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Larionova E, Garakh Z. Spelling principles matter: An ERP study investigating the processing of different types of pseudohomophones. Brain Res 2024; 1839:149012. [PMID: 38772521 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2024.149012] [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: 02/28/2024] [Revised: 05/15/2024] [Accepted: 05/16/2024] [Indexed: 05/23/2024]
Abstract
Spelling in any writing system is governed by fundamental principles. We examined the processing of two types of pseudohomophones constructed from words whose spellings are based on different principles - on the traditional principle of writing, requiring memorization of their spelling, and on the morphological principle, allowing the determination of their spelling from another word with the same morpheme (root) to examine the dependence of the occurrence of orthography-phonology conflict on spelling principles. Event-related potentials were recorded from 22 volunteers during silent reading. Pseudohomophones based on the morphological principle increased the N400 amplitude, emphasizing semantic and morphological processing importance. The P600 component showed significant effects for differentiating words and pseudohomophones based on the traditional principle, predominantly indicating the involvement of memory and reanalysis processes. Source reconstruction demonstrates that both pseudohomophones activate the left inferior frontal gyrus. However, pseudohomophones based on the traditional principle additionally activate the right and left postcentral gyrus, indicating the involvement of additional areas in the differentiation process. The earlier differences for stimuli based on the morphological principle indicate access to smaller units (morphemes), whereas stimuli based on the traditional principle require whole word processing. Our findings underscore the significant role of spelling principles in orthographic processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ekaterina Larionova
- Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation.
| | - Zhanna Garakh
- Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation
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2
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Eggleston RL, Marks RA, Sun X, Yu CL, Zhang K, Nickerson N, Hu X, Caruso V, Kovelman I. Lexical Morphology as a Source of Risk and Resilience for Learning to Read With Dyslexia: An fNIRS Investigation. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2024; 67:2269-2282. [PMID: 38924392 PMCID: PMC11253800 DOI: 10.1044/2024_jslhr-23-00293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Revised: 11/03/2023] [Accepted: 03/27/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE We examined the neurocognitive bases of lexical morphology in children of varied reading abilities to understand the role of meaning-based skills in learning to read with dyslexia. METHOD Children completed auditory morphological and phonological awareness tasks during functional near-infrared spectroscopy neuroimaging. We first examined the relation between lexical morphology and phonological processes in typically developing readers (Study 1, N = 66, Mage = 8.39), followed by a more focal inquiry into lexical morphology processes in dyslexia (Study 2, N = 50, Mage = 8.62). RESULTS Typical readers exhibited stronger engagement of language neurocircuitry during the morphology task relative to the phonology task, suggesting that morphological analyses involve synthesizing multiple components of sublexical processing. This effect was stronger for more analytically complex derivational affixes (like + ly) than more semantically transparent free base morphemes (snow + man). In contrast, children with dyslexia exhibited stronger activation during the free base condition relative to derivational affix condition. Taken together, the findings suggest that although children with dyslexia may struggle with derivational morphology, they may also use free base morphemes' semantic information to boost word recognition. CONCLUSION This study informs literacy theories by identifying an interaction between reading ability, word structure, and how the developing brain learns to recognize words in speech and print. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25944949.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rebecca A. Marks
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
| | - Xin Sun
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Chi-Lin Yu
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
| | - Kehui Zhang
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
- Division of Arts and Sciences, New York University Shanghai, Shanghai, China
| | - Nia Nickerson
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
| | - Xiaosu Hu
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
| | - Valeria Caruso
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
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3
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Gwilliams L, Marantz A, Poeppel D, King JR. Hierarchical dynamic coding coordinates speech comprehension in the brain. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.19.590280. [PMID: 38659750 PMCID: PMC11042271 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.19.590280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
Speech comprehension requires the human brain to transform an acoustic waveform into meaning. To do so, the brain generates a hierarchy of features that converts the sensory input into increasingly abstract language properties. However, little is known about how these hierarchical features are generated and continuously coordinated. Here, we propose that each linguistic feature is dynamically represented in the brain to simultaneously represent successive events. To test this 'Hierarchical Dynamic Coding' (HDC) hypothesis, we use time-resolved decoding of brain activity to track the construction, maintenance, and integration of a comprehensive hierarchy of language features spanning acoustic, phonetic, sub-lexical, lexical, syntactic and semantic representations. For this, we recorded 21 participants with magnetoencephalography (MEG), while they listened to two hours of short stories. Our analyses reveal three main findings. First, the brain incrementally represents and simultaneously maintains successive features. Second, the duration of these representations depend on their level in the language hierarchy. Third, each representation is maintained by a dynamic neural code, which evolves at a speed commensurate with its corresponding linguistic level. This HDC preserves the maintenance of information over time while limiting the interference between successive features. Overall, HDC reveals how the human brain continuously builds and maintains a language hierarchy during natural speech comprehension, thereby anchoring linguistic theories to their biological implementations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Gwilliams
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University
- Department of Psychology, New York University
| | - Alec Marantz
- Department of Psychology, New York University
- Department of Linguistics, New York University
| | - David Poeppel
- Department of Psychology, New York University
- Ernst Strungman Institute
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4
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Marks RA, Eggleston R, Kovelman I. Brain bases of morphological awareness and longitudinal word reading outcomes. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 238:105802. [PMID: 37924662 PMCID: PMC10918614 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105802] [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: 06/22/2023] [Revised: 09/11/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 11/06/2023]
Abstract
Children's spoken language skills are essential to the development of the "reading brain," or the neurocognitive systems that underlie successful literacy. Morphological awareness, or sensitivity to the smallest units of meaning, is a language skill that facilitates fluent recognition of meaning in print. Yet despite the growing evidence that morphology is integral to literacy success, associations among morphological awareness, literacy acquisition, and brain development remain largely unexplored. To address this gap, we conducted a longitudinal investigation with 75 elementary school children (5-11 years of age) who completed an auditory morphological awareness neuroimaging task at Time 1 as well as literacy assessments at both Time 1 and Time 2 (1.5 years later). Findings reveal longitudinal brain-behavior associations between morphological processing at Time 1 and reading outcomes at Time 2. First, activation in superior temporal brain regions involved in word segmentation was associated with both future reading skill and steeper reading gains over time. Second, a wider array of brain regions across the language network were associated with polymorphemic word reading as compared with broader word reading skill (reading both simple and complex words). Together, these findings reinforce the importance of word segmentation skills in learning to read and highlight the importance of considering complex word reading skills in building comprehensive neurocognitive models of literacy. This study fills a gap in our knowledge of how processing meaningful units in speech may help to explain differences in children's reading development over time and informs ongoing theoretical questions about the role of morphology in learning to read.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca A Marks
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
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5
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Mai A, Riès S, Ben-Haim S, Shih JJ, Gentner TQ. Acoustic and language-specific sources for phonemic abstraction from speech. Nat Commun 2024; 15:677. [PMID: 38263364 PMCID: PMC10805762 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-44844-9] [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: 01/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/03/2024] [Indexed: 01/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Spoken language comprehension requires abstraction of linguistic information from speech, but the interaction between auditory and linguistic processing of speech remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate the nature of this abstraction using neural responses recorded intracranially while participants listened to conversational English speech. Capitalizing on multiple, language-specific patterns where phonological and acoustic information diverge, we demonstrate the causal efficacy of the phoneme as a unit of analysis and dissociate the unique contributions of phonemic and spectrographic information to neural responses. Quantitive higher-order response models also reveal that unique contributions of phonological information are carried in the covariance structure of the stimulus-response relationship. This suggests that linguistic abstraction is shaped by neurobiological mechanisms that involve integration across multiple spectro-temporal features and prior phonological information. These results link speech acoustics to phonology and morphosyntax, substantiating predictions about abstractness in linguistic theory and providing evidence for the acoustic features that support that abstraction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Mai
- University of California, San Diego, Linguistics, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
| | - Stephanie Riès
- San Diego State University, School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA
- San Diego State University, Center for Clinical and Cognitive Sciences, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA
| | - Sharona Ben-Haim
- University of California, San Diego, Neurological Surgery, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Jerry J Shih
- University of California, San Diego, Neurosciences, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Timothy Q Gentner
- University of California, San Diego, Psychology, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
- University of California, San Diego, Neurobiology, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
- University of California, San Diego, Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
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6
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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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7
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Davidesco I, Laurent E, Valk H, West T, Milne C, Poeppel D, Dikker S. The Temporal Dynamics of Brain-to-Brain Synchrony Between Students and Teachers Predict Learning Outcomes. Psychol Sci 2023; 34:633-643. [PMID: 37053267 DOI: 10.1177/09567976231163872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Much of human learning happens through interaction with other people, but little is known about how this process is reflected in the brains of students and teachers. Here, we concurrently recorded electroencephalography (EEG) data from nine groups, each of which contained four students and a teacher. All participants were young adults from the northeast United States. Alpha-band (8-12 Hz) brain-to-brain synchrony between students predicted both immediate and delayed posttest performance. Further, brain-to-brain synchrony was higher in specific lecture segments associated with questions that students answered correctly. Brain-to-brain synchrony between students and teachers predicted learning outcomes at an approximately 300-ms lag in the students' brain activity relative to the teacher's brain activity, which is consistent with the time course of spoken-language comprehension. These findings provide key new evidence for the importance of collecting brain data simultaneously from groups of learners in ecologically valid settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ido Davidesco
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Connecticut
| | | | | | - Tessa West
- Department of Psychology, New York University
| | | | - David Poeppel
- Department of Psychology, New York University
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute for Neuroscience, Frankfurt, Germany
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8
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Sun X, Marks RA, Eggleston RL, Zhang K, Yu CL, Nickerson N, Caruso V, Chou TL, Hu XS, Tardif T, Booth JR, Beltz AM, Kovelman I. Sources of Heterogeneity in Functional Connectivity During English Word Processing in Bilingual and Monolingual Children. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2023; 4:198-220. [PMID: 37229508 PMCID: PMC10205148 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00092] [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: 06/01/2022] [Accepted: 11/10/2022] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Diversity and variation in language experiences, such as bilingualism, contribute to heterogeneity in children's neural organization for language and brain development. To uncover sources of such heterogeneity in children's neural language networks, the present study examined the effects of bilingual proficiency on children's neural organization for language function. To do so, we took an innovative person-specific analytical approach to investigate young Chinese-English and Spanish-English bilingual learners of structurally distinct languages. Bilingual and English monolingual children (N = 152, M(SD)age = 7.71(1.32)) completed an English word recognition task during functional near-infrared spectroscopy neuroimaging, along with language and literacy tasks in each of their languages. Two key findings emerged. First, bilinguals' heritage language proficiency (Chinese or Spanish) made a unique contribution to children's language network density. Second, the findings reveal common and unique patterns in children's patterns of task-related functional connectivity. Common across all participants were short-distance neural connections within left hemisphere regions associated with semantic processes (within middle temporal and frontal regions). Unique to more proficient language users were additional long-distance connections between frontal, temporal, and bilateral regions within the broader language network. The study informs neurodevelopmental theories of language by revealing the effects of heterogeneity in language proficiency and experiences on the structure and quality of emerging language neural networks in linguistically diverse learners.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Sun
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Rebecca A. Marks
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | - Kehui Zhang
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Chi-Lin Yu
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Nia Nickerson
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Valeria Caruso
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Tai-Li Chou
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Xiao-Su Hu
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Twila Tardif
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - James R. Booth
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Adriene M. Beltz
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Ioulia Kovelman
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
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9
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Murphy E. ROSE: A Neurocomputational Architecture for Syntax. ARXIV 2023:arXiv:2303.08877v1. [PMID: 36994166 PMCID: PMC10055479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/31/2023]
Abstract
A comprehensive model of natural language processing in the brain must accommodate four components: representations, operations, structures and encoding. It further requires a principled account of how these different components mechanistically, and causally, relate to each another. While previous models have isolated regions of interest for structure-building and lexical access, and have utilized specific neural recording measures to expose possible signatures of syntax, many gaps remain with respect to bridging distinct scales of analysis that map onto these four components. By expanding existing accounts of how neural oscillations can index various linguistic processes, this article proposes a neurocomputational architecture for syntax, termed the ROSE model (Representation, Operation, Structure, Encoding). Under ROSE, the basic data structures of syntax are atomic features, types of mental representations (R), and are coded at the single-unit and ensemble level. Elementary computations (O) that transform these units into manipulable objects accessible to subsequent structure-building levels are coded via high frequency broadband γ activity. Low frequency synchronization and cross-frequency coupling code for recursive categorial inferences (S). Distinct forms of low frequency coupling and phase-amplitude coupling (δ-θ coupling via pSTS-IFG; θ-γ coupling via IFG to conceptual hubs in lateral and ventral temporal cortex) then encode these structures onto distinct workspaces (E). Causally connecting R to O is spike-phase/LFP coupling; connecting O to S is phase-amplitude coupling; connecting S to E is a system of frontotemporal traveling oscillations; connecting E back to lower levels is low-frequency phase resetting of spike-LFP coupling. This compositional neural code has important implications for algorithmic accounts, since it makes concrete predictions for the appropriate level of study for psycholinguistic parsing models. ROSE is reliant on neurophysiologically plausible mechanisms, is supported at all four levels by a range of recent empirical research, and provides an anatomically precise and falsifiable grounding for the basic property of natural language syntax: hierarchical, recursive structure-building.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elliot Murphy
- Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery, McGovern Medical School, UTHealth, Houston, TX, USA
- Texas Institute for Restorative Neurotechnologies, UTHealth, Houston, TX, USA
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10
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Sun X, Marks RA, Zhang K, Yu CL, Eggleston RL, Nickerson N, Chou TL, Hu XS, Tardif T, Satterfield T, Kovelman I. Brain bases of English morphological processing: A comparison between Chinese-English, Spanish-English bilingual, and English monolingual children. Dev Sci 2023; 26:e13251. [PMID: 35188687 PMCID: PMC9615011 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2021] [Revised: 02/08/2022] [Accepted: 02/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
How do early bilingual experiences influence children's neural architecture for word processing? Dual language acquisition can yield common influences that may be shared across different bilingual groups, as well as language-specific influences stemming from a given language pairing. To investigate these effects, we examined bilingual English speakers of Chinese or Spanish, and English monolinguals, all raised in the US (N = 152, ages 5-10). Children completed an English morphological word processing task during fNIRS neuroimaging. The findings revealed both language-specific and shared bilingual effects. The language-specific effects were that Chinese and Spanish bilinguals showed principled differences in their neural organization for English lexical morphology. The common bilingual effects shared by the two groups were that in both bilingual groups, increased home language proficiency was associated with stronger left superior temporal gyrus (STG) activation when processing the English word structures that are most dissimilar from the home language. The findings inform theories of language and brain development during the key periods of neural reorganization for learning to read by illuminating experience-based plasticity in linguistically diverse learners.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Sun
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Rebecca A. Marks
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Kehui Zhang
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Chi-Lin Yu
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Rachel L. Eggleston
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Nia Nickerson
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Tai-Li Chou
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Xiao-Su Hu
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Twila Tardif
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Teresa Satterfield
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Ioulia Kovelman
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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11
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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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12
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Carlson MT, Fábregas A, Putnam MT. How Wide the Divide? - Theorizing 'Constructions' in Generative and Usage-Based Frameworks. Front Psychol 2021; 12:601303. [PMID: 33716866 PMCID: PMC7953035 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.601303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2020] [Accepted: 01/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
What is the nature and function of mental representations in cognitive science, and in human language in particular? How do they come into existence and interact, and how is the information attributed to them stored in and retrieved from the human mind? Some theories treat constructions as primitive entities used for structure-building, central in both production and comprehension, while other theories only admit construction-like entities as devices to map the structure into semantics or to relate them to specific morphophonological exponents. In this positional piece, we seek to elucidate areas of commonality across what have traditionally been divergent approaches to the role of constructions in language. Here we outline a robust specification of the differences in how chunks of structure containing information are treated in the two main approaches, and we seek to offer a path toward a more unified theoretical stance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew T Carlson
- Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, Program in Linguistics, Center for Language Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
| | - Antonio Fábregas
- Department of Language and Culture, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Michael T Putnam
- Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages, Program in Linguistics, Center for Language Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
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Dikker S, Assaneo MF, Gwilliams L, Wang L, Kösem A. Magnetoencephalography and Language. Neuroimaging Clin N Am 2020; 30:229-238. [PMID: 32336409 DOI: 10.1016/j.nic.2020.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
This article provides an overview of research that uses magnetoencephalography to understand the brain basis of human language. The cognitive processes and brain networks that have been implicated in written and spoken language comprehension and production are discussed in relation to different methodologies: we review event-related brain responses, research on the coupling of neural oscillations to speech, oscillatory coupling between brain regions (eg, auditory-motor coupling), and neural decoding approaches in naturalistic language comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suzanne Dikker
- Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place #275, New York, NY 10003, USA.
| | - M Florencia Assaneo
- Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place #275, New York, NY 10003, USA
| | - Laura Gwilliams
- Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place #275, New York, NY 10003, USA; New York University Abu Dhabi Research Institute, New York University Abu Dhabi, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Lin Wang
- Department of Psychiatry, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 149 Thirteenth Street, #2306, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - Anne Kösem
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), CH Le Vinatier Bâtiment 452, 95, BD Pinel, Bron, Lyon 69675, France
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14
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Martin AE, Baggio G. Modelling meaning composition from formalism to mechanism. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20190298. [PMID: 31840588 PMCID: PMC6939358 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0298] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/28/2019] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Human thought and language have extraordinary expressive power because meaningful parts can be assembled into more complex semantic structures. This partly underlies our ability to compose meanings into endlessly novel configurations, and sets us apart from other species and current computing devices. Crucially, human behaviour, including language use and linguistic data, indicates that composing parts into complex structures does not threaten the existence of constituent parts as independent units in the system: parts and wholes exist simultaneously yet independently from one another in the mind and brain. This independence is evident in human behaviour, but it seems at odds with what is known about the brain's exquisite sensitivity to statistical patterns: everyday language use is productive and expressive precisely because it can go beyond statistical regularities. Formal theories in philosophy and linguistics explain this fact by assuming that language and thought are compositional: systems of representations that separate a variable (or role) from its values (fillers), such that the meaning of a complex expression is a function of the values assigned to the variables. The debate on whether and how compositional systems could be implemented in minds, brains and machines remains vigorous. However, it has not yet resulted in mechanistic models of semantic composition: how, then, are the constituents of thoughts and sentences put and held together? We review and discuss current efforts at understanding this problem, and we chart possible routes for future research. This article is part of the theme issue 'Towards mechanistic models of meaning composition'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea E. Martin
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Giosuè Baggio
- Language Acquisition and Language Processing Lab, Department of Language and Literature, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
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