scholarly journals Neural Substrates of the Morphological Structure of Chinese Words

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Xuan Wang ◽  
Mingze Mao ◽  
Jiayi Zhao ◽  
Zhiqiang Yang ◽  
Jie Li ◽  
...  

Compounding is the dominant morphological type in modern Chinese words; however, its brain mechanisms remain unspecified. Here, we aim to address this issue by manipulating three common morphological structures in Chinese disyllabic words in an fMRI study: parallel, biased, and monomorphemic. Behavioral analyses show no significant difference in reaction times and error rates among these three conditions. No difference in neural activation was observed in direct contrasts among these conditions in univariate contrast analyses. A support vector machine categorization analysis reveals that the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) is the only region in the frontotemporal network that can differentiate the parallel from the biased disyllabic words in neural activation patterns. This finding indicates that the LIFG is the core region responsible for morphological representation universally across different language modalities and morphological structures.

2022 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eri Nakagawa ◽  
Takahiko Koike ◽  
Motofumi Sumiya ◽  
Koji Shimada ◽  
Kai Makita ◽  
...  

Japanese English learners have difficulty speaking Double Object (DO; give B A) than Prepositional Object (PO; give A to B) structures which neural underpinning is unknown. In speaking, syntactic and phonological processing follow semantic encoding, conversion of non-verbal mental representation into a structure suitable for expression. To test whether DO difficulty lies in linguistic or prelinguistic process, we conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging. Thirty participants described cartoons using DO or PO, or simply named them. Greater reaction times and error rates indicated DO difficulty. DO compared with PO showed parieto-frontal activation including left inferior frontal gyrus, reflecting linguistic process. Psychological priming in PO produced immediately after DO and vice versa compared to after control, indicated shared process between PO and DO. Cross-structural neural repetition suppression was observed in occipito-parietal regions, overlapping the linguistic system in pre-SMA. Thus DO and PO share prelinguistic process, whereas linguistic process imposes overload in DO.


PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuwen Sun ◽  
Xiaoling Li ◽  
Lingyu Ji ◽  
Feng Han ◽  
Huifen Wang ◽  
...  

Based on the existing research on sound symbolism and crossmodal correspondence, this study proposed an extended research on cross-modal correspondence between various sound attributes and color properties in a group of non-synesthetes. In Experiment 1, we assessed the associations between each property of sounds and colors. Twenty sounds with five auditory properties (pitch, roughness, sharpness, tempo and discontinuity), each varied in four levels, were used as the sound stimuli. Forty-nine colors with different hues, saturation and brightness were used to match to those sounds. Result revealed that besides pitch and tempo, roughness and sharpness also played roles in sound-color correspondence. Reaction times of sound-hue were a little longer than the reaction times of sound-lightness. In Experiment 2, a speeded target discrimination task was used to assess whether the associations between sound attributes and color properties could invoke natural cross-modal correspondence and improve participants’ cognitive efficiency in cognitive tasks. Several typical sound-color pairings were selected according to the results of Experiment 1. Participants were divided into two groups (congruent and incongruent). In each trial participants had to judge whether the presented color could appropriately be associated with the sound stimuli. Result revealed that participants responded more quickly and accurately in the congruent group than in the incongruent group. It was also found that there was no significant difference in reaction times and error rates between sound-hue and sound-lightness. The results of Experiment 1 and 2 indicate the existence of a robust crossmodal correspondence between multiple attributes of sound and color, which also has strong influence on cognitive tasks. The inconsistency of the reaction times between sound-hue and sound-lightness in Experiment 1 and 2 is probably owing to the difference in experimental protocol, which indicates that the complexity of experiment design may be an important factor in crossmodal correspondence phenomena.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eri Nakagawa ◽  
Takahiko Koike ◽  
Motofumi Sumiya ◽  
Koji Shimada ◽  
Kai Makita ◽  
...  

Japanese English learners have difficulty speaking Double Object (DO; give B A) than Prepositional Object (PO; give A to B) structures which neural underpinning is unknown. In speaking, syntactic and phonological processing follow semantic encoding, conversion of non-verbal mental representation into a structure suitable for expression. To test whether DO difficulty lies in linguistic or prelinguistic process, we conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging. Thirty participants described cartoons using DO or PO, or simply named them. Greater reaction times and error rates indicated DO difficulty. DO compared with PO showed parieto-frontal activation including left inferior frontal gyrus, reflecting linguistic process. Psychological priming in PO produced immediately after DO and vice versa compared to after control, indicated shared process between PO and DO. Cross-structural neural repetition suppression was observed in occipito-parietal regions, overlapping the linguistic system in pre-SMA. Thus DO and PO share prelinguistic process, whereas linguistic process imposes overload in DO.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seppo Vainio ◽  
Anneli Pajunen ◽  
Tuomo Häikiö

The current study examined how morpho-semantic processing of derivational morphology develops from later childhood through adolescence to adulthood in Finnish. Finnish is a synthetic language rich both in derivation and inflection. It has been suggested that children gradually acquire the ability to process morphologically complex word structures. However, this development could be delayed because of the complex derivational morphology in Finnish. To assess this, three age groups of Finnish native speakers participated in a priming study, in which they made a visual lexical decision for the target words. There were three types of primes: morphologically related words, pseudowords, and unrelated words. The reaction times results showed a significant difference between all the groups, which implies that the word processing is still developing in adolescence. The error rates unveiled a similar pattern to reaction times. The prime type affected the recognition: words with morphological primes were processed faster than words with pseudoword primes, which in turn were processed faster than words with unrelated primes. Moreover, males made significantly more errors than females with morphological and pseudoword prime conditions.


2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Montirosso ◽  
S. Moriconi ◽  
B. Riccardi ◽  
G. Reni ◽  
F. Arrigoni ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Evan V. Papa ◽  
Rita M. Patterson ◽  
Nicoleta Bugnariu

BACKGROUND: Nearly half of persons with Parkinson disease (PD) report fatigue as a factor in their fall history. However, it is unknown whether these self-reported falls are caused by a sensation of fatigue or performance fatigue. OBJECTIVE: We sought to investigate the influences of performance fatigue and age on postural control in persons with PD. METHODS: Individuals with PD (n = 14) underwent postural control assessments before (T0) and immediately after (T1) fatiguing exercise. Biomechanical data were gathered on participants completing a treadmill-induced, posterior-directed fall. Performance fatigue was produced using lower extremity resistance exercise on an isokinetic ergometer. Repeated measures ANCOVAs were used with age as a covariate to determine the effects of performance fatigue on biomechanical variables. RESULTS: After adjustment for age, there was a statistically significant difference in peak center of pressure (COP) latency during the support phase of recovery. Pairwise comparisons demonstrated a decrease in peak ankle displacement from T0 to T1. Age was also found to be significantly related to reaction time and peak knee displacement while participants were fatigued. CONCLUSIONS: The decreased peak COP latency, along with decreased ankle angular displacement, suggest that persons with PD adopt a stiffening strategy in response to backward directed falls. Postural stiffening is not uncommon in persons with PD and could be a risk factor for falls. Older individuals with PD demonstrate slower mobility scores and decreased reaction times in the setting of fatigue, suggesting a combined effect of the aging and fatigue processes.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Haeme R.P. Park ◽  
Miranda R. Chilver ◽  
Arthur Montalto ◽  
Javad Jamshidi ◽  
Peter R. Schofield ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Although mental wellbeing has been linked with positive health outcomes, including longevity and improved emotional and cognitive functioning, studies examining the underlying neural mechanisms of both subjective and psychological wellbeing have been sparse. We assessed whether both forms of wellbeing are associated with neural activity engaged during positive and negative emotion processing and the extent to which this association is driven by genetics or environment. Methods We assessed mental wellbeing in 230 healthy adult monozygotic and dizygotic twins using a previously validated questionnaire (COMPAS-W) and undertook functional magnetic resonance imaging during a facial emotion viewing task. We used linear mixed models to analyse the association between COMPAS-W scores and emotion-elicited neural activation. Univariate twin modelling was used to evaluate heritability of each brain region. Multivariate twin modelling was used to compare twin pairs to assess the contributions of genetic and environmental factors to this association. Results Higher levels of wellbeing were associated with greater neural activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, localised in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), in response to positive emotional expressions of happiness. Univariate twin modelling showed activity in the IFG to have 20% heritability. Multivariate twin modelling suggested that the association between wellbeing and positive emotion-elicited neural activity was driven by common variance from unique environment (r = 0.208) rather than shared genetics. Conclusions Higher mental wellbeing may have a basis in greater engagement of prefrontal neural regions in response to positive emotion, and this association may be modifiable by unique life experiences.


NeuroImage ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 118131
Author(s):  
Isabelle KD Ripp ◽  
Lara A Wallenwein ◽  
Qiong Wu ◽  
Monica Emch ◽  
Kathrin Koch ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirko Lehmann ◽  
Claudia Neumann ◽  
Sven Wasserthal ◽  
Johannes Schultz ◽  
Achilles Delis ◽  
...  

Abstract Only little research has been conducted on the pharmacological underpinnings of metacognition. Here, we tested the modulatory effects of a single intravenous dose (100 ng/ml) of the N-methyl-D-aspartate-glutamate-receptor antagonist ketamine, a compound known to induce altered states of consciousness, on metacognition and its neural correlates. Fifty-three young, healthy adults completed two study phases of an episodic memory task involving both encoding and retrieval in a double-blind, placebo-controlled fMRI study. Trial-by-trial confidence ratings were collected during retrieval. Effects on the subjective state of consciousness were assessed using the 5D-ASC questionnaire. Confirming that the drug elicited a psychedelic state, there were effects of ketamine on all 5D-ASC scales. Acute ketamine administration during retrieval had deleterious effects on metacognitive sensitivity (meta-d′) and led to larger metacognitive bias, with retrieval performance (d′) and reaction times remaining unaffected. However, there was no ketamine effect on metacognitive efficiency (meta-d′/d′). Measures of the BOLD signal revealed that ketamine compared to placebo elicited higher activation of posterior cortical brain areas, including superior and inferior parietal lobe, calcarine gyrus, and lingual gyrus, albeit not specific to metacognitive confidence ratings. Ketamine administered during encoding did not significantly affect performance or brain activation. Overall, our findings suggest that ketamine impacts metacognition, leading to significantly larger metacognitive bias and deterioration of metacognitive sensitivity as well as unspecific activation increases in posterior hot zone areas of the neural correlates of consciousness.


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