scholarly journals Commonalities in alpha and beta neural desynchronizations during prediction in language comprehension and production

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Gastaldon ◽  
Giorgio Arcara ◽  
Eduardo Navarrete ◽  
Francesca Peressotti
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Production System ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Final Word ◽  
Word Comprehension ◽  
Production Models ◽  
Low Constraint ◽  
The Right ◽  
Language Network

AbstractThe present study investigates whether predictions during language comprehension are generated by engaging the production system. We recorded EEG from participants performing both a comprehension and a production task in two separate blocks. Participants listened to high and low constraint incomplete sentences and were asked either to name a picture to complete it (production) or to simply listen to the final word (comprehension). We found that in a silent gap before the final stimulus, predictable stimuli elicited alpha (8-10 Hz) and beta (13-30 Hz) desynchronization in both tasks. Source estimation highlighted not only the involvement of the left-lateralized language network, but also of temporo-parietal areas in the right hemisphere. Furthermore, correlations between the desynchronizations in comprehension and production showed spatiotemporal commonalities in language-relevant areas in the left hemisphere, especially in the temporal, lateral inferior and dorsal frontal, and inferior parietal corteces. As proposed by prediction-by-production models, our results show that comprehenders engage the production system while predicting upcoming words.

scholarly journals Efficacy of spoken word comprehension therapy in patients with chronic aphasia: a cross-over randomised controlled trial with structural imaging

2020 ◽  
pp. jnnp-2020-324256
Author(s):  
Victoria Fleming ◽  
Sonia Brownsett ◽  
Anna Krason ◽  
Maria A Maegli ◽  
Henry Coley-Fisher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Standard Care ◽  
Primary Outcome ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
Word Comprehension ◽  
Spoken Words ◽  
Spoken Language Comprehension

ObjectiveThe efficacy of spoken language comprehension therapies for persons with aphasia remains equivocal. We investigated the efficacy of a self-led therapy app, ‘Listen-In’, and examined the relation between brain structure and therapy response.MethodsA cross-over randomised repeated measures trial with five testing time points (12-week intervals), conducted at the university or participants' homes, captured baseline (T1), therapy (T2-T4) and maintenance (T5) effects. Participants with chronic poststroke aphasia and spoken language comprehension impairments completed consecutive Listen-In and standard care blocks (both 12 weeks with order randomised). Repeated measures analyses of variance compared change in spoken language comprehension on two co-primary outcomes over therapy versus standard care. Three structural MRI scans (T2-T4) for each participant (subgroup, n=25) were analysed using cross-sectional and longitudinal voxel-based morphometry.ResultsThirty-five participants completed, on average, 85 hours (IQR=70–100) of Listen-In (therapy first, n=18). The first study-specific co-primary outcome (Auditory Comprehension Test (ACT)) showed large and significant improvements for trained spoken words over therapy versus standard care (11%, Cohen’s d=1.12). Gains were largely maintained at 12 and 24 weeks. There were no therapy effects on the second standardised co-primary outcome (Comprehensive Aphasia Test: Spoken Words and Sentences). Change on ACT trained words was associated with volume of pretherapy right hemisphere white matter and post-therapy grey matter tissue density changes in bilateral temporal lobes.ConclusionsIndividuals with chronic aphasia can improve their spoken word comprehension many years after stroke. Results contribute to hemispheric debates implicating the right hemisphere in therapy-driven language recovery. Listen-In will soon be available on GooglePlay.Trial registration numberNCT02540889.

Phrase comprehension after brain damage

1982 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Sloan Berndt ◽  
Alfonso Caramazza
Keyword(s):  
Brain Damage ◽  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
The Other ◽  
Right Hemisphere Damage ◽  
Dimensional Adjectives ◽  
Neurologically Normal ◽  
The Right

ABSTRACTComprehension of six dimensional adjectives was found to be intact in groups of left hemisphere-damaged, right hemisphere-damaged and neurologically normal patients. Phrases with those adjectives were interpreted quite differently by left hemisphere-damaged patients than by the other two groups, and a subgroup of left-damaged patients appeared to be responsible for that group's deviant responses to phrases such as slightly bigger. All patients in the left-damaged group had some difficulty with negative phrases such as not big, however. Patients with right hemisphere-damage had difficulty interpreting only negative phrases with small. Results are interpreted with reference to Luria's discussion of semantic aphasia, and with regard to recent findings concerning the role of the right hemisphere in language comprehension.

scholarly journals Transcranial brain stimulation (TMS and tDCS) for post-stroke aphasia rehabilitation: Controversies

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Iracema Zanotto de Mendonça
Keyword(s):  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Brain Stimulation ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Post Stroke ◽  
Transcranial Brain Stimulation ◽  
The Right ◽  
Dominance Pattern ◽  
Causal Event ◽  
Hemispheric Language Dominance ◽  
Language Network

Transcranial brain stimulation (TS) techniques have been investigated for use in the rehabilitation of post-stroke aphasia. According to previous reports, functional recovery by the left hemisphere improves recovery from aphasia, when compared with right hemisphere participation. TS has been applied to stimulate the activity of the left hemisphere or to inhibit homotopic areas in the right hemisphere. Various factors can interfere with the brain's response to TS, including the size and location of the lesion, the time elapsed since the causal event, and individual differences in the hemispheric language dominance pattern. The following questions are discussed in the present article: [a] Is inhibition of the right hemisphere truly beneficial?; [b] Is the transference of the language network to the left hemisphere truly desirable in all patients?; [c] Is the use of TS during the post-stroke subacute phase truly appropriate? Different patterns of neuroplasticity must occur in post-stroke aphasia.

Right Hemisphere Language Operations

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-103
Author(s):  
Lee X. Blonder
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Discourse Processing ◽  
Discourse Comprehension ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Verbal Messages ◽  
The Right ◽  
Hemisphere Specialization

This book contains an introduction by the editors and 15 chapters that are divided into three parts. Part I is entitled “Decoding Speech Sounds and Individual Words”; part II: “Lexical and Sentence-Level Semantics”; and Part III: “Discourse Processing and Problem Solving.” Each part concludes with a commentary by the editors. As these section titles show, the book provides evidence that the right hemisphere is involved with functions more commonly ascribed to the left hemisphere, namely, phonology, morphology, and semantics. In addition, several chapters are devoted to aspects of communicative competence commonly associated with right hemisphere specialization, such as discourse comprehension and the appreciation of emotional verbal messages. Previous works, such as Language, Aphasia, and the Right Hemisphere by Chris Code (1987), provide a more basic introduction to what was then known of right hemisphere communicative competence. The Beeman and Chiarello volume is directed towards a more sophisticated target audience familiar with neurolinguistic models of hemispheric contributions to language comprehension.

scholarly journals EXPRESS: The role of language production in making predictions during comprehension

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110284
Author(s):  
Jaroslaw R. Lelonkiewicz ◽  
Hugh Rabagliati ◽  
Martin J. Pickering
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Production System ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Reading Aloud ◽  
Final Word

Language comprehension depends heavily upon prediction, but how predictions are generated remains poorly understood. Several recent theories propose that these predictions are in fact generated by the language production system. Here, we directly test this claim. Participants read sentence contexts that either were or were not highly predictive of a final word, and we measured how quickly participants recognized that final word (Experiment 1), named that final word (Experiment 2), or used that word to name a picture (Experiment 3). We manipulated engagement of the production system by asking participants to read the sentence contexts either aloud or silently. Across the experiments, participants responded more quickly following highly predictive contexts. Importantly, the effect of contextual predictability was greater when participants had read the sentence contexts aloud rather than silently, a finding that was significant in Experiment 3, marginally significant in Experiment 2, and again significant in combined analyses of Experiments 1-3. These results indicate that language production (as used in reading aloud) can be used to facilitate prediction. We consider whether prediction benefits from production only in particular contexts, and discuss the theoretical implications of our evidence.

scholarly journals The role of language production in making predictions during comprehension

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaroslaw Roman Lelonkiewicz ◽  
Hugh Rabagliati ◽  
Martin John Pickering
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Experimental Psychology ◽  
Production System ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Reading Aloud ◽  
Quarterly Journal ◽  
Final Word ◽  
Journal Publication

Language comprehension depends heavily upon prediction, but how predictions are generated remains poorly understood. Several recent theories propose that these predictions are in fact generated by the language production system. Here, we directly test this claim. Participants read sentence contexts that either were or were not highly predictive of a final word, and we measured how quickly participants recognized that final word (Experiment 1), named that final word (Experiment 2), or used that word to name a picture (Experiment 3). We manipulated engagement of the production system by asking participants to read the sentence contexts either aloud or silently. Across the experiments, participants responded more quickly following highly predictive contexts. Importantly, the effect of contextual predictability was greater when participants had read the sentence contexts aloud rather than silently, a finding that was significant in Experiment 3, marginally significant in Experiment 2, and again significant in combined analyses of Experiments 1-3. These results indicate that language production (as used in reading aloud) can be used to facilitate prediction. We consider whether prediction benefits from production only in particular contexts, and discuss the theoretical implications of our evidence. [This is the final peer-reviewed manuscript ACCEPTED for publication in Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. In citations, please refer to the journal publication.]

scholarly journals Individual alpha power predicts language comprehension

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Wang ◽  
Yifei He ◽  
Burkhard Maess ◽  
Jinxing Yue ◽  
Luyao Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Individual Performance ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Oscillatory Activity ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

Alpha power attenuation during cognitive task performing has been suggested to reflect a process of release of inhibition, increase of excitability, and thereby benefit the improvement of performance. Here, we hypothesized that changes in individual alpha power during the execution of a complex language comprehension task may correlate with the individual performance in that task. We tested this using magnetoencephalography (MEG) recorded during comprehension of German sentences of different syntactic complexity. Results showed that neither the frequency nor the power of the spontaneous oscillatory activity at rest were associated with the individual performance. However, during the execution of a sentences processing task, the individual alpha power attenuation did correlate with individual language comprehension performance. Source reconstruction localized effects in temporal-parietal regions of both hemispheres. While the effect of increased task difficulty is localized in the right hemisphere, the difference in power attenuation between tasks of different complexity exhibiting a correlation with performance was localized in left temporal-parietal brain regions known to be associated with language processing. From our results, we conclude that in-task attenuation of individual alpha power is related to the essential mechanisms of the underlying cognitive processes, rather than merely to general phenomena like attention or vigilance.

scholarly journals Aphasia and a Dual-Stream Language Model in a 4-Year-Old Female with Landau–Kleffner Syndrome

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michiko Kawai ◽  
Yuichi Abe ◽  
Masato Yumoto ◽  
Masaya Kubota
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Language Model ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Epileptogenic Zone ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Stream Model

AbstractLandau–Kleffner syndrome (LKS) is a rare neurological disorder characterized by acquired aphasia. LKS presents with distinctive electroencephalography (EEG) findings, including diffuse continuous spike and wave complexes (CSW), particularly during sleep. There has been little research on the mechanisms of aphasia and its origin within the brain and how it recovers. We diagnosed LKS in a 4-year-old female with an epileptogenic zone located primarily in the right superior temporal gyrus or STG (nondominant side). In the course of her illness, she had early signs of motor aphasia recovery but was slow to regain language comprehension and recover from hearing loss. We suggest that the findings from our patient's brain imaging and the disparity between her recovery from expressive and receptive aphasias are consistent with the dual-stream model of speech processing in which the nondominant hemisphere also plays a significant role in language comprehension. Unlike aphasia in adults, the right-hemisphere disorder has been reported to cause delays in language comprehension and gestures in early childhood. In the period of language acquisition, it requires a process of understanding what the words mean by integrating and understanding the visual, auditory, and contextual information. It is thought that the right hemisphere works predominantly with respect to its integrating role.

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