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Jiménez-Ortega L, Casado-Palacios M, Rubianes M, Martínez-Mejias M, Casado P, Fondevila S, Hernández-Gutiérrez D, Muñoz F, Sánchez-García J, Martín-Loeches M. The bigger your pupils, the better my comprehension: an ERP study of how pupil size and gaze of the speaker affect syntactic processing. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2024; 19:nsae047. [PMID: 38918898 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsae047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2023] [Revised: 05/16/2024] [Accepted: 06/25/2024] [Indexed: 06/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Gaze direction and pupil dilation play a critical role in communication and social interaction due to their ability to redirect and capture our attention and their relevance for emotional information. The present study aimed to explore whether the pupil size and gaze direction of the speaker affect language comprehension. Participants listened to sentences that could be correct or contain a syntactic anomaly, while the static face of a speaker was manipulated in terms of gaze direction (direct, averted) and pupil size (mydriasis, miosis). Left anterior negativity (LAN) and P600 linguistic event-related potential components were observed in response to syntactic anomalies across all conditions. The speaker's gaze did not impact syntactic comprehension. However, the amplitude of the LAN component for mydriasis (dilated pupil) was larger than for miosis (constricted pupil) condition. Larger pupils are generally associated with care, trust, interest, and attention, which might facilitate syntactic processing at early automatic stages. The result also supports the permeable and context-dependent nature of syntax. Previous studies also support an automatic nature of syntax (fast and efficient), which combined with the permeability to relevant sources of communicative information, such as pupil size and emotions, is highly adaptive for language comprehension and social interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Jiménez-Ortega
- Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid 28029, Spain
- Department of Psychobiology & Behavioral Sciences Methods, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain
| | - María Casado-Palacios
- Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid 28029, Spain
- DIBRIS, University of Genoa, Genoa 16145, Italy
- UVIP - Unit for Visually Impaired People, Italian Institute of Technology, Genova 16164, Italy
| | - Miguel Rubianes
- Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid 28029, Spain
- Department of Psychobiology & Behavioral Sciences Methods, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain
- Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud UNIE Universidad, Madrid 28015, Spain
| | - Mario Martínez-Mejias
- Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid 28029, Spain
| | - Pilar Casado
- Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid 28029, Spain
- Department of Psychobiology & Behavioral Sciences Methods, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain
| | - Sabela Fondevila
- Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid 28029, Spain
- Department of Psychobiology & Behavioral Sciences Methods, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain
| | - David Hernández-Gutiérrez
- Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid 28029, Spain
- BCBL, Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Donostia/San Sebastián 20009, Spain
| | - Francisco Muñoz
- Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid 28029, Spain
- Department of Psychobiology & Behavioral Sciences Methods, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain
| | - José Sánchez-García
- Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid 28029, Spain
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Internacional de la Rioja UNIR, Oviedo, Asturias 33003, Spain
| | - Manuel Martín-Loeches
- Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid 28029, Spain
- Department of Psychobiology & Behavioral Sciences Methods, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain
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Rubianes M, Drijvers L, Muñoz F, Jiménez-Ortega L, Almeida-Rivera T, Sánchez-García J, Fondevila S, Casado P, Martín-Loeches M. The Self-reference Effect Can Modulate Language Syntactic Processing Even Without Explicit Awareness: An Electroencephalography Study. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:460-474. [PMID: 38165746 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2024]
Abstract
Although it is well established that self-related information can rapidly capture our attention and bias cognitive functioning, whether this self-bias can affect language processing remains largely unknown. In addition, there is an ongoing debate as to the functional independence of language processes, notably regarding the syntactic domain. Hence, this study investigated the influence of self-related content on syntactic speech processing. Participants listened to sentences that could contain morphosyntactic anomalies while the masked face identity (self, friend, or unknown faces) was presented for 16 msec preceding the critical word. The language-related ERP components (left anterior negativity [LAN] and P600) appeared for all identity conditions. However, the largest LAN effect followed by a reduced P600 effect was observed for self-faces, whereas a larger LAN with no reduction of the P600 was found for friend faces compared with unknown faces. These data suggest that both early and late syntactic processes can be modulated by self-related content. In addition, alpha power was more suppressed over the left inferior frontal gyrus only when self-faces appeared before the critical word. This may reflect higher semantic demands concomitant to early syntactic operations (around 150-550 msec). Our data also provide further evidence of self-specific response, as reflected by the N250 component. Collectively, our results suggest that identity-related information is rapidly decoded from facial stimuli and may impact core linguistic processes, supporting an interactive view of syntactic processing. This study provides evidence that the self-reference effect can be extended to syntactic processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Rubianes
- Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
- UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain
| | - Linda Drijvers
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Francisco Muñoz
- Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
- UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain
| | - Laura Jiménez-Ortega
- Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
- UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain
| | | | | | - Sabela Fondevila
- Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
- UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain
| | - Pilar Casado
- Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
- UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain
| | - Manuel Martín-Loeches
- Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
- UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain
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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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Jiménez-Ortega L, Badaya E, Casado P, Fondevila S, Hernández-Gutiérrez D, Muñoz F, Sánchez-García J, Martín-Loeches M. The Automatic but Flexible and Content-Dependent Nature of Syntax. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:651158. [PMID: 34177488 PMCID: PMC8226263 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.651158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Syntactic processing has often been considered an utmost example of unconscious automatic processing. In this line, it has been demonstrated that masked words containing syntactic anomalies are processed by our brain triggering event related potential (ERP) components similar to the ones triggered by conscious syntactic anomalies, thus supporting the automatic nature of the syntactic processing. Conversely, recent evidence also points out that regardless of the level of awareness, emotional information and other relevant extralinguistic information modulate conscious syntactic processing too. These results are also in line with suggestions that, under certain circumstances, syntactic processing could also be flexible and context-dependent. However, the study of the concomitant automatic but flexible conception of syntactic parsing is very scarce. Hence, to this aim, we examined whether and how masked emotional words (positive, negative, and neutral masked adjectives) containing morphosyntactic anomalies (half of the cases) affect linguistic comprehension of an ongoing unmasked sentence that also can contain a number agreement anomaly between the noun and the verb. ERP components were observed to emotional information (EPN), masked anomalies (LAN and a weak P600), and unmasked ones (LAN/N400 and P600). Furthermore, interactions in the processing of conscious and unconscious morphosyntactic anomalies and between unconscious emotional information and conscious anomalies were detected. The findings support, on the one hand, the automatic nature of syntax, given that syntactic components LAN and P600 were observed to unconscious anomalies. On the other hand, the flexible, permeable, and context-dependent nature of the syntactic processing is also supported, since unconscious information modulated conscious syntactic components. This double nature of syntactic processing is in line with theories of automaticity, suggesting that even unconscious/automatic, syntactic processing is flexible, adaptable, and context-dependent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Jiménez-Ortega
- Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain.,Department of Psychobiology & Behavioral Sciences Methods, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Esperanza Badaya
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Pilar Casado
- Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain.,Department of Psychobiology & Behavioral Sciences Methods, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Sabela Fondevila
- Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain.,Department of Psychobiology & Behavioral Sciences Methods, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | | | - Francisco Muñoz
- Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain.,Department of Psychobiology & Behavioral Sciences Methods, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - José Sánchez-García
- Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain
| | - Manuel Martín-Loeches
- Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain.,Department of Psychobiology & Behavioral Sciences Methods, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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Jiménez-Ortega L, Espuny J, de Tejada PH, Vargas-Rivero C, Martín-Loeches M. Subliminal Emotional Words Impact Syntactic Processing: Evidence from Performance and Event-Related Brain Potentials. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:192. [PMID: 28487640 PMCID: PMC5404140 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2016] [Accepted: 04/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies demonstrate that syntactic processing can be affected by emotional information and that subliminal emotional information can also affect cognitive processes. In this study, we explore whether unconscious emotional information may also impact syntactic processing. In an Event-Related brain Potential (ERP) study, positive, neutral and negative subliminal adjectives were inserted within neutral sentences, just before the presentation of the supraliminal adjective. They could either be correct (50%) or contain a morphosyntactic violation (number or gender disagreements). Larger error rates were observed for incorrect sentences than for correct ones, in contrast to most studies using supraliminal information. Strikingly, emotional adjectives affected the conscious syntactic processing of sentences containing morphosyntactic anomalies. The neutral condition elicited left anterior negativity (LAN) followed by a P600 component. However, a lack of anterior negativity and an early P600 onset for the negative condition were found, probably as a result of the negative subliminal correct adjective capturing early syntactic resources. Positive masked adjectives in turn prompted an N400 component in response to morphosyntactic violations, probably reflecting the induction of a heuristic processing mode involving access to lexico-semantic information to solve agreement anomalies. Our results add to recent evidence on the impact of emotional information on syntactic processing, while showing that this can occur even when the reader is unaware of the emotional stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Jiménez-Ortega
- Centre for Human Evolution and Behaviour, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Complutense University of Madrid (UCM-ISCIII)Madrid, Spain.,Psychobiology Department, Complutense University of MadridMadrid, Spain
| | - Javier Espuny
- Centre for Human Evolution and Behaviour, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Complutense University of Madrid (UCM-ISCIII)Madrid, Spain
| | - Pilar Herreros de Tejada
- Centre for Human Evolution and Behaviour, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Complutense University of Madrid (UCM-ISCIII)Madrid, Spain.,Psychobiology Department, Complutense University of MadridMadrid, Spain
| | - Carolina Vargas-Rivero
- Centre for Human Evolution and Behaviour, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Complutense University of Madrid (UCM-ISCIII)Madrid, Spain
| | - Manuel Martín-Loeches
- Centre for Human Evolution and Behaviour, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Complutense University of Madrid (UCM-ISCIII)Madrid, Spain.,Psychobiology Department, Complutense University of MadridMadrid, Spain
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Lucchese G, Pulvermüller F, Stahl B, Dreyer FR, Mohr B. Therapy-Induced Neuroplasticity of Language in Chronic Post Stroke Aphasia: A Mismatch Negativity Study of (A)Grammatical and Meaningful/less Mini-Constructions. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 10:669. [PMID: 28111545 PMCID: PMC5216683 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00669] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2016] [Accepted: 12/15/2016] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Clinical language performance and neurophysiological correlates of language processing were measured before and after intensive language therapy in patients with chronic (time post stroke >1 year) post stroke aphasia (PSA). As event-related potential (ERP) measure, the mismatch negativity (MMN) was recorded in a distracted oddball paradigm to short spoken sentences. Critical 'deviant' sentence stimuli where either well-formed and meaningful, or syntactically, or lexico-semantically incorrect. After 4 weeks of speech-language therapy (SLT) delivered with high intensity (10.5 h per week), clinical language assessment with the Aachen Aphasia Test battery demonstrated significant linguistic improvements, which were accompanied by enhanced MMN responses. More specifically, MMN amplitudes to grammatically correct and meaningful mini-constructions and to 'jabberwocky' sentences containing a pseudoword significantly increased after therapy. However, no therapy-related changes in MMN responses to syntactically incorrect strings including agreement violations were observed. While MMN increases to well-formed meaningful strings can be explained both at the word and construction levels, the neuroplastic change seen for 'jabberwocky' sentences suggests an explanation in terms of constructions. The results confirm previous reports that intensive SLT leads to improvements of linguistic skills in chronic aphasia patients and now demonstrate that this clinical improvement is associated with enhanced automatic brain indexes of construction processing, although no comparable change is present for ungrammatical strings. Furthermore, the data confirm that the language-induced MMN is a useful tool to map functional language recovery in PSA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guglielmo Lucchese
- Brain Language Laboratory, Department of Philosophy and Humanities Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin Germany
| | - Friedemann Pulvermüller
- Brain Language Laboratory, Department of Philosophy and HumanitiesFreie Universität Berlin, Berlin Germany; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu BerlinBerlin, Germany
| | - Benjamin Stahl
- Brain Language Laboratory, Department of Philosophy and HumanitiesFreie Universität Berlin, Berlin Germany; Department of Neurology, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus MitteBerlin, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLeipzig, Germany
| | - Felix R Dreyer
- Brain Language Laboratory, Department of Philosophy and Humanities Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin Germany
| | - Bettina Mohr
- Department of Psychiatry, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin Germany
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