBS and bvFTD were associated with disease in a frontal-parietal network important for number knowledge, while impaired production of object nouns in all patient groups was related to disease in inferior temporal regions important for representations of visual feature knowledge of objects. These findings imply that partially dissociable representations in semantic memory may underlie different segments of the lexicon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharon Ash
- Department of Neurology and the Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
| | - Kylie Ternes
- Department of Neurology and the Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
| | - Teagan Bisbing
- Department of Neurology and the Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
| | - Nam Eun Min
- Department of Neurology and the Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
| | - Eileen Moran
- Department of Neurology and the Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
| | - Collin York
- Department of Neurology and the Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
| | - Corey T McMillan
- Department of Neurology and the Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
| | - David J Irwin
- Department of Neurology and the Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States; Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
| | - Murray Grossman
- Department of Neurology and the Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
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11
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Heim S, McMillan CT, Clark R, Baehr L, Ternes K, Olm C, Min NE, Grossman M. How the brain learns how few are "many": An fMRI study of the flexibility of quantifier semantics. Neuroimage 2015; 125:45-52. [PMID: 26481678 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.10.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2015] [Revised: 08/18/2015] [Accepted: 10/14/2015] [Indexed: 10/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous work has shown that the meaning of a quantifier such as "many" or "few" depends in part on quantity. However, the meaning of a quantifier may vary depending on the context, e.g. in the case of common entities such as "many ants" (perhaps several thousands) compared to endangered species such as "many pandas" (perhaps a dozen). In a recent study (Heim et al., 2015 Front. Psychol.) we demonstrated that the relative meaning of "many" and "few" may be changed experimentally. In a truth value judgment task, displays with 40% of circles in a named color initially had a low probability of being labeled "many". After a training phase, the likelihood of acceptance 40% as "many" increased. Moreover, the semantic learning effect also generalized to the related quantifier "few" which had not been mentioned in the training phase. Thus, fewer 40% arrays were considered "few." In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that this semantic adaptation effect was supported by cytoarchitectonic Brodmann area (BA) 45 in Broca's region which may contribute to semantic evaluation in the context of language and quantification. In an event-related fMRI study, 17 healthy volunteers performed the same paradigm as in the previous behavioral study. We found a relative signal increase when comparing the critical, trained proportion to untrained proportions. This specific effect was found in left BA 45 for the trained quantifier "many", and in left BA 44 for both quantifiers, reflecting the semantic adjustment for the untrained but related quantifier "few." These findings demonstrate the neural basis for processing the flexible meaning of a quantifier, and illustrate the neuroanatomical structures that contribute to variable meanings that can be associated with a word when used in different contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Heim
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany;; Research Centre Jülich, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Jülich, Germany; JARA - Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Germany.
| | - Corey T McMillan
- University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Neurology and Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Philadelphia, USA
| | - Robin Clark
- University of Pennsylvania, Department of Linguistics, USA
| | - Laura Baehr
- University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Neurology and Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Philadelphia, USA
| | - Kylie Ternes
- University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Neurology and Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Philadelphia, USA
| | - Christopher Olm
- University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Neurology and Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Philadelphia, USA
| | - Nam Eun Min
- University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Neurology and Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Philadelphia, USA
| | - Murray Grossman
- University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Neurology and Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Philadelphia, USA
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12
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Bisbing TA, Olm CA, McMillan CT, Rascovsky K, Baehr L, Ternes K, Irwin DJ, Clark R, Grossman M. Estimating frontal and parietal involvement in cognitive estimation: a study of focal neurodegenerative diseases. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:317. [PMID: 26089786 PMCID: PMC4454843 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2015] [Accepted: 05/18/2015] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
We often estimate an unknown value based on available relevant information, a process known as cognitive estimation. In this study, we assess the cognitive and neuroanatomic basis for quantitative estimation by examining deficits in patients with focal neurodegenerative disease in frontal and parietal cortex. Executive function and number knowledge are key components in cognitive estimation. Prefrontal cortex has been implicated in multilevel reasoning and planning processes, and parietal cortex has been associated with number knowledge required for such estimations. We administered the Biber cognitive estimation test (BCET) to assess cognitive estimation in 22 patients with prefrontal disease due to behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), to 17 patients with parietal disease due to corticobasal syndrome (CBS) or posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) and 11 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Both bvFTD and CBS/PCA patients had significantly more difficulty with cognitive estimation than controls. MCI were not impaired on BCET relative to controls. Regression analyses related BCET performance to gray matter atrophy in right lateral prefrontal and orbital frontal cortices in bvFTD, and to atrophy in right inferior parietal cortex, right insula, and fusiform cortices in CBS/PCA. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that a frontal-parietal network plays a crucial role in cognitive estimation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teagan A Bisbing
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA
| | - Christopher A Olm
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA
| | - Corey T McMillan
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA
| | - Katya Rascovsky
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA
| | - Laura Baehr
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA
| | - Kylie Ternes
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA
| | - David J Irwin
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA
| | - Robin Clark
- Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA
| | - Murray Grossman
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA
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13
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Heim S, McMillan CT, Clark R, Golob S, Min NE, Olm C, Powers J, Grossman M. If so many are "few," how few are "many"? Front Psychol 2015; 6:441. [PMID: 25941502 PMCID: PMC4400858 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2015] [Accepted: 03/28/2015] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The scope of reference of a word's meaning can be highly variable. We present a novel paradigm to investigate the flexible interpretation of word meaning. We focus on quantifiers such as “many” or “few,” a class of words that depends on number knowledge but can be interpreted in a flexible manner. Healthy young adults performed a truth value judgment task on pictorial arrays of varying amounts of blue and yellow circles, deciding whether the sentence “Many/few of the circles are yellow” was an adequate description of the stimulus. The study consisted of two experiments, one focusing on “many,” one on “few.” Each experiment had three blocks. In a first “baseline” block, each individual's criterion for “many” and “few” was assessed. In a second “adaptation” block, subjects received feedback about their decisions that was different from their initial judgments in an effort to evaluate the flexibility of a subject's interpretation. A third “test” block assessed whether adaptation of quantifier meaning induced in block 2 then was generalized to alter a subject's baseline meaning for “many” and “few.” In Experiment 1, a proportion of yellow circles as small as 40% was reinforced as “many”; in Experiment 2, a proportion of yellow circles as large as 60% was reinforced as “few.” Subjects learned the new criterion for “many” in Experiment 1, which also affected their criterion for “few” although it had never been mentioned. Likewise, in Experiment 2, subjects changed their criterion for “few,” with a comparable effect on the criterion for “many” which was not mentioned. Thus, the meaning of relational quantifiers like “many” and “few” is flexible and can be adapted. Most importantly, adapting the criterion for one quantifier (e.g., “many”) also appeared to affect the reciprocal quantifier (in this case, “few”). Implications of this result for psychological interventions and for investigations of the neurobiology of the language-number interface are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Heim
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen Aachen, Germany ; Research Centre Jülich, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1) Jülich, Germany ; Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA) - Translational Brain Medicine Aachen, Germany
| | - Corey T McMillan
- Department of Neurology, Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Robin Clark
- Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Stephanie Golob
- Department of Neurology, Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Nam E Min
- Department of Neurology, Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Christopher Olm
- Department of Neurology, Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - John Powers
- Department of Neurology, Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Murray Grossman
- Department of Neurology, Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Philadelphia, PA, USA
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14
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Mathieu R, Booth JR, Prado J. Distributed neural representations of logical arguments in school-age children. Hum Brain Mapp 2014; 36:996-1009. [PMID: 25355487 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22681] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2014] [Revised: 09/18/2014] [Accepted: 10/21/2014] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Children's understanding of linear-order (e.g., Dan is taller than Lisa, Lisa is taller than Jess) and set-inclusion (i.e., All tulips are flowers, All flowers are plants) relationships is critical for the acquisition of deductive reasoning, that is, the ability to reach logically valid conclusions from given premises. Behavioral and neuroimaging studies in adults suggest processing differences between these relations: While arguments that involve linear-orders may be preferentially associated with spatial processing, arguments that involve set-inclusions may be preferentially associated with verbal processing. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate whether these processing differences appear during the period of elementary school in development. Consistent with previous studies in adults, we found that arguments that involve linear-order and set-inclusion relationships preferentially involve spatial and verbal brain mechanisms (respectively) in school-age children (9-14 year olds). Because this neural sensitivity was not related to age, it likely emerges before the period of elementary education. However, the period of elementary education might play an important role in shaping the neural processing of logical reasoning, as indicated by developmental changes in frontal and parietal regions that were dependent on the type of relation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romain Mathieu
- Laboratoire Langage, Cerveau et Cognition (L2C2), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) & Université de Lyon, 69675, Bron, France
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15
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Spotorno N, McMillan CT, Powers JP, Clark R, Grossman M. Counting or chunking? Mathematical and heuristic abilities in patients with corticobasal syndrome and posterior cortical atrophy. Neuropsychologia 2014; 64:176-83. [PMID: 25278132 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.09.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2014] [Revised: 09/15/2014] [Accepted: 09/17/2014] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
A growing amount of empirical data is showing that the ability to manipulate quantities in a precise and efficient fashion is rooted in cognitive mechanisms devoted to specific aspects of numbers processing. The analog number system (ANS) has a reasonable representation of quantities up to about 4, and represents larger quantities on the basis of a numerical ratio between quantities. In order to represent the precise cardinality of a number, the ANS may be supported by external algorithms such as language, leading to a "precise number system". In the setting of limited language, other number-related systems can appear. For example the parallel individuation system (PIS) supports a "chunking mechanism" that clusters units of larger numerosities into smaller subsets. In the present study we investigated number processing in non-aphasic patients with corticobasal syndrome (CBS) and posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), two neurodegenerative conditions that are associated with progressive parietal atrophy. The present study investigated these number systems in CBS and PCA by assessing the property of the ANS associated with smaller and larger numerosities, and the chunking property of the PIS. The results revealed that CBS/PCA patients are impaired in simple calculations (e.g., addition and subtraction) and that their performance strongly correlates with the size of the numbers involved in these calculations, revealing a clear magnitude effect. This magnitude effect was correlated with gray matter atrophy in parietal regions. Moreover, a numeral-dots transcoding task showed that CBS/PCA patients were able to take advantage of clustering in the spatial distribution of the dots of the array. The relative advantage associated with chunking compared to a random spatial distribution correlated with both parietal and prefrontal regions. These results shed light on the properties of systems for representing number knowledge in non-aphasic patients with CBS and PCA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicola Spotorno
- University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Corey T McMillan
- University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - John P Powers
- University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Robin Clark
- University of Pennsylvania, Department of Linguistics, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Murray Grossman
- University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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16
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Olm CA, McMillan CT, Spotorno N, Clark R, Grossman M. The relative contributions of frontal and parietal cortex for generalized quantifier comprehension. Front Hum Neurosci 2014; 8:610. [PMID: 25147520 PMCID: PMC4124462 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2014] [Accepted: 07/21/2014] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Quantifiers, like “some” or “few,” are frequent in daily language. Linguists posit at least three distinct classes of quantifiers: cardinal quantifiers that rely on numerosity, majority quantifiers that additionally depend on executive resources, and logical quantifiers that rely on perceptual attention. We used BOLD fMRI to investigate the roles of frontal and parietal regions in quantifier comprehension. Participants performed a sentence-picture verification task to determine whether a sentence containing a quantifier accurately describes a picture. A whole-brain analysis identified a network involved in quantifier comprehension: This implicated bilateral inferior parietal, superior parietal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, and right inferior frontal cortex. We then performed region-of-interest analyses to assess the relative contribution of each region for each quantifier class. Inferior parietal cortex was equally activated across all quantifier classes, consistent with prior studies implicating the region for quantifier comprehension due in part to its role in the representation of number knowledge. Right superior parietal cortex was up-regulated in comparison to frontal regions for cardinal and logical quantifiers, but parietal and frontal regions were equally activated for majority quantifiers and each frontal region is most highly activated for majority quantifiers. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that majority quantifiers rely on numerosity mechanisms in parietal cortex and executive mechanisms in frontal cortex. Also, right inferior frontal cortex was up-regulated for logical compared to cardinal quantifiers, which may be related to selection demands associated with logical quantifier comprehension. We conclude that distinct components of a large-scale fronto-parietal network contribute to specific aspects of quantifier comprehension, and that this biologically defined network is consistent with cognitive theories of quantifier meaning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher A Olm
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Corey T McMillan
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Nicola Spotorno
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Robin Clark
- Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Murray Grossman
- Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA
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17
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Numerical processing in the human parietal cortex during experimental and natural conditions. Nat Commun 2014; 4:2528. [PMID: 24129341 PMCID: PMC3826627 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2013] [Accepted: 08/30/2013] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Human cognition is traditionally studied in experimental conditions wherein confounding complexities of the natural environment are intentionally eliminated. Thus, it remains unknown how a brain region involved in a particular experimental condition is engaged in natural conditions. Here we use electrocorticography to address this uncertainty in three participants implanted with intracranial electrodes and identify activations of neuronal populations within the intraparietal sulcus region during an experimental arithmetic condition. In a subsequent analysis, we report that the same intraparietal sulcus neural populations are activated when participants, engaged in social conversations, refer to objects with numerical content. Our prototype approach provides a means for both exploring human brain dynamics as they unfold in complex social settings and reconstructing natural experiences from recorded brain signals. Human neuronal activity during cognitive processing is usually studied under experimental conditions but activity under natural conditions is poorly understood. Here the authors develop a method to accurately characterize the activity of the same neuronal population under both conditions.
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18
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Cheng D, Zhou A, Yu X, Chen C, Jia J, Zhou X. Quantifier processing can be dissociated from numerical processing: evidence from semantic dementia patients. Neuropsychologia 2013; 51:2172-83. [PMID: 23867350 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2013] [Revised: 06/21/2013] [Accepted: 07/04/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Quantifiers such as frequency adverbs (e.g., "always", "never") and quantity pronouns (e.g., "many", "none") convey quantity information. Whether quantifiers are processed as numbers or as general semantics has been a matter of much debate. Some neuropsychological and fMRI studies have found that the processing of quantifiers depends on the numerical magnitude comprehension system, but others have found that quantifier processing is associated with semantic representation. The selective impairment of language in semantic dementia patients provides a way to examine the above controversy. We administered a series of neuropsychological tests (i.e., language processing, numerical processing and semantic distance judgment) to two patients with different levels of severity in semantic dementia (mild vs. severe). The results showed that the two patients had intact numerical knowledge, but impairments in semantic processing. Moreover, the patient with severe/late semantic dementia showed more impairment in quantifier and semantic processing than the patient with mild/early semantic dementia. We concluded that quantifier processing is associated with general semantic processing, not with numerical processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dazhi Cheng
- National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
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19
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Grossman M. Multimodal comparative studies of neurodegenerative diseases. J Alzheimers Dis 2013; 33 Suppl 1:S379-83. [PMID: 22531420 DOI: 10.3233/jad-2012-129002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Here we provide a brief description of our program to improve diagnostic accuracy in cases with phenotypically similar presentations that are due to distinct histopathologic abnormalities. We propose a staged approach to diagnosis, beginning with a screening assessment of specific, quantitative neuropsychological measures, and followed by assessments of imaging and biofluid biomarkers. Our goal is to determine the specific histopathologic abnormalities contributing to an individual's neurodegenerative condition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Murray Grossman
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4283, USA.
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20
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McMillan CT, Coleman D, Clark R, Liang TW, Gross RG, Grossman M. Converging evidence for the processing costs associated with ambiguous quantifier comprehension. Front Psychol 2013; 4:153. [PMID: 23565102 PMCID: PMC3613595 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2012] [Accepted: 03/11/2013] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Traditional neuroanatomic models of language comprehension have emphasized a core language network situated in peri-Sylvian cortex. More recent evidence appears to extend the neuroanatomic network beyond peri-Sylvian cortex to encompass other aspects of sentence processing. In this study, we evaluate the neuroanatomic basis for processing the ambiguity in doubly-quantified sentences. For example, a sentence like "All the dogs jumped in a lake" can be interpreted with a collective interpretation (e.g., several dogs jumping into a single lake) or a distributive interpretation (e.g., several dogs each jumping into a different lake). In Experiment 1, we used BOLD fMRI to investigate neuroanatomic recruitment by young adults during the interpretation of ambiguous doubly-quantified sentences in a sentence-picture verification task. We observed that young adults exhibited a processing cost associated with interpreting ambiguous sentences and this was related to frontal and parietal cortex recruitment. In Experiment 2, we investigate ambiguous sentence processing with the identical materials in non-aphasic patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) who have frontal cortex disease and executive and decision-making limitations. bvFTD patients are insensitive to ambiguity associated with doubly-quantified sentences, and this is related to the magnitude of their frontal cortex disease. These studies provide converging evidence that cortical regions that extend beyond peri-Sylvian cortex help support the processing costs associated with the interpretation of ambiguous doubly-quantified sentences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Corey T McMillan
- Frontotemporal Degeneration Center, Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA
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21
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Wei W, Chen C, Yang T, Zhang H, Zhou X. Dissociated neural correlates of quantity processing of quantifiers, numbers, and numerosities. Hum Brain Mapp 2012; 35:444-54. [PMID: 23019128 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2012] [Revised: 08/07/2012] [Accepted: 08/14/2012] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Quantities can be represented using either mathematical language (i.e., numbers) or natural language (i.e., quantifiers). Previous studies have shown that numerical processing elicits greater activation in the brain regions around the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) relative to other semantic processes. However, little research has been conducted to investigate whether the IPS is also critical for the semantic processing of quantifiers in natural language. In this study, 20 adults were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging while they performed semantic distance judgment involving six types of materials (i.e., frequency adverbs, quantity pronouns and nouns, animal names, Arabic digits, number words, and dot arrays). Conjunction analyses of brain activation showed that numbers and dot arrays elicited greater activation in the right IPS than did words (i.e., animal names) or quantifiers (i.e., frequency adverbs and quantity pronouns and nouns). Quantifiers elicited more activation in left middle temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus than did numbers and dot arrays. No differences were found between quantifiers and animal names. These findings suggest that, although quantity processing for numbers and dot arrays typically relies on the right IPS region, quantity processing for quantifiers typically relies on brain regions for general semantic processing. Thus, the IPS does not appear to be the only brain region for quantity processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Wei
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, People's Republic of China
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