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Obrig H, Regenbrecht F, Pino D, Krause CD. Verbal short term memory contribution to sentence comprehension decreases with increasing syntactic complexity in people with aphasia. Neuroimage 2024; 297:120730. [PMID: 39009249 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2024] [Revised: 06/20/2024] [Accepted: 07/10/2024] [Indexed: 07/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Sentence comprehension requires the integration of linguistic units presented in a temporal sequence based on a non-linear underlying syntactic structure. While it is uncontroversial that storage is mandatory for this process, there are opposing views regarding the relevance of general short-term-/working-memory capacities (STM/WM) versus language specific resources. Here we report results from 43 participants with an acquired brain lesion in the extended left hemispheric language network and resulting language deficits, who performed a sentence-to-picture matching task and an experimental task assessing phonological short-term memory. The sentence task systematically varied syntactic complexity (embedding depth and argument order) while lengths, number of propositions and plausibility were kept constant. Clinical data including digit-/ block-spans and lesion size and site were additionally used in the analyses. Correlational analyses confirm that performance on STM/WM-tasks (experimental task and digit-span) are the only two relevant predictors for correct sentence-picture-matching, while reaction times only depended on age and lesion size. Notably increasing syntactic complexity reduced the correlational strength speaking for the additional recruitment of language specific resources independent of more general verbal STM/WM capacities, when resolving complex syntactic structure. The complementary lesion-behaviour analysis yielded different lesion volumes correlating with either the sentence-task or the STM-task. Factoring out STM measures lesions in the anterior temporal lobe correlated with a larger decrease in accuracy with increasing syntactic complexity. We conclude that overall sentence comprehension depends on STM/WM capacity, while increases in syntactic complexity tax another independent cognitive resource.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hellmuth Obrig
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology & Department of Neurology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital & Faculty of Medicine, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Frank Regenbrecht
- Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital & Faculty of Medicine, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Danièle Pino
- Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital & Faculty of Medicine, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Carina D Krause
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology & Department of Neurology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany(#)
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2
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Fahey D, Fridriksson J, Hickok G, Matchin W. Lesion-symptom Mapping of Acceptability Judgments in Chronic Poststroke Aphasia Reveals the Neurobiological Underpinnings of Receptive Syntax. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:1141-1155. [PMID: 38437175 PMCID: PMC11095916 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/06/2024]
Abstract
Disagreements persist regarding the neural basis of syntactic processing, which has been linked both to inferior frontal and posterior temporal regions of the brain. One focal point of the debate concerns the role of inferior frontal areas in receptive syntactic ability, which is mostly assessed using sentence comprehension involving complex syntactic structures, a task that is potentially confounded with working memory. Syntactic acceptability judgments may provide a better measure of receptive syntax by reducing the need to use high working memory load and complex sentences and by enabling assessment of various types of syntactic violations. We therefore tested the perception of grammatical violations by people with poststroke aphasia (n = 25), along with matched controls (n = 16), using English sentences involving errors in word order, agreement, or subcategorization. Lesion data were also collected. Control participants performed near ceiling in accuracy with higher discriminability of agreement and subcategorization violations than word order; aphasia participants were less able to discriminate violations, but, on average, paralleled control participants discriminability of types of violations. Lesion-symptom mapping showed a correlation between discriminability and posterior temporal regions, but not inferior frontal regions. We argue that these results diverge from models holding that frontal areas are amodal core regions in syntactic structure building and favor models that posit a core hierarchical system in posterior temporal regions.
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Regev TI, Kim HS, Chen X, Affourtit J, Schipper AE, Bergen L, Mahowald K, Fedorenko E. High-level language brain regions process sublexical regularities. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae077. [PMID: 38494886 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae077] [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: 08/12/2023] [Revised: 02/05/2024] [Accepted: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 03/19/2024] Open
Abstract
A network of left frontal and temporal brain regions supports language processing. This "core" language network stores our knowledge of words and constructions as well as constraints on how those combine to form sentences. However, our linguistic knowledge additionally includes information about phonemes and how they combine to form phonemic clusters, syllables, and words. Are phoneme combinatorics also represented in these language regions? Across five functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments, we investigated the sensitivity of high-level language processing brain regions to sublexical linguistic regularities by examining responses to diverse nonwords-sequences of phonemes that do not constitute real words (e.g. punes, silory, flope). We establish robust responses in the language network to visually (experiment 1a, n = 605) and auditorily (experiments 1b, n = 12, and 1c, n = 13) presented nonwords. In experiment 2 (n = 16), we find stronger responses to nonwords that are more well-formed, i.e. obey the phoneme-combinatorial constraints of English. Finally, in experiment 3 (n = 14), we provide suggestive evidence that the responses in experiments 1 and 2 are not due to the activation of real words that share some phonology with the nonwords. The results suggest that sublexical regularities are stored and processed within the same fronto-temporal network that supports lexical and syntactic processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamar I Regev
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
| | - Hee So Kim
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
| | - Xuanyi Chen
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, United States
| | - Josef Affourtit
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
| | - Abigail E Schipper
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
| | - Leon Bergen
- Department of Linguistics, University of California San Diego, San Diego CA 92093, United States
| | - Kyle Mahowald
- Department of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, United States
| | - Evelina Fedorenko
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- The Harvard Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Boston, MA 02115, United States
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Abujamea AH, Almosa M, Uzair M, Alabdullatif N, Bashir S. Reduced Cortical Complexity in Children with Developmental Delay in Saudi Arabia. Cureus 2023; 15:e48291. [PMID: 38058330 PMCID: PMC10696479 DOI: 10.7759/cureus.48291] [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] [Accepted: 11/03/2023] [Indexed: 12/08/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Developmental delay (DD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by delays in multiple domains. The investigation of brain structure in DD has been enhanced by advanced neuroimaging techniques that can identify regional surface deformities. Neuroimaging studies have identified structural brain abnormalities in individuals with DD, but research specific to the Saudi Arabian population is limited. In this study, we examine the neuroanatomical abnormalities in the cortical and subcortical regions of Saudi Arabian children with DD. METHOD A T1-weighted, 1-mm-thick MRI was used to acquire structural brain images of 29 children with DD and age-matched healthy controls. RESULTS Analysis of the MRI data revealed significant differences in several cortical and subcortical structures of gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) in several brain regions of the DD group. Specifically, significant deformities were observed in the caudate nucleus, globus pallidus, frontal gyrus, pars opercularis, pars orbitalis, cingulate gyrus, and subcallosal gyrus. These findings suggest disrupted neurodevelopment in these regions, which may contribute to the cognitive, motor, and behavioral impairments commonly observed in individuals with DD. CONCLUSIONS The present study provides valuable insights into the neuroanatomical differences in Saudi Arabian children with DD. Our results provide evidence for cortical and subcortical abnormalities in DD. Deformities in the observed regions may contribute to cognitive impairment, emotional dysregulation, mood disorders, and language deficits commonly observed in DD. The structural analysis may enable the identification of neuroanatomical biomarkers to facilitate the early diagnosis or progression of DD. These results suggest that lower cortical complexity in DD children due to alterations in networks may play a critical role in early brain development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdullah H Abujamea
- Department of Radiology and Medical Imaging, King Saud University Medical City, King Saud University, Riyadh, SAU
| | - Mohammed Almosa
- Department of Radiology and Medical Imaging, King Saud University Medical City, King Saud University, Riyadh 12372, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, SAU
| | - Mohammad Uzair
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Basic & Applied Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad, PAK
| | | | - Shahid Bashir
- Department of Neuroscience, Neuroscience Center, King Fahad Specialist Hospital, Dammam, SAU
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Matchin W, den Ouden DB, Basilakos A, Stark BC, Fridriksson J, Hickok G. Grammatical Parallelism in Aphasia: A Lesion-Symptom Mapping Study. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2023; 4:550-574. [PMID: 37946730 PMCID: PMC10631800 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023]
Abstract
Sentence structure, or syntax, is potentially a uniquely creative aspect of the human mind. Neuropsychological experiments in the 1970s suggested parallel syntactic production and comprehension deficits in agrammatic Broca's aphasia, thought to result from damage to syntactic mechanisms in Broca's area in the left frontal lobe. This hypothesis was sometimes termed overarching agrammatism, converging with developments in linguistic theory concerning central syntactic mechanisms supporting language production and comprehension. However, the evidence supporting an association among receptive syntactic deficits, expressive agrammatism, and damage to frontal cortex is equivocal. In addition, the relationship among a distinct grammatical production deficit in aphasia, paragrammatism, and receptive syntax has not been assessed. We used lesion-symptom mapping in three partially overlapping groups of left-hemisphere stroke patients to investigate these issues: grammatical production deficits in a primary group of 53 subjects and syntactic comprehension in larger sample sizes (N = 130, 218) that overlapped with the primary group. Paragrammatic production deficits were significantly associated with multiple analyses of syntactic comprehension, particularly when incorporating lesion volume as a covariate, but agrammatic production deficits were not. The lesion correlates of impaired performance of syntactic comprehension were significantly associated with damage to temporal lobe regions, which were also implicated in paragrammatism, but not with the inferior and middle frontal regions implicated in expressive agrammatism. Our results provide strong evidence against the overarching agrammatism hypothesis. By contrast, our results suggest the possibility of an alternative grammatical parallelism hypothesis rooted in paragrammatism and a central syntactic system in the posterior temporal lobe.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Matchin
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Dirk-Bart den Ouden
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Alexandra Basilakos
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Brielle Caserta Stark
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Program for Neuroscience, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Julius Fridriksson
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Gregory Hickok
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, Department of Language Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
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Avcu E, Newman O, Ahlfors SP, Gow DW. Neural evidence suggests phonological acceptability judgments reflect similarity, not constraint evaluation. Cognition 2023; 230:105322. [PMID: 36370613 PMCID: PMC9712273 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105322] [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: 01/31/2021] [Revised: 10/24/2022] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Acceptability judgments are a primary source of evidence in formal linguistic research. Within the generative linguistic tradition, these judgments are attributed to evaluation of novel forms based on implicit knowledge of rules or constraints governing well-formedness. In the domain of phonological acceptability judgments, other factors including ease of articulation and similarity to known forms have been hypothesized to influence evaluation. We used data-driven neural techniques to identify the relative contributions of these factors. Granger causality analysis of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-constrained magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) data revealed patterns of interaction between brain regions that support explicit judgments of the phonological acceptability of spoken nonwords. Comparisons of data obtained with nonwords that varied in terms of onset consonant cluster attestation and acceptability revealed different cortical regions and effective connectivity patterns associated with phonological acceptability judgments. Attested forms produced stronger influences of brain regions implicated in lexical representation and sensorimotor simulation on acoustic-phonetic regions, whereas unattested forms produced stronger influence of phonological control mechanisms on acoustic-phonetic processing. Unacceptable forms produced widespread patterns of interaction consistent with attempted search or repair. Together, these results suggest that speakers' phonological acceptability judgments reflect lexical and sensorimotor factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enes Avcu
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America.
| | - Olivia Newman
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America
| | - Seppo P Ahlfors
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States of America; Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America
| | - David W Gow
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States of America; Department of Psychology, Salem State University, Salem, MA, United States of America; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States of America
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7
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Lee YS, Rogers CS, Grossman M, Wingfield A, Peelle JE. Hemispheric dissociations in regions supporting auditory sentence comprehension in older adults. AGING BRAIN 2022; 2:100051. [PMID: 36908889 PMCID: PMC9997128 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2022] [Revised: 08/10/2022] [Accepted: 08/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigated how the aging brain copes with acoustic and syntactic challenges during spoken language comprehension. Thirty-eight healthy adults aged 54 - 80 years (M = 66 years) participated in an fMRI experiment wherein listeners indicated the gender of an agent in short spoken sentences that varied in syntactic complexity (object-relative vs subject-relative center-embedded clause structures) and acoustic richness (high vs low spectral detail, but all intelligible). We found widespread activity throughout a bilateral frontotemporal network during successful sentence comprehension. Consistent with prior reports, bilateral inferior frontal gyrus and left posterior superior temporal gyrus were more active in response to object-relative sentences than to subject-relative sentences. Moreover, several regions were significantly correlated with individual differences in task performance: Activity in right frontoparietal cortex and left cerebellum (Crus I & II) showed a negative correlation with overall comprehension. By contrast, left frontotemporal areas and right cerebellum (Lobule VII) showed a negative correlation with accuracy specifically for syntactically complex sentences. In addition, laterality analyses confirmed a lack of hemispheric lateralization in activity evoked by sentence stimuli in older adults. Importantly, we found different hemispheric roles, with a left-lateralized core language network supporting syntactic operations, and right-hemisphere regions coming into play to aid in general cognitive demands during spoken sentence processing. Together our findings support the view that high levels of language comprehension in older adults are maintained by a close interplay between a core left hemisphere language network and additional neural resources in the contralateral hemisphere.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yune Sang Lee
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA
| | - Chad S. Rogers
- Department of Psychology, Union College, Schenectady, NY, USA
| | - Murray Grossman
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | | | - Jonathan E. Peelle
- Department of Otolaryngology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
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Matchin W, den Ouden DB, Hickok G, Hillis AE, Bonilha L, Fridriksson J. The Wernicke conundrum revisited: evidence from connectome-based lesion-symptom mapping. Brain 2022; 145:3916-3930. [PMID: 35727949 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awac219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2021] [Revised: 05/25/2022] [Accepted: 06/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Wernicke's area has been assumed since the 1800s to be the primary region supporting word and sentence comprehension. However, in 2015 and 2019, Mesulam and colleagues raised what they termed the 'Wernicke conundrum', noting widespread variability in the anatomical definition of this area and presenting data from primary progressive aphasia that challenged this classical assumption. To resolve the conundrum, they posited a 'double disconnection' hypothesis: that word and sentence comprehension deficits in stroke-based aphasia result from disconnection of anterior temporal and inferior frontal regions from other parts of the brain due to white matter damage, rather than dysfunction of Wernicke's area itself. To test this hypothesis, we performed lesion-deficit correlations, including connectome-based lesion-symptom mapping, in four large, partially overlapping groups of English-speaking chronic left hemisphere stroke survivors. After removing variance due to object recognition and associative semantic processing, the same middle and posterior temporal lobe regions were implicated in both word comprehension deficits and complex noncanonical sentence comprehension deficits. Connectome lesion-symptom mapping revealed similar temporal-occipital white matter disconnections for impaired word and noncanonical sentence comprehension, including the temporal pole. We found an additional significant temporal-parietal disconnection for noncanonical sentence comprehension deficits, which may indicate a role for phonological working memory in processing complex syntax, but no significant frontal disconnections. Moreover, damage to these middle-posterior temporal lobe regions was associated with both word and noncanonical sentence comprehension deficits even when accounting for variance due to the strongest anterior temporal and inferior frontal white matter disconnections, respectively. Our results largely agree with the classical notion that Wernicke's area, defined here as middle superior temporal gyrus and middle-posterior superior temporal sulcus, supports both word and sentence comprehension, suggest a supporting role for temporal pole in both word and sentence comprehension, and speak against the hypothesis that comprehension deficits in Wernicke's aphasia result from double disconnection.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Matchin
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
| | - Dirk Bart den Ouden
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
| | - Gregory Hickok
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.,Department of Language Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Argye E Hillis
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.,Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.,Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Leonardo Bonilha
- Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Julius Fridriksson
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
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9
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Dunagan D, Zhang S, Li J, Bhattasali S, Pallier C, Whitman J, Yang Y, Hale J. Neural correlates of semantic number: A cross-linguistic investigation. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2022; 229:105110. [PMID: 35367813 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2021] [Revised: 03/22/2022] [Accepted: 03/24/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
One aspect of natural language comprehension is understanding how many of what or whom a speaker is referring to. While previous work has documented the neural correlates of number comprehension and quantity comparison, this study investigates semantic number from a cross-linguistic perspective with the goal of identifying cortical regions involved in distinguishing plural from singular nouns. Three fMRI datasets are used in which Chinese, French, and English native speakers listen to an audiobook of a children's story in their native language. These languages are selected because they differ in their number semantics. Across these languages, several well-known language regions manifest a contrast between plural and singular, including the pars orbitalis, pars triangularis, posterior temporal lobe, and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. This is consistent with a common brain network supporting comprehension across languages with overt as well as covert number-marking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donald Dunagan
- Department of Linguistics, University of Georgia, GA, USA.
| | - Shulin Zhang
- Department of Linguistics, University of Georgia, GA, USA
| | - Jixing Li
- Neuroscience of Language Lab, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | | | | | - John Whitman
- Department of Linguistics, Cornell University, NY, USA
| | - Yiming Yang
- Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China
| | - John Hale
- Department of Linguistics, University of Georgia, GA, USA
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10
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Asano R, Boeckx C, Fujita K. Moving beyond domain-specific vs. domain-general options in cognitive neuroscience. Cortex 2022; 154:259-268. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2021] [Revised: 04/07/2022] [Accepted: 05/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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11
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Sheppard SM, Meier EL, Kim KT, Breining BL, Keator LM, Tang B, Caffo BS, Hillis AE. Neural correlates of syntactic comprehension: A longitudinal study. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2022; 225:105068. [PMID: 34979477 PMCID: PMC9232253 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2021.105068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Revised: 12/18/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Broca's area is frequently implicated in sentence comprehension but its specific role is debated. Most lesion studies have investigated deficits at the chronic stage. We aimed (1) to use acute imaging to predict which left hemisphere stroke patients will recover sentence comprehension; and (2) to better understand the role of Broca's area in sentence comprehension by investigating acute deficits prior to functional reorganization. We assessed comprehension of canonical and noncanonical sentences in 15 patients with left hemisphere stroke at acute and chronic stages. LASSO regression was used to conduct lesion symptom mapping analyses. Patients with more severe word-level comprehension deficits and a greater proportion of damage to supramarginal gyrus and superior longitudinal fasciculus were likely to experience acute deficits prior to functional reorganization. Broca's area was only implicated in chronic deficits. We propose that when temporoparietal regions are damaged, intact Broca's area can support syntactic processing after functional reorganization occurs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shannon M Sheppard
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States; Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Chapman University, Irvine, CA 92618, United States.
| | - Erin L Meier
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States
| | - Kevin T Kim
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States
| | - Bonnie L Breining
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States
| | - Lynsey M Keator
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States
| | - Bohao Tang
- Department of Biostatics, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States
| | - Brian S Caffo
- Department of Biostatics, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States
| | - Argye E Hillis
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, United States; Department of Cognitive Science, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, United States
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12
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Matchin W, İlkbaşaran D, Hatrak M, Roth A, Villwock A, Halgren E, Mayberry RI. The Cortical Organization of Syntactic Processing Is Supramodal: Evidence from American Sign Language. J Cogn Neurosci 2022; 34:224-235. [PMID: 34964898 PMCID: PMC8764739 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Areas within the left-lateralized neural network for language have been found to be sensitive to syntactic complexity in spoken and written language. Previous research has revealed that these areas are active for sign language as well, but whether these areas are specifically responsive to syntactic complexity in sign language independent of lexical processing has yet to be found. To investigate the question, we used fMRI to neuroimage deaf native signers' comprehension of 180 sign strings in American Sign Language (ASL) with a picture-probe recognition task. The ASL strings were all six signs in length but varied at three levels of syntactic complexity: sign lists, two-word sentences, and complex sentences. Syntactic complexity significantly affected comprehension and memory, both behaviorally and neurally, by facilitating accuracy and response time on the picture-probe recognition task and eliciting a left lateralized activation response pattern in anterior and posterior superior temporal sulcus (aSTS and pSTS). Minimal or absent syntactic structure reduced picture-probe recognition and elicited activation in bilateral pSTS and occipital-temporal cortex. These results provide evidence from a sign language, ASL, that the combinatorial processing of anterior STS and pSTS is supramodal in nature. The results further suggest that the neurolinguistic processing of ASL is characterized by overlapping and separable neural systems for syntactic and lexical processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Matchin
- University of California San Diego
- University of South Carolina, Columbia
| | | | | | | | - Agnes Villwock
- University of California San Diego
- Humboldt University of Berlin
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13
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Functional differentiation in the language network revealed by lesion-symptom mapping. Neuroimage 2021; 247:118778. [PMID: 34896587 PMCID: PMC8830186 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2021] [Revised: 11/17/2021] [Accepted: 12/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Theories of language organization in the brain commonly posit that different regions underlie distinct linguistic mechanisms. However, such theories have been criticized on the grounds that many neuroimaging studies of language processing find similar effects across regions. Moreover, condition by region interaction effects, which provide the strongest evidence of functional differentiation between regions, have rarely been offered in support of these theories. Here we address this by using lesion-symptom mapping in three large, partially-overlapping groups of aphasia patients with left hemisphere brain damage due to stroke (N = 121, N = 92, N = 218). We identified multiple measure by region interaction effects, associating damage to the posterior middle temporal gyrus with syntactic comprehension deficits, damage to posterior inferior frontal gyrus with expressive agrammatism, and damage to inferior angular gyrus with semantic category word fluency deficits. Our results are inconsistent with recent hypotheses that regions of the language network are undifferentiated with respect to high-level linguistic processing.
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14
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Gleichgerrcht E, Roth R, Fridriksson J, den Ouden D, Delgaizo J, Stark B, Hickok G, Rorden C, Wilmskoetter J, Hillis A, Bonilha L. Neural bases of elements of syntax during speech production in patients with aphasia. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2021; 222:105025. [PMID: 34555689 PMCID: PMC8546356 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2021.105025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2020] [Revised: 09/08/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The ability to string together words into a structured arrangement capable of conveying nuanced information is key to speech production. The assessment of the neural bases for structuring sentences has been challenged by the need of experts to delineate the aberrant morphosyntactic structures in aphasic speech. Most studies have relied on focused tasks with limited ecological validity. We characterized syntactic complexity during connected speech produced by patients with chronic post-stroke aphasia. We automated this process by employing Natural Language Processing (NLP). We conducted voxel-based and connectome-based lesion-symptom mapping to identify brain regions crucially associated with sentence production and syntactic complexity. Posterior-inferior aspects of left frontal and parietal lobes, as well as white matter tracts connecting these areas, were essential for syntactic complexity, particularly the posterior inferior frontal gyrus. These findings suggest that sentence structuring during word production depends on the integrity of Broca's area and the dorsal stream of language processing.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rebecca Roth
- Department of Neurology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
| | - Julius Fridriksson
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Dirk den Ouden
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - John Delgaizo
- Department of Neurology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
| | - Brielle Stark
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Gregory Hickok
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Chris Rorden
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Janina Wilmskoetter
- Department of Neurology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
| | - Argye Hillis
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Leonardo Bonilha
- Department of Neurology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
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15
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Giglio L, Ostarek M, Weber K, Hagoort P. Commonalities and Asymmetries in the Neurobiological Infrastructure for Language Production and Comprehension. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:1405-1418. [PMID: 34491301 PMCID: PMC8971077 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2021] [Revised: 07/19/2021] [Accepted: 07/20/2021] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
The neurobiology of sentence production has been largely understudied compared to the neurobiology of sentence comprehension, due to difficulties with experimental control and motion-related artifacts in neuroimaging. We studied the neural response to constituents of increasing size and specifically focused on the similarities and differences in the production and comprehension of the same stimuli. Participants had to either produce or listen to stimuli in a gradient of constituent size based on a visual prompt. Larger constituent sizes engaged the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and middle temporal gyrus (LMTG) extending to inferior parietal areas in both production and comprehension, confirming that the neural resources for syntactic encoding and decoding are largely overlapping. An ROI analysis in LIFG and LMTG also showed that production elicited larger responses to constituent size than comprehension and that the LMTG was more engaged in comprehension than production, while the LIFG was more engaged in production than comprehension. Finally, increasing constituent size was characterized by later BOLD peaks in comprehension but earlier peaks in production. These results show that syntactic encoding and parsing engage overlapping areas, but there are asymmetries in the engagement of the language network due to the specific requirements of production and comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Giglio
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Donders Institute for Cognition, Brain and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Markus Ostarek
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Donders Institute for Cognition, Brain and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Kirsten Weber
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Donders Institute for Cognition, Brain and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Peter Hagoort
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Donders Institute for Cognition, Brain and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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16
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Asano R, Boeckx C, Seifert U. Hierarchical control as a shared neurocognitive mechanism for language and music. Cognition 2021; 216:104847. [PMID: 34311153 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2020] [Revised: 05/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Although comparative research has made substantial progress in clarifying the relationship between language and music as neurocognitive systems from both a theoretical and empirical perspective, there is still no consensus about which mechanisms, if any, are shared and how they bring about different neurocognitive systems. In this paper, we tackle these two questions by focusing on hierarchical control as a neurocognitive mechanism underlying syntax in language and music. We put forward the Coordinated Hierarchical Control (CHC) hypothesis: linguistic and musical syntax rely on hierarchical control, but engage this shared mechanism differently depending on the current control demand. While linguistic syntax preferably engages the abstract rule-based control circuit, musical syntax rather employs the coordination of the abstract rule-based and the more concrete motor-based control circuits. We provide evidence for our hypothesis by reviewing neuroimaging as well as neuropsychological studies on linguistic and musical syntax. The CHC hypothesis makes a set of novel testable predictions to guide future work on the relationship between language and music.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rie Asano
- Systematic Musicology, Institute of Musicology, University of Cologne, Germany.
| | - Cedric Boeckx
- Section of General Linguistics, University of Barcelona, Spain; University of Barcelona Institute for Complex Systems (UBICS), Spain; Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies and Research (ICREA), Spain
| | - Uwe Seifert
- Systematic Musicology, Institute of Musicology, University of Cologne, Germany
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17
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Overath T, Paik JH. From acoustic to linguistic analysis of temporal speech structure: Acousto-linguistic transformation during speech perception using speech quilts. Neuroimage 2021; 235:117887. [PMID: 33617990 PMCID: PMC8246445 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117887] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2019] [Revised: 01/18/2021] [Accepted: 02/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Speech perception entails the mapping of the acoustic waveform to linguistic representations. For this transformation to succeed, the speech signal needs to be tracked over various temporal windows at high temporal precision in order to decode linguistic units ranging from phonemes (tens of milliseconds) to sentences (seconds). Here, we tested the hypothesis that cortical processing of speech-specific temporal structure is modulated by higher-level linguistic analysis. Using fMRI, we measured BOLD signal changes to 4 s long speech quilts with variable temporal structure (30, 120, 480, 960 ms segment lengths), as well as natural speech, created from a familiar (English) or foreign (Korean) language. We found evidence for the acoustic analysis of temporal speech properties in superior temporal sulcus (STS): the BOLD signal increased as a function of temporal speech structure in both familiar and foreign languages. However, activity in left inferior gyrus (IFG) revealed evidence for linguistic processing of temporal speech properties: the BOLD signal increased as a function of temporal speech structure only in familiar, but not in foreign speech. Network connectivity analyses suggested that left IFG modulates the processing of temporal speech structure in primary and non-primary auditory cortex, which in turn sensitizes the analysis of temporal speech structure in STS. The results thus suggest that acousto-linguistic transformation of temporal speech structure is achieved by a cortical network comprising primary and non-primary auditory cortex, STS, and left IFG.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias Overath
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 27708, U.S.A.; Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 27708, U.S.A.; Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 27708, U.S.A..
| | - Joon H Paik
- Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 27708, U.S.A
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18
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Asano R. The evolution of hierarchical structure building capacity for language and music: a bottom-up perspective. Primates 2021; 63:417-428. [PMID: 33839984 PMCID: PMC9463250 DOI: 10.1007/s10329-021-00905-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2020] [Accepted: 03/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
A central property of human language is its hierarchical structure. Humans can flexibly combine elements to build a hierarchical structure expressing rich semantics. A hierarchical structure is also considered as playing a key role in many other human cognitive domains. In music, auditory-motor events are combined into hierarchical pitch and/or rhythm structure expressing affect. How did such a hierarchical structure building capacity evolve? This paper investigates this question from a bottom-up perspective based on a set of action-related components as a shared basis underlying cognitive capacities of nonhuman primates and humans. Especially, I argue that the evolution of hierarchical structure building capacity for language and music is tractable for comparative evolutionary study once we focus on the gradual elaboration of shared brain architecture: the cortico-basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits for hierarchical control of goal-directed action and the dorsal pathways for hierarchical internal models. I suggest that this gradual elaboration of the action-related brain architecture in the context of vocal control and tool-making went hand in hand with amplification of working memory, and made the brain ready for hierarchical structure building in language and music.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rie Asano
- Systematic Musicology, Institute of Musicology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
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19
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Gow DW, Schoenhaut A, Avcu E, Ahlfors SP. Behavioral and Neurodynamic Effects of Word Learning on Phonotactic Repair. Front Psychol 2021; 12:590155. [PMID: 33776832 PMCID: PMC7987836 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.590155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2020] [Accepted: 02/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Processes governing the creation, perception and production of spoken words are sensitive to the patterns of speech sounds in the language user's lexicon. Generative linguistic theory suggests that listeners infer constraints on possible sound patterning from the lexicon and apply these constraints to all aspects of word use. In contrast, emergentist accounts suggest that these phonotactic constraints are a product of interactive associative mapping with items in the lexicon. To determine the degree to which phonotactic constraints are lexically mediated, we observed the effects of learning new words that violate English phonotactic constraints (e.g., srigin) on phonotactic perceptual repair processes in nonword consonant-consonant-vowel (CCV) stimuli (e.g., /sre/). Subjects who learned such words were less likely to "repair" illegal onset clusters (/sr/) and report them as legal ones (/∫r/). Effective connectivity analyses of MRI-constrained reconstructions of simultaneously collected magnetoencephalography (MEG) and EEG data showed that these behavioral shifts were accompanied by changes in the strength of influences of lexical areas on acoustic-phonetic areas. These results strengthen the interpretation of previous results suggesting that phonotactic constraints on perception are produced by top-down lexical influences on speech processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- David W. Gow
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Psychology, Salem State University, Salem, MA, United States
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States
- Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Adriana Schoenhaut
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Enes Avcu
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Seppo P. Ahlfors
- Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
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20
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Ruksenaite J, Volkmer A, Jiang J, Johnson JC, Marshall CR, Warren JD, Hardy CJ. Primary Progressive Aphasia: Toward a Pathophysiological Synthesis. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 2021; 21:7. [PMID: 33543347 PMCID: PMC7861583 DOI: 10.1007/s11910-021-01097-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW The term primary progressive aphasia (PPA) refers to a diverse group of dementias that present with prominent and early problems with speech and language. They present considerable challenges to clinicians and researchers. RECENT FINDINGS Here, we review critical issues around diagnosis of the three major PPA variants (semantic variant PPA, nonfluent/agrammatic variant PPA, logopenic variant PPA), as well as considering 'fragmentary' syndromes. We next consider issues around assessing disease stage, before discussing physiological phenotyping of proteinopathies across the PPA spectrum. We also review evidence for core central auditory impairments in PPA, outline critical challenges associated with treatment, discuss pathophysiological features of each major PPA variant, and conclude with thoughts on key challenges that remain to be addressed. New findings elucidating the pathophysiology of PPA represent a major step forward in our understanding of these diseases, with implications for diagnosis, care, management, and therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justina Ruksenaite
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, 8 - 11 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Anna Volkmer
- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK
| | - Jessica Jiang
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, 8 - 11 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Jeremy Cs Johnson
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, 8 - 11 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Charles R Marshall
- Preventive Neurology Unit, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Jason D Warren
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, 8 - 11 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Chris Jd Hardy
- Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, 8 - 11 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK.
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21
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Kherif F, Muller S. Neuro-Clinical Signatures of Language Impairments: A Theoretical Framework for Function-to-structure Mapping in Clinics. Curr Top Med Chem 2021; 20:800-811. [PMID: 32116193 DOI: 10.2174/1568026620666200302111130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2019] [Revised: 11/10/2019] [Accepted: 01/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
In the past decades, neuroscientists and clinicians have collected a considerable amount of data and drastically increased our knowledge about the mapping of language in the brain. The emerging picture from the accumulated knowledge is that there are complex and combinatorial relationships between language functions and anatomical brain regions. Understanding the underlying principles of this complex mapping is of paramount importance for the identification of the brain signature of language and Neuro-Clinical signatures that explain language impairments and predict language recovery after stroke. We review recent attempts to addresses this question of language-brain mapping. We introduce the different concepts of mapping (from diffeomorphic one-to-one mapping to many-to-many mapping). We build those different forms of mapping to derive a theoretical framework where the current principles of brain architectures including redundancy, degeneracy, pluri-potentiality and bow-tie network are described.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ferath Kherif
- Laboratory for Research in Neuroimaging, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sandrine Muller
- 1Laboratory for Research in Neuroimaging, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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22
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Iwabuchi T, Makuuchi M. When a sentence loses semantics: Selective involvement of a left anterior temporal subregion in semantic processing. Eur J Neurosci 2020; 53:929-942. [PMID: 33103315 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2019] [Revised: 10/15/2020] [Accepted: 10/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Although the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL) has been associated with semantic processing, the role of this region in syntactic structure building of sentences remains a subject of debate. Functional neuroimaging studies contrasting well-formed sentences with word lists lacking syntactic structure have produced mixed results. The current functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined whether the left ATL is selectively involved in semantic processing or also plays a role in syntactic structure building by manipulating syntactic complexity and meaningfulness in a novel way. To deprive semantic/pragmatic information from a sentence, we replaced all content words with pronounceable meaningless placeholders. We conducted an experiment with a 2 × 2 factorial design with factors of SEMANTICS (natural sentences [NAT]; sentences with placeholders [SPH]) and SYNTAX (the basic Japanese Subject-Object-Verb [SOV] word order; a changed Object-Subject-Verb [OSV] word order). A main effect of SEMANTICS (NAT > SPH) was found in the left ATL, as well as in the ventral occipitotemporal regions. The opposite contrast (SPH > NAT) revealed activation in the dorsal regions encompassing Brodmann area 44, the premotor area, and the parietal cortex in the left hemisphere. We found no main effect of SYNTAX (OSV > SOV) in a subregion of the left ATL that was more responsive to natural sentences than meaningless sentences. These results indicate selective involvement of a subregion of the left ATL in semantic/pragmatic processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Toshiki Iwabuchi
- Section of Neuropsychology, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Japan
| | - Michiru Makuuchi
- Section of Neuropsychology, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Japan
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23
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Kubota M, Matsuzaki J, Dan I, Dan H, Zouridakis G. Head errors of syntactic dependency increase neuromagnetic mismatch intensities. Exp Brain Res 2020; 238:2137-2160. [PMID: 32661653 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-020-05872-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2020] [Accepted: 07/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Mismatch-related brain activation in healthy individuals is an important area of neural investigation. Previously, we evaluated sentence-level syntactic dependencies, composed of a head and a dependent between two syntactically related words in head-initial English structures. We demonstrated that prominent mismatch effects were induced by within-category dependent errors when semantic interpretation was preserved. However, the following issues were not addressed: (1) whether head errors of syntactic dependency in head-final structures would elicit large mismatch field (MMF) intensities, and (2) whether an MMF effect of syntactic errors would be seen in the left superior temporal cortex alone. In this study, auditory MMFs were obtained by magnetocephalography (MEG) from healthy Japanese adults (n = 8) who were subjected to a passive auditory oddball paradigm with syntactically legal or illegal utterances and single words in Japanese. The results demonstrate that the source waveforms had significantly higher MMF cortical activation in response to the head error, which involved altered polarity of the predicate. This resulted in a syntactically incorrect and semantically incomprehensible expression, when compared to the syntactically correct expression and the non-structural lexical item. This mismatch effect, with a peak latency of 164 ms, was confined to the anterior region of the left superior temporal cortex. The current results clearly indicate that the representation of syntactic dependency is stored in long-term memory and tends to be activated in automatic auditory processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikio Kubota
- Department of English, Seijo University, 6-1-20, Seijo, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 157-8511, Japan.
- Functional Brain Science Lab, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi, Japan.
- Lurie Family Foundations MEG Imaging Center, Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
- Department of Engineering Technology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
| | - Junko Matsuzaki
- Lurie Family Foundations MEG Imaging Center, Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Ippeita Dan
- Functional Brain Science Lab, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi, Japan
- Department of Integrated Sciences and Engineering for Sustainable Society, Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Haruka Dan
- Functional Brain Science Lab, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi, Japan
| | - George Zouridakis
- Department of Engineering Technology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
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24
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Uddén J, de Jesus Dias Martins M, Zuidema W, Tecumseh Fitch W. Hierarchical Structure in Sequence Processing: How to Measure It and Determine Its Neural Implementation. Top Cogn Sci 2020; 12:910-924. [PMID: 31364310 PMCID: PMC7496673 DOI: 10.1111/tops.12442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2018] [Revised: 06/17/2019] [Accepted: 06/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
In many domains of human cognition, hierarchically structured representations are thought to play a key role. In this paper, we start with some foundational definitions of key phenomena like "sequence" and "hierarchy," and then outline potential signatures of hierarchical structure that can be observed in behavioral and neuroimaging data. Appropriate behavioral methods include classic ones from psycholinguistics along with some from the more recent artificial grammar learning and sentence processing literature. We then turn to neuroimaging evidence for hierarchical structure with a focus on the functional MRI literature. We conclude that, although a broad consensus exists about a role for a neural circuit incorporating the inferior frontal gyrus, the superior temporal sulcus, and the arcuate fasciculus, considerable uncertainty remains about the precise computational function(s) of this circuitry. An explicit theoretical framework, combined with an empirical approach focusing on distinguishing between plausible alternative hypotheses, will be necessary for further progress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Uddén
- Department of Psychology, Department of LinguisticsStockholm University
- Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS)
| | - Mauricio de Jesus Dias Martins
- Berlin School of Mind and BrainHumboldt Universität zu Berlin
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
- Clinic for Cognitive NeurologyUniversity Hospital Leipzig
| | - Willem Zuidema
- Institute for Logic, Language and ComputationUniversity of Amsterdam
| | - W. Tecumseh Fitch
- Department of Cognitive Biology, Faculty of Life SciencesUniversity of Vienna
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25
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Matchin W, Wood E. Syntax-Sensitive Regions of the Posterior Inferior Frontal Gyrus and the Posterior Temporal Lobe Are Differentially Recruited by Production and Perception. Cereb Cortex Commun 2020; 1:tgaa029. [PMID: 34296103 PMCID: PMC8152856 DOI: 10.1093/texcom/tgaa029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2020] [Revised: 06/22/2020] [Accepted: 06/22/2020] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Matchin and Hickok (2020) proposed that the left posterior inferior frontal gyrus (PIFG) and the left posterior temporal lobe (PTL) both play a role in syntactic processing, broadly construed, attributing distinct functions to these regions with respect to production and perception. Consistent with this hypothesis, functional dissociations between these regions have been demonstrated with respect to lesion-symptom mapping in aphasia. However, neuroimaging studies of syntactic comprehension typically show similar activations in these regions. In order to identify whether these regions show distinct activation patterns with respect to syntactic perception and production, we performed an fMRI study contrasting the subvocal articulation and perception of structured jabberwocky phrases (syntactic), sequences of real words (lexical), and sequences of pseudowords (phonological). We defined two sets of language-selective regions of interest (ROIs) in individual subjects for the PIFG and the PTL using the contrasts [syntactic > lexical] and [syntactic > phonological]. We found robust significant interactions of comprehension and production between these 2 regions at the syntactic level, for both sets of language-selective ROIs. This suggests a core difference in the function of these regions with respect to production and perception, consistent with the lesion literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Matchin
- Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
| | - Emily Wood
- Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
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26
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Martins MJD, Krause C, Neville DA, Pino D, Villringer A, Obrig H. Recursive hierarchical embedding in vision is impaired by posterior middle temporal gyrus lesions. Brain 2020; 142:3217-3229. [PMID: 31560064 PMCID: PMC6763734 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awz242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2018] [Revised: 06/11/2019] [Accepted: 06/16/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The generation of hierarchical structures is central to language, music and complex action. Understanding this capacity and its potential impairments requires mapping its underlying cognitive processes to the respective neuronal underpinnings. In language, left inferior frontal gyrus and left posterior temporal cortex (superior temporal sulcus/middle temporal gyrus) are considered hubs for syntactic processing. However, it is unclear whether these regions support computations specific to language or more generally support analyses of hierarchical structure. Here, we address this issue by investigating hierarchical processing in a non-linguistic task. We test the ability to represent recursive hierarchical embedding in the visual domain by contrasting a recursion task with an iteration task. The recursion task requires participants to correctly identify continuations of a hierarchy generating procedure, while the iteration task applies a serial procedure that does not generate new hierarchical levels. In a lesion-based approach, we asked 44 patients with left hemispheric chronic brain lesion to perform recursion and iteration tasks. We modelled accuracies and response times with a drift diffusion model and for each participant obtained parametric estimates for the velocity of information accumulation (drift rates) and for the amount of information accumulated before a decision (boundary separation). We then used these estimates in lesion-behaviour analyses to investigate how brain lesions affect specific aspects of recursive hierarchical embedding. We found that lesions in the posterior temporal cortex decreased drift rate in recursive hierarchical embedding, suggesting an impaired process of rule extraction from recursive structures. Moreover, lesions in inferior temporal gyrus decreased boundary separation. The latter finding does not survive conservative correction but suggests a shift in the decision criterion. As patients also participated in a grammar comprehension experiment, we performed explorative correlation-analyses and found that visual and linguistic recursive hierarchical embedding accuracies are correlated when the latter is instantiated as sentences with two nested embedding levels. While the roles of the inferior temporal gyrus and posterior temporal cortex in linguistic processes are well established, here we show that posterior temporal cortex lesions slow information accumulation (drift rate) in the visual domain. This suggests that posterior temporal cortex is essential to acquire the (knowledge) representations necessary to parse recursive hierarchical embedding in visual structures, a finding mimicking language acquisition in young children. On the contrary, inferior frontal gyrus lesions seem to affect recursive hierarchical embedding processing by interfering with more general cognitive control (boundary separation). This interesting separation of roles, rooted on a domain-general taxonomy, raises the question of whether such cognitive framing is also applicable to other domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mauricio J D Martins
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Carina Krause
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.,Erziehungswissenschaftliche Fakultät Pädagogik im Förderschwerpunkt Sprache und Kommunikation, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - David A Neville
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Daniele Pino
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Arno Villringer
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Hellmuth Obrig
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
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27
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Abstract
Human language allows us to create an infinitude of ideas from a finite set of basic building blocks. What is the neurobiology of this combinatory system? Research has begun to dissect the neural basis of natural language syntax and semantics by analyzing the basics of meaning composition, such as two-word phrases. This work has revealed a system of composition that involves rapidly peaking activity in the left anterior temporal lobe and later engagement of the medial prefrontal cortex. Both brain regions show evidence of shared processing between comprehension and production, as well as between spoken and signed language. Both appear to compute meaning, not syntactic structure. This Review discusses how language builds meaning and lays out directions for future neurobiological research on the combinatory system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liina Pylkkänen
- Departments of Linguistics and Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA.,NYUAD Institute, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
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28
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Abstract
Syntax, the structure of sentences, enables humans to express an infinite range of meanings through finite means. The neurobiology of syntax has been intensely studied but with little consensus. Two main candidate regions have been identified: the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG) and the posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG). Integrating research in linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neuroscience, we propose a neuroanatomical framework for syntax that attributes distinct syntactic computations to these regions in a unified model. The key theoretical advances are adopting a modern lexicalized view of syntax in which the lexicon and syntactic rules are intertwined, and recognizing a computational asymmetry in the role of syntax during comprehension and production. Our model postulates a hierarchical lexical-syntactic function to the pMTG, which interconnects previously identified speech perception and conceptual-semantic systems in the temporal and inferior parietal lobes, crucial for both sentence production and comprehension. These relational hierarchies are transformed via the pIFG into morpho-syntactic sequences, primarily tied to production. We show how this architecture provides a better account of the full range of data and is consistent with recent proposals regarding the organization of phonological processes in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Matchin
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA
| | - Gregory Hickok
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
- Department of Language Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
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29
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Matchin W, Basilakos A, Stark BC, den Ouden DB, Fridriksson J, Hickok G. Agrammatism and Paragrammatism: A Cortical Double Dissociation Revealed by Lesion-Symptom Mapping. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2020; 1:208-225. [PMID: 34296193 PMCID: PMC8293792 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2020] [Accepted: 03/27/2020] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
The fundamental distinction of grammatical deficits in aphasia, agrammatism and paragrammatism, was made over a century ago. However, the extent to which the agrammatism/paragrammatism distinction exists independently of differences in speech fluency has not clearly been investigated. Despite much research on agrammatism, the lesion correlates of paragrammatism are essentially unknown. Lesion-symptom mapping was used to investigate the degree to which the lesion correlates of agrammatism and paragrammatism overlap or dissociate. Four expert raters assessed videos of 53 right-handed patients with aphasia following chronic left-hemisphere stroke retelling the Cinderella story. Consensus discussion determined each subject's classification with respect to grammatical deficits as Agrammatic, Paragrammatic, Both, or No Grammatical Deficit. Each subject's lesion was manually drawn on a high-resolution MRI and warped to standard space for group analyses. Lesion-symptom mapping analyses were performed in NiiStat including lesion volume as a covariate. Secondary analyses included speech rate (words per minute) as an additional covariate. Region of interest analyses identified a double dissociation between these syndromes: damage to Broca's area was significantly associated with agrammatism, p = 0.001 (but not paragrammatism, p = 0.930), while damage to the left posterior superior and middle temporal gyri was significantly associated with paragrammatism, p < 0.001 (but not agrammatism, p = 0.873). The same results obtained when regressing out the effect of speech rate, and nonoverlapping lesion distributions between the syndromes were confirmed by uncorrected whole brain analyses. Our results support a fundamental distinction between agrammatism and paragrammatism.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Alexandra Basilakos
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina
| | - Brielle C. Stark
- ISpeech and Hearing Sciences Department and Program in Neuroscience Faculty, Indiana University Bloomington
| | - Dirk-Bart den Ouden
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina
| | - Julius Fridriksson
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina
| | - Gregory Hickok
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, Department of Language Sciences, University of California, Irvine
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30
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Matchin W, Brodbeck C, Hammerly C, Lau E. The temporal dynamics of structure and content in sentence comprehension: Evidence from fMRI-constrained MEG. Hum Brain Mapp 2019; 40:663-678. [PMID: 30259599 PMCID: PMC6865621 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2018] [Revised: 09/04/2018] [Accepted: 09/07/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans have a striking capacity to combine words into sentences that express new meanings. Previous research has identified key brain regions involved in this capacity, but little is known about the time course of activity in these regions, as hemodynamic methods such as fMRI provide little insight into temporal dynamics of neural activation. We performed an MEG experiment to elucidate the temporal dynamics of structure and content processing within four brain regions implicated by fMRI data from the same experiment: the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), the posterior temporal lobe (PTL), the anterior temporal lobe (ATL), and the anterior inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). The TPJ showed increased activity for both structure and content near the end of the sentence, consistent with a role in incremental interpretation of event semantics. The PTL, a region not often associated with core aspects of syntax, showed a strong early effect of structure, consistent with predictive parsing models, and both structural and semantic context effects on function words. These results provide converging evidence that the PTL plays an important role in lexicalized syntactic processing. The ATL and IFG, regions traditionally associated with syntax, showed minimal effects of sentence structure. The ATL, PTL and IFG all showed effects of semantic content: increased activation for real words relative to nonwords. Our fMRI-guided MEG investigation therefore helps identify syntactic and semantic aspects of sentence comprehension in the brain in both spatial and temporal dimensions.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Matchin
- Department of Communication Sciences and DisordersUniversity of South CarolinaColumbiaSouth Carolina
| | - Christian Brodbeck
- Institute for Systems ResearchUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkMaryland
| | | | - Ellen Lau
- Department of LinguisticsUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkMaryland
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