scholarly journals Catecholaminergic Modulation of Semantic Processing in Sentence Comprehension

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 6426-6443
Author(s):  
Yingying Tan ◽  
Peter Hagoort
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
N400 Amplitude ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Electroencephalogram Eeg ◽  
Ca Agonist

Abstract Catecholamine (CA) function has been widely implicated in cognitive functions that are tied to the prefrontal cortex and striatal areas. The present study investigated the effects of methylphenidate, which is a CA agonist, on the electroencephalogram (EEG) response related to semantic processing using a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, crossover, within-subject design. Forty-eight healthy participants read semantically congruent or incongruent sentences after receiving 20-mg methylphenidate or a placebo while their brain activity was monitored with EEG. To probe whether the catecholaminergic modulation is task-dependent, in one condition participants had to focus on comprehending the sentences, while in the other condition, they only had to attend to the font size of the sentence. The results demonstrate that methylphenidate has a task-dependent effect on semantic processing. Compared to placebo, when semantic processing was task-irrelevant, methylphenidate enhanced the detection of semantic incongruence as indexed by a larger N400 amplitude in the incongruent sentences; when semantic processing was task-relevant, methylphenidate induced a larger N400 amplitude in the semantically congruent condition, which was followed by a larger late positive complex effect. These results suggest that CA-related neurotransmitters influence language processing, possibly through the projections between the prefrontal cortex and the striatum, which contain many CA receptors.

scholarly journals Neural evidence for the prediction of animacy features during language comprehension: Evidence from MEG and EEG Representational Similarity Analysis

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Wang ◽  
Edward Wlotko ◽  
Edward Alexander ◽  
Lotte Schoot ◽  
Minjae Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Similarity Analysis ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Representational Similarity Analysis

AbstractIt has been proposed that people can generate probabilistic predictions at multiple levels of representation during language comprehension. We used Magnetoencephalography (MEG) and Electroencephalography (EEG), in combination with Representational Similarity Analysis (RSA), to seek neural evidence for the prediction of animacy features. In two studies, MEG and EEG activity was measured as human participants (both sexes) read three-sentence scenarios. Verbs in the final sentences constrained for either animate or inanimate semantic features of upcoming nouns, and the broader discourse context constrained for either a specific noun or for multiple nouns belonging to the same animacy category. We quantified the similarity between spatial patterns of brain activity following the verbs until just before the presentation of the nouns. The MEG and EEG datasets revealed converging evidence that the similarity between spatial patterns of neural activity following animate constraining verbs was greater than following inanimate constraining verbs. This effect could not be explained by lexical-semantic processing of the verbs themselves. We therefore suggest that it reflected the inherent difference in the semantic similarity structure of the predicted animate and inanimate nouns. Moreover, the effect was present regardless of whether a specific word could be predicted, providing strong evidence for the prediction of coarse-grained semantic features that goes beyond the prediction of individual words.Significance statementLanguage inputs unfold very quickly during real-time communication. By predicting ahead we can give our brains a “head-start”, so that language comprehension is faster and more efficient. While most contexts do not constrain strongly for a specific word, they do allow us to predict some upcoming information. For example, following the context, “they cautioned the…”, we can predict that the next word will be animate rather than inanimate (we can caution a person, but not an object). Here we used EEG and MEG techniques to show that the brain is able to use these contextual constraints to predict the animacy of upcoming words during sentence comprehension, and that these predictions are associated with specific spatial patterns of neural activity.

scholarly journals Co-localization of Stroop and Syntactic Ambiguity Resolution in Broca's Area: Implications for the Neural Basis of Sentence Processing

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 2434-2444 ◽  
Author(s):  
David January ◽  
John C. Trueswell ◽  
Sharon L. Thompson-Schill
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Syntactic Ambiguity ◽  
Broca’S Area ◽  
Broca's Area ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Control Processes

For over a century, a link between left prefrontal cortex and language processing has been accepted, yet the precise characterization of this link remains elusive. Recent advances in both the study of sentence processing and the neuroscientific study of frontal lobe function suggest an intriguing possibility: The demands to resolve competition between incompatible characterizations of a linguistic stimulus may recruit top–down cognitive control processes mediated by prefrontal cortex. We use functional magnetic resonance imaging to test the hypothesis that individuals use shared prefrontal neural circuitry during two very different tasks—color identification under Stroop conflict and sentence comprehension under conditions of syntactic ambiguity—both of which putatively rely on cognitive control processes. We report the first demonstration of within-subject overlap in neural responses to syntactic and nonsyntactic conflict. These findings serve to clarify the role of Broca's area in, and the neural and psychological organization of, the language processing system.

scholarly journals Involuntary orienting and conflict resolution during auditory attention: The role of ventral and dorsal streams

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah J Stewart ◽  
Dawei Shen ◽  
Nasim Sham ◽  
Claude Alain
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Irrelevant Feature ◽  
Enhanced Activity ◽  
Task Irrelevant

AbstractSelective attention to sound object features such as pitch and location is associated with enhanced brain activity in ventral and dorsal streams, respectively. We examined the role of these pathways in involuntary orienting and conflict resolution using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants were presented with two tones that may share, or not, the same non-spatial (frequency) or spatial (location) auditory features. In separate blocks of trials, participants were asked to attend to sound frequency or sound location and ignore the change in the task-irrelevant feature. In both attend-frequency and attend-location tasks, response times were slower when the task-irrelevant feature changed than when it stayed the same (involuntary orienting). This behavioural cost coincided with enhanced activity in the prefrontal cortex and superior temporal gyrus (STG). Conflict resolution was examined by comparing situations where the change in stimulus features was congruent (both features changed) and incongruent (only one feature changed). Participants were slower and less accurate for incongruent than congruent sound features. This congruency effect was associated with enhanced activity in the prefrontal cortex, and was greater in the right STG and medial frontal cortex during the attend-location than during the attend-frequency task. Together, these findings do not support a strict division of ‘labour’ into ventral and dorsal streams, but rather suggest interactions between these pathways in situations involving changes in task-irrelevant sound feature and conflict resolution. These findings also validate the Test of Attention in Listening task by revealing distinct neural correlates for involuntary orienting and conflict resolution.

scholarly journals Neural signatures of predictive language processing in parkinson’s disease with and without mild cognitive impairment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia León-Cabrera ◽  
Javier Pagonabarraga ◽  
Joaquín Morís ◽  
Saúl Martínez-Horta ◽  
Juan Marín-Lahoz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Final Word ◽  
Related Potentials

ABSTRACTCognitive deficits are common in Parkinson’s disease (PD), with some PD patients meeting criteria for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). An unaddressed question is whether linguistic prediction is preserved in PD. This ability is nowadays deemed crucial in achieving fast and efficient comprehension, and it may be negatively impacted by cognitive deterioration. To fill this gap of knowledge, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to evaluate mechanisms of linguistic prediction in a sample of PD patients (on dopamine compensation) with and without MCI. To this end, participants read sentence contexts that were predictive or not about a sentence-final word. The final word appeared after 1 second, matching or mismatching the prediction. The introduction of the interval allowed to capture neural responses both before and after sentence-final words, reflecting semantic anticipation and processing. PD patients with normal cognition (N = 58) showed ERP responses comparable to those of matched controls. Specifically, in predictive contexts, a slow negative potential developed prior to sentence-final words, reflecting semantic anticipation. Later, expected words elicited reduced N400 responses (compared to unexpected words), indicating facilitated semantic processing. Besides, PD patients with MCI (N = 20) showed a prolongation of the N400 congruency effect (compared to matched PD patients without MCI), indicating that further cognitive decline impacts semantic processing. Finally, lower verbal fluency scores correlated with prolonged N400 congruency effects and with reduced pre-word differences in all PD patients (N = 78). This relevantly points to a role of deficits in temporal-dependent mechanisms in PD, besides prototypical frontal dysfunction, in altered semantic anticipation and semantic processing during sentence comprehension.

scholarly journals Manipulating placebo analgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia by changing brain excitability

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (19) ◽  
pp. e2101273118
Author(s):  
Yiheng Tu ◽  
Georgia Wilson ◽  
Joan Camprodon ◽  
Darin D. Dougherty ◽  
Mark Vangel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Medical Practice ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Placebo Analgesia ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Cathodal Tdcs ◽  
Nocebo Effects ◽  
The Right ◽  
Manipulation Model ◽  
Pain Regulation

Harnessing placebo and nocebo effects has significant implications for research and medical practice. Placebo analgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia, the most well-studied placebo and nocebo effects, are thought to initiate from the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and then trigger the brain’s descending pain modulatory system and other pain regulation pathways. Combining repeated transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), an expectancy manipulation model, and functional MRI, we investigated the modulatory effects of anodal and cathodal tDCS at the right DLPFC on placebo analgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia using a randomized, double-blind and sham-controlled design. We found that compared with sham tDCS, active tDCS could 1) boost placebo and blunt nocebo effects and 2) modulate brain activity and connectivity associated with placebo analgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia. These results provide a basis for mechanistic manipulation of placebo and nocebo effects and may lead to improved clinical outcomes in medical practice.

scholarly journals Predicting audiovisual speech: Early combined effects of sentential and visual constraints

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Solberg Økland ◽  
Ana Todorović ◽  
Claudia S. Lüttke ◽  
James M. McQueen ◽  
Floris P. de Lange
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Audiovisual Speech ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Visual Salience ◽  
Visual Constraints ◽  
Early Effects ◽  
The Right

AbstractIn language comprehension, a variety of contextual cues act in unison to render upcoming words more or less predictable. As a sentence unfolds, we use prior context (sentential constraints) to predict what the next words might be. Additionally, in a conversation, we can predict upcoming sounds through observing the mouth movements of a speaker (visual constraints). In electrophysiological studies, effects of visual salience have typically been observed early in language processing, while effects of sentential constraints have typically been observed later. We hypothesized that the visual and the sentential constraints might feed into the same predictive process such that effects of sentential constraints might also be detectable early in language processing through modulations of the early effects of visual salience. We presented participants with audiovisual speech while recording their brain activity with magnetoencephalography. Participants saw videos of a person saying sentences where the last word was either sententially constrained or not, and began with a salient or non-salient mouth movement. We found that sentential constraints indeed exerted an early (N1) influence on language processing. Sentential modulations of the N1 visual predictability effect were visible in brain areas associated with semantic processing, and were differently expressed in the two hemispheres. In the left hemisphere, visual and sentential constraints jointly suppressed the auditory evoked field, while the right hemisphere was sensitive to visual constraints only in the absence of strong sentential constraints. These results suggest that sentential and visual constraints can jointly influence even very early stages of audiovisual speech comprehension.

Subcortical Contributions to Language

2019 ◽  
pp. 850-876
Author(s):  
David A. Copland ◽  
Anthony J. Angwin
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Structural Connectivity ◽  
Subcortical Structures ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
Neuroimaging Data ◽  
Attentional Engagement

While it is well established that language processing is dependent on cortical mechanisms, the role of the subcortex in language function has been a point of contention since the initial clinical-anatomical observations of language deficits following vascular subcortical lesions. This chapter reviews both traditional proposals and recent discoveries of the functional and structural connectivity of the basal ganglia and thalamus with the cortex, suggesting that these subcortical structures are well positioned to contribute to language processing. It then examines both patient and healthy neuroimaging data implicating the thalamus and basal ganglia in various aspects of language, including lexical-semantics, verb/action processing, grammar, and sentence comprehension. While there is still considerable conjecture regarding the role of the basal ganglia in a number of these operations, there is now considerable evidence that the thalamus influences lexical-semantic processing through attentional engagement, while striatal-thalamic-cortical circuits most likely influence lexical-semantic functions, bilingual language processing, and sentence comprehension through domain-general mechanisms, including controlled selection and suppression.

The Effects of Sentence Repetition–Based Working Memory Treatment on Sentence Comprehension Abilities in Individuals With Aphasia

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (4S) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bora Eom ◽  
Jee Eun Sung
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Treatment Approach ◽  
Treatment Protocol ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Linguistic Units

Purpose This study investigated whether sentence repetition–based working-memory (SR-WM) treatment increased sentence-repetition abilities and the treatment effects generalized to sentence-comprehension abilities, WM-span tasks, and general language-assessment tasks. Method Six individuals with aphasia participated in the study. The treatment consisted of 12 sessions of approximately 1 hr per day, 3 times per week. The SR-WM treatment protocol followed components including maintenance and computation of linguistic units by facilitating a chunking strategy. We manipulated the length and syntactic structures of the sentence-repetition stimuli using a limited set of vocabulary. Results Participants demonstrated significant increased repetition ability in treated and untreated sentences after treatment. Furthermore, they showed generalization effects on the sentence-comprehension task, WM measures, and general language tasks, but with some differential patterns, depending on task demands. Conclusions The SR-WM treatment approach, by manipulating syntactic structures and minimizing top-down semantic processing, elicited increased performance on sentence repetition as well as other linguistic domains. Results indicated that it is clinically and theoretically important to examine whether WM treatment serves as a potentially underlying treatment approach that facilitates the distributed network associated with language processing.

scholarly journals The Effect of Focal Damage to the Right Medial Posterior Cerebellum on Word and Sentence Comprehension and Production

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Geva ◽  
Letitia M. Schneider ◽  
Sophie Roberts ◽  
David W. Green ◽  
Cathy J. Price
Keyword(s):  
Functional Imaging ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Normal Range ◽  
Cerebellar Damage ◽  
Language Difficulties ◽  
The Right

Functional imaging studies of neurologically intact adults have demonstrated that the right posterior cerebellum is activated during verb generation, semantic processing, sentence processing, and verbal fluency. Studies of patients with cerebellar damage converge to show that the cerebellum supports sentence processing and verbal fluency. However, to date there are no patient studies that investigated the specific importance of the right posterior cerebellum in language processing, because: (i) case studies presented patients with lesions affecting the anterior cerebellum (with or without damage to the posterior cerebellum), and (ii) group studies combined patients with lesions to different cerebellar regions, without specifically reporting the effects of right posterior cerebellar damage. Here we investigated whether damage to the right posterior cerebellum is critical for sentence processing and verbal fluency in four patients with focal stroke damage to different parts of the right posterior cerebellum (all involving Crus II, and lobules VII and VIII). We examined detailed lesion location by going beyond common anatomical definitions of cerebellar anatomy (i.e., according to lobules or vascular territory), and employed a recently proposed functional parcellation of the cerebellum. All four patients experienced language difficulties that persisted for at least a month after stroke but three performed in the normal range within a year. In contrast, one patient with more damage to lobule IX than the other patients had profound long-lasting impairments in the comprehension and repetition of sentences, and the production of spoken sentences during picture description. Spoken and written word comprehension and visual recognition memory were also impaired, however, verbal fluency was within the normal range, together with object naming, visual perception and verbal short-term memory. This is the first study to show that focal damage to the right posterior cerebellum leads to language difficulties after stroke; and that processing impairments persisted in the case with most damage to lobule IX. We discuss these results in relation to current theories of cerebellar contribution to language processing. Overall, our study highlights the need for longitudinal studies of language function in patients with focal damage to different cerebellar regions, with functional imaging to understand the mechanisms that support recovery.

scholarly journals Decoding Brain Activity Associated with Literal and Metaphoric Sentence Comprehension Using Distributional Semantic Models

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 231-246
Author(s):  
Vesna G. Djokic ◽  
Jean Maillard ◽  
Luana Bulat ◽  
Ekaterina Shutova
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Word Embeddings ◽  
Semantic Models ◽  
Distributional Semantic Models ◽  
Metaphor Processing ◽  
Meaning Representation ◽  
The Brain

Recent years have seen a growing interest within the natural language processing (NLP) community in evaluating the ability of semantic models to capture human meaning representation in the brain. Existing research has mainly focused on applying semantic models to decode brain activity patterns associated with the meaning of individual words, and, more recently, this approach has been extended to sentences and larger text fragments. Our work is the first to investigate metaphor processing in the brain in this context. We evaluate a range of semantic models (word embeddings, compositional, and visual models) in their ability to decode brain activity associated with reading of both literal and metaphoric sentences. Our results suggest that compositional models and word embeddings are able to capture differences in the processing of literal and metaphoric sentences, providing support for the idea that the literal meaning is not fully accessible during familiar metaphor comprehension.

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