scholarly journals Feel between the Lines: Implied Emotion in Sentence Comprehension

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 1528-1541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicky Tzuyin Lai ◽  
Roel M. Willems ◽  
Peter Hagoort
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Word Retrieval ◽  
Negative Sentence ◽  
Sentence Meaning ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
The Brain

This study investigated the brain regions for the comprehension of implied emotion in sentences. Participants read negative sentences without negative words, for example, “The boy fell asleep and never woke up again,” and their neutral counterparts “The boy stood up and grabbed his bag.” This kind of negative sentence allows us to examine implied emotion derived at the sentence level, without associative emotion coming from word retrieval. We found that implied emotion in sentences, relative to neutral sentences, led to activation in some emotion-related areas, including the medial prefrontal cortex, the amygdala, and the insula, as well as certain language-related areas, including the inferior frontal gyrus, which has been implicated in combinatorial processing. These results suggest that the emotional network involved in implied emotion is intricately related to the network for combinatorial processing in language, supporting the view that sentence meaning is more than simply concatenating the meanings of its lexical building blocks.

scholarly journals Tracking prototype and exemplar representations in the brain across learning

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin R Bowman ◽  
Takako Iwashita ◽  
Dagmar Zeithamova
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Central Tendency ◽  
Final Test ◽  
Single Task ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Brain

There is a long-standing debate about whether categories are represented by individual category members (exemplars) or by the central tendency abstracted from individual members (prototypes). Neuroimaging studies have shown neural evidence for either exemplar representations or prototype representations, but not both. Presently, we asked whether it is possible for multiple types of category representations to exist within a single task. We designed a categorization task to promote both exemplar and prototype representations and tracked their formation across learning. We found only prototype correlates during the final test. However, interim tests interspersed throughout learning showed prototype and exemplar representations across distinct brain regions that aligned with previous studies: prototypes in ventromedial prefrontal cortex and anterior hippocampus and exemplars in inferior frontal gyrus and lateral parietal cortex. These findings indicate that, under the right circumstances, individuals may form representations at multiple levels of specificity, potentially facilitating a broad range of future decisions.

scholarly journals Who Comes First? The Role of the Prefrontal and Parietal Cortex in Cognitive Control

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 1367-1375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Brass ◽  
Markus Ullsperger ◽  
Thomas R. Knoesche ◽  
D. Yves von Cramon ◽  
Natalie A. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Cortical Region ◽  
Task Set ◽  
Related Potentials

Cognitive control processes enable us to adjust our behavior to changing environmental demands. Although neuropsychological studies suggest that the critical cortical region for cognitive control is the prefrontal cortex, neuro-imaging studies have emphasized the interplay of prefrontal and parietal cortices. This raises the fundamental question about the different contributions of prefrontal and parietal areas in cognitive control. It was assumed that the prefrontal cortex biases processing in posterior brain regions. This assumption leads to the hypothesis that neural activity in the prefrontal cortex should precede parietal activity in cognitive control. The present study tested this assumption by combining results from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) providing high spatial resolution and event-related potentials (ERPs) to gain high temporal resolution. We collected ERP data using a modified task-switching paradigm. In this paradigm, a situation where the same task was indicated by two different cues was compared with a situation where two cues indicated different tasks. Only the latter condition required updating of the task set. Task-set updating was associated with a midline negative ERP deflection peaking around 470 msec. We placed dipoles in regions activated in a previous fMRI study that used the same paradigm (left inferior frontal junction, right inferior frontal gyrus, right parietal cortex) and fitted their directions and magnitudes to the ERP effect. The frontal dipoles contributed to the ERP effect earlier than the parietal dipole, providing support for the view that the prefrontal cortex is involved in updating of general task representations and biases relevant stimulus-response associations in the parietal cortex.

scholarly journals The Effects of Tryptamine Psychedelics in the Brain: A meta-Analysis of Functional and Review of Molecular Imaging Studies

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Castelhano ◽  
Gisela Lima ◽  
Marta Teixeira ◽  
Carla Soares ◽  
Marta Pais ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Molecular Mimicry ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Imaging Studies ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Therapeutic Benefits ◽  
The Brain

There is an increasing interest in the neural effects of psychoactive drugs, in particular tryptamine psychedelics, which has been incremented by the proposal that they have potential therapeutic benefits, based on their molecular mimicry of serotonin. It is widely believed that they act mainly through 5HT2A receptors but their effects on neural activation of distinct brain systems are not fully understood. We performed a quantitative meta-analysis of brain imaging studies to investigate the effects of substances within this class (e.g., LSD, Psilocybin, DMT, Ayahuasca) in the brain from a molecular and functional point of view. We investigated the question whether the changes in activation patterns and connectivity map into regions with larger 5HT1A/5HT2A receptor binding, as expected from indolaemine hallucinogens (in spite of the often reported emphasis only on 5HT2AR). We did indeed find that regions with changed connectivity and/or activation patterns match regions with high density of 5HT2A receptors, namely visual BA19, visual fusiform regions in BA37, dorsal anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, and regions involved in theory of mind such as the surpramarginal gyrus, and temporal cortex (rich in 5HT1A receptors). However, we also found relevant patterns in other brain regions such as dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Moreover, many of the above-mentioned regions also have a significant density of both 5HT1A/5HT2A receptors, and available PET studies on the effects of psychedelics on receptor occupancy are still quite scarce, precluding a metanalytic approach. Finally, we found a robust neuromodulatory effect in the right amygdala. In sum, the available evidence points towards strong neuromodulatory effects of tryptamine psychedelics in key brain regions involved in mental imagery, theory of mind and affective regulation, pointing to potential therapeutic applications of this class of substances.

scholarly journals Integrating memories: Congruency and reactivation aid memory integration through reinstatement of prior knowledge

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlieke T.R. van Kesteren ◽  
Paul Rignanese ◽  
Pierre G. Gianferrara ◽  
Lydia Krabbendam ◽  
Martijn Meeter
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Knowledge Building ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Memory Integration ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Parahippocampal Place Area

AbstractBuilding consistent knowledge schemas that organize information and guide future learning is of great importance in everyday life. Such knowledge building is suggested to occur through reinstatement of prior knowledge during new learning in stimulus-specific brain regions. This process is proposed to yield integration of new with old memories, supported by the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and medial temporal lobe (MTL). Possibly as a consequence, congruency of new information with prior knowledge is known to enhance subsequent memory. Yet, it is unknown how reactivation and congruency interact to optimize memory integration processes that lead to knowledge schemas. To investigate this question, we here used an adapted AB-AC inference paradigm in combination with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Participants first studied an AB-association followed by an AC-association, so B (a scene) and C (an object) were indirectly linked through their common association with A (an unknown pseudoword). BC-associations were either congruent or incongruent with prior knowledge (e.g. a bathduck or a hammer in a bathroom), and participants were asked to report subjective reactivation strength for B while learning AC. Behaviorally, both the congruency and reactivation measures enhanced memory integration. In the brain, these behavioral effects related to univariate and multivariate parametric effects of congruency and reactivation on activity patterns in the MTL, mPFC, and Parahippocampal Place Area (PPA). Moreover, mPFC exhibited larger connectivity with the PPA for more congruent associations. These outcomes provide insights into the neural mechanisms underlying memory integration enhancement, which can be important for educational learning.Significance statementHow does our brain build knowledge through integrating information that is learned at different periods in time? This question is important in everyday learning situations such as educational settings. Using an inference paradigm, we here set out to investigate how congruency with, and active reactivation of previously learned information affects memory integration processes in the brain. Both these factors were found to relate to activity in memory-related regions such as the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the hippocampus. Moreover, activity in the parahippocampal place area (PPA), assumed to reflect reinstatement of the previously learned associate, was found to predict subjective reactivation strength. These results show how we can moderate memory integration processes to enhance subsequent knowledge building.

scholarly journals Modulation in Alpha Band Activity Reflects Syntax Composition: An MEG Study of Minimal Syntactic Binding

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie M Hardy ◽  
Ole Jensen ◽  
Linda Wheeldon ◽  
Ali Mazaheri ◽  
Katrien Segaert
Keyword(s):  
Target Word ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Inferior Temporal Cortex ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Alpha Band ◽  
Syntactic Binding

Successful sentence comprehension requires the binding, or composition, of multiple words into larger structures to establish meaning. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we investigated the neural mechanisms involved in binding of language at the level of syntax, in a task in which contributions from semantics were minimized. Participants were auditorily presented with minimal sentences that required binding (pronoun and pseudo-verb with the corresponding morphological inflection; "she grushes") and wordlists that did not require binding (two pseudo-verbs; "cugged grushes"). Relative to the no binding wordlist condition, we found that syntactic binding in a minimal sentence structure was associated with a modulation in alpha band (8-12 Hz) activity in left-lateralized brain regions. First, in the sentence condition, we observed a significantly smaller increase in alpha power around the presentation of the target word ("grushes") that required binding (-0.05s to 0.1s), which we suggest reflects an expectation of binding to occur. Second, following the presentation of the target word (around 0.15s to 0.25s), during syntactic binding we observed significantly decreased alpha phase-locking between the left inferior frontal gyrus and the left middle/inferior temporal cortex. We suggest that this results from alpha-driven cortical disinhibition serving to increase information transfer between these two brain regions and strengthen the syntax composition neural network. Together, our findings highlight that successful syntax composition is underscored by the rapid spatial-temporal activation and coordination of language-relevant brain regions, and that alpha band oscillations are critically important in controlling the allocation and transfer of the brain's resources during syntax composition.

scholarly journals I like coffee with cream anddog?Change in an implicit probabilistic representation captures meaning processing in the brain

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milena Rabovsky ◽  
Steven S. Hansen ◽  
James L. McClelland
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Activation Pattern ◽  
Probabilistic Representation ◽  
Underlying Process ◽  
Sentence Meaning ◽  
Incoming Stimulus ◽  
N400 Component ◽  
The Brain

AbstractThe N400 component of the event-related brain potential has aroused much interest because it is thought to provide an online measure of meaning processing in the brain. Yet, the underlying process remains incompletely understood and actively debated. Here, we present a computationally explicit account of this process and the emerging representation of sentence meaning. We simulate N400 amplitudes as the change induced by an incoming stimulus in an implicit and probabilistic representation of meaning captured by the hidden unit activation pattern in a neural network model of sentence comprehension, and we propose that the process underlying the N400 also drives implicit learning in the network. The model provides a unified account of 16 distinct findings from the N400 literature and connects human language processing with successful deep learning approaches to language processing.

scholarly journals Concept generation techniques change patterns of brain activation during engineering design

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tripp Shealy ◽  
John Gero ◽  
Mo Hu ◽  
Julie Milovanovic
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Morphological Analysis ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Cognitive Activation ◽  
The Brain

Abstract This paper presents the results of studying the brain activations of 30 engineering students when using three different design concept generation techniques: brainstorming, morphological analysis, and TRIZ. Changes in students’ brain activation in the prefrontal cortex were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The results are based on the area under the curve analysis of oxygenated hemodynamic response as well as an assessment of functional connectivity using Pearson’s correlation to compare students’ cognitive brain activations using these three different ideation techniques. The results indicate that brainstorming and morphological analysis demand more cognitive activation across the prefrontal cortex (PFC) compared to TRIZ. The highest cognitive activation when brainstorming and using morphological analysis is in the right dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) and ventrolateral PFC. These regions are associated with divergent thinking and ill-defined problem-solving. TRIZ produces more cognitive activation in the left DLPFC. This region is associated with convergent thinking and making judgments. Morphological analysis and TRIZ also enable greater coordination (i.e., synchronized activation) between brain regions. These findings offer new evidence that structured techniques like TRIZ reduce cognitive activation, change patterns of activation and increase coordination between regions in the brain.

The Neuroscience of Learning Agility

2021 ◽  
pp. 118-142
Author(s):  
Kim E. Ruyle
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Limbic System ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Learning Agility ◽  
Attention Networks ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Brain

“The Neuroscience of Learning Agility” explores the relationship between neurobiology and learning agility. It provides an overview of the organization of the brain, focusing on the roles of the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex and how these particular brain regions relate to personality, executive function, and the metacompetencies of emotional intelligence and learning agility. The neuroscience of learning is discussed, including the brain’s attention networks, neuroplasticity, and biological underpinnings of memory. An argument is posited that the brain’s perceptions of threats directly impacts one’s personality and, by extension, influences one’s level of learning agility. The chapter concludes by providing neuroscience-based suggestions for developing learning agility.

scholarly journals The Time Course of Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex Involvement in Memory Formation

2010 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
pp. 1569-1579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maro G. Machizawa ◽  
Roger Kalla ◽  
Vincent Walsh ◽  
Leun J. Otten
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Memory Formation ◽  
Control Site ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Incidental Encoding

Human neuroimaging studies have implicated a number of brain regions in long-term memory formation. Foremost among these is ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Here, we used double-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to assess whether the contribution of this part of cortex is crucial for laying down new memories and, if so, to examine the time course of this process. Healthy adult volunteers performed an incidental encoding task (living/nonliving judgments) on sequences of words. In separate series, the task was performed either on its own or while TMS was applied to one of two sites of experimental interest (left/right anterior inferior frontal gyrus) or a control site (vertex). TMS pulses were delivered at 350, 750, or 1,150 ms following word onset. After a delay of 15 min, memory for the items was probed with a recognition memory test including confidence judgments. TMS to all three sites nonspecifically affected the speed and accuracy with which judgments were made during the encoding task. However, only TMS to prefrontal cortex affected later memory performance. Stimulation of left or right inferior frontal gyrus at all three time points reduced the likelihood that a word would later be recognized by a small, but significant, amount (∼4%). These findings indicate that bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortex plays an essential role in memory formation, exerting its influence between ≥350 and 1,150 ms after an event is encountered.

scholarly journals Fluoxetine increases brain MeCP2 immuno-positive cells in a female Mecp2 heterozygous mouse model of Rett syndrome through endogenous serotonin

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Villani ◽  
Mirjana Carli ◽  
Anna Maria Castaldo ◽  
Giuseppina Sacchetti ◽  
Roberto William Invernizzi
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Rett Syndrome ◽  
Motor Coordination ◽  
Antidepressant Drug ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Heterozygous Mouse ◽  
Skill Deficit ◽  
Second Year ◽  
The Brain

AbstractMotor skill deficit is a common and invalidating symptom of Rett syndrome (RTT), a rare disease almost exclusively affecting girls during the first/second year of life. Loss-of-function mutations of the methyl-CpG-binding protein2 (MECP2; Mecp2 in rodents) gene is the cause in most patients. We recently found that fluoxetine, a selective serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitor and antidepressant drug, fully rescued motor coordination deficits in Mecp2 heterozygous (Mecp2 HET) mice acting through brain 5-HT. Here, we asked whether fluoxetine could increase MeCP2 expression in the brain of Mecp2 HET mice, under the same schedule of treatment improving motor coordination. Fluoxetine increased the number of MeCP2 immuno-positive (MeCP2+) cells in the prefrontal cortex, M1 and M2 motor cortices, and in dorsal, ventral and lateral striatum. Fluoxetine had no effect in the CA3 region of the hippocampus or in any of the brain regions of WT mice. Inhibition of 5-HT synthesis abolished the fluoxetine-induced rise of MeCP2+ cells. These findings suggest that boosting 5-HT transmission is sufficient to enhance the expression of MeCP2 in several brain regions of Mecp2 HET mice. Fluoxetine-induced rise of MeCP2 could potentially rescue motor coordination and other deficits of RTT.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document