scholarly journals Syntactic Complexity and Frequency in the Neurocognitive Language System

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (9) ◽  
pp. 1605-1620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun-Hsuan Yang ◽  
William D. Marslen-Wilson ◽  
Mirjana Bozic
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Multivariate Analyses ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Frequency Effect ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Frequent Items

Prominent neurobiological models of language follow the widely accepted assumption that language comprehension requires two principal mechanisms: a lexicon storing the sound-to-meaning mapping of words, primarily involving bilateral temporal regions, and a combinatorial processor for syntactically structured items, such as phrases and sentences, localized in a left-lateralized network linking left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and posterior temporal areas. However, recent research showing that the processing of simple phrasal sequences may engage only bilateral temporal areas, together with the claims of distributional approaches to grammar, raise the question of whether frequent phrases are stored alongside individual words in temporal areas. In this fMRI study, we varied the frequency of words and of short and long phrases in English. If frequent phrases are indeed stored, then only less frequent items should generate selective left frontotemporal activation, because memory traces for such items would be weaker or not available in temporal cortex. Complementary univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that, overall, simple words (verbs) and long phrases engaged LIFG and temporal areas, whereas short phrases engaged bilateral temporal areas, suggesting that syntactic complexity is a key factor for LIFG activation. Although we found a robust frequency effect for words in temporal areas, no frequency effects were found for the two phrasal conditions. These findings support the conclusion that long and short phrases are analyzed, respectively, in the left frontal network and in a bilateral temporal network but are not retrieved from memory in the same way as simple words during spoken language comprehension.

scholarly journals The role of the left inferior frontal gyrus in implicit semantic competition and selection: An event-related fMRI study

2008 ◽  
Vol 1229 ◽  
pp. 167-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Grindrod ◽  
Natalia Y. Bilenko ◽  
Emily B. Myers ◽  
Sheila E. Blumstein
Keyword(s):  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Semantic Competition ◽  
Fmri Study

scholarly journals Unification of Speaker and Meaning in Language Comprehension: An fMRI Study

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 2085-2099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathelijne M. J. Y. Tesink ◽  
Karl Magnus Petersson ◽  
Jos J. A. van Berkum ◽  
Daniëlle van den Brink ◽  
Jan K. Buitelaar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Crucial Component

When interpreting a message, a listener takes into account several sources of linguistic and extralinguistic information. Here we focused on one particular form of extralinguistic information, certain speaker characteristics as conveyed by the voice. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined the neural structures involved in the unification of sentence meaning and voice-based inferences about the speaker's age, sex, or social background. We found enhanced activation in the inferior frontal gyrus bilaterally (BA 45/47) during listening to sentences whose meaning was incongruent with inferred speaker characteristics. Furthermore, our results showed an overlap in brain regions involved in unification of speaker-related information and those used for the unification of semantic and world knowledge information [inferior frontal gyrus bilaterally (BA 45/47) and left middle temporal gyrus (BA 21)]. These findings provide evidence for a shared neural unification system for linguistic and extralinguistic sources of information and extend the existing knowledge about the role of inferior frontal cortex as a crucial component for unification during language comprehension.

Androgens Modulate Brain Networks of Empathy in Female-to-Male Transsexuals: An fMRI Study

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 263-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheng Ye ◽  
Robert Kopyciok ◽  
Bahram Mohammadi ◽  
Ulrike M. Krämer ◽  
Claudia Brunnlieb ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Social Relation ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Hormonal Treatment ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Fmri Study

Women show higher sensitivity than men to emotional and social cues and are therefore better in showing empathy with others and in deciphering other’s intentions and mental states. These sex differences have been linked to hormonal levels. However, it remains unclear how hormones modulate neural mechanisms underlying empathic processes. To assess effects of chronic hormonal treatment, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used in a group of female-to-male transsexuals before and during androgen therapy and a group of female and male controls while they watched pictures portraying emotionally negative or neutral situations (emotional content) involving one or two persons (social relation). Before therapy, the medial superior frontal gyrus and left inferior frontal gyrus showed greater activations for emotional than neutral stimuli. The posterior superior temporal sulcus showed greater activations for emotional vs. neutral stimuli and for social relations relative to pictures of single persons. Long-term androgen administration reduced the pSTS activity in response to emotional stimuli as well as its response to social relation. More importantly, the functional connectivity among frontal, temporal and striatal regions was weakened while the connectivity among limbic regions was strengthened as the androgen level increased during hormone therapy. This pattern of change was similar to the sex difference observed between female vs. male controls. Thus, making a brain more male by the application of androgens not only reduced the activity of a core neural hub but also markedly altered the organization of the brain network supporting emotional and social cognitive processes related to empathy and mentalizing.

Item Retrieval and Competition in Noun and Verb Generation: An fMRI Study

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 1140-1157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiano Crescentini ◽  
Tim Shallice ◽  
Emiliano Macaluso
Keyword(s):  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Strong Association ◽  
Association Strength ◽  
Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Current Task ◽  
Verb Generation ◽  
Competing Responses

Selection between competing responses and stimulus-response association strength is thought to affect performance during verb generation. However, the specific contribution of these two processes remains unclear. Here we used fMRI to investigate the role of selection and association within frontal and BG circuits that are known to be involved in verb production. Subjects were asked to generate verbs from nouns in conditions requiring either high or low selection, but with constant association strength, and in conditions of weak or strong association strength, now with constant selection demands. Furthermore, we examined the role of selection and association during noun generation from noun stimuli. We found that the midpart of the left inferior frontal gyrus was more active in conditions requiring high compared with low selection, with matched association strength. The same left inferior frontal region activated irrespective of verb or noun generation. Results of ROI analyses showed effects of association strength only for verb generation and specifically in the anterior/ventral part of the left inferior frontal gyrus. Moreover, the BG were more active when weakly associated verbs had to be produced relative to weakly associated nouns. These results highlight a functional segregation within the left inferior frontal gyrus for verb generation. More generally, the findings suggest that both factors of selection between competing responses and association strength are important during single-word production with the latter factor becoming particularly critical when task-irrelevant stimuli interfere with the current task (here nouns during verb production), triggering additional activation of the BG.

Effect of Language Switching on Arithmetic: A Bilingual fMRI Study

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinod Venkatraman ◽  
Soon Chun Siong ◽  
Michael W. L. Chee ◽  
Daniel Ansari
Keyword(s):  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Code Model ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Number Comparison ◽  
Addition Task ◽  
Approximate Percentage

The role of language in performing numerical computations has been a topic of special interest in cognition. The “Triple Code Model” proposes the existence of a language-dependent verbal code involved in retrieving arithmetic facts related to addition and multiplication, and a language-independent analog magnitude code subserving tasks such as number comparison and estimation. Neuroimaging studies have shown dissociation between dependence of arithmetic computations involving exact and approximate processing on language-related circuits. However, a direct manipulation of language using different arithmetic tasks is necessary to assess the role of language in forming arithmetic representations and in solving problems in different languages. In the present study, 20 English-Chinese bilinguals were trained in two unfamiliar arithmetic tasks in one language and scanned using fMRI on the same problems in both languages (English and Chinese). For the exact “base-7 addition” task, language switching effects were found in the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and left inferior parietal lobule extending to the angular gyrus. In the approximate “percentage estimation” task, language switching effects were found predominantly in the bilateral posterior intraparietal sulcus and LIFG, slightly dorsal to the LIFG activation seen for the base-7 addition task. These results considerably strengthen the notion that exact processing relies on verbal and language-related networks, whereas approximate processing engages parietal circuits typically involved in magnitude-related processing.

scholarly journals Differential activity in left inferior frontal gyrus for pseudowords and real words: An event-related fMRI study on auditory lexical decision

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuangwei Xiao ◽  
John X. Zhang ◽  
Xiaoyi Wang ◽  
Renhua Wu ◽  
Xiaoping Hu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Auditory Lexical Decision ◽  
Fmri Study

scholarly journals Context Predicts Word Order Processing in Broca's Region

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (12) ◽  
pp. 2762-2777 ◽  
Author(s):  
Line Burholt Kristensen ◽  
Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen ◽  
Mikkel Wallentin
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Contextual Cues ◽  
Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Order Processing ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Confounding Variables ◽  
Broca’S Region ◽  
Linguistic Structures

The function of the left inferior frontal gyrus (L-IFG) is highly disputed. A number of language processing studies have linked the region to the processing of syntactical structure. Still, there is little agreement when it comes to defining why linguistic structures differ in their effects on the L-IFG. In a number of languages, the processing of object-initial sentences affects the L-IFG more than the processing of subject-initial ones, but frequency and distribution differences may act as confounding variables. Syntactically complex structures (like the object-initial construction in Danish) are often less frequent and only viable in certain contexts. With this confound in mind, the L-IFG activation may be sensitive to other variables than a syntax manipulation on its own. The present fMRI study investigates the effect of a pragmatically appropriate context on the processing of subject-initial and object-initial clauses with the IFG as our ROI. We find that Danish object-initial clauses yield a higher BOLD response in L-IFG, but we also find an interaction between appropriateness of context and word order. This interaction overlaps with traditional syntax areas in the IFG. For object-initial clauses, the effect of an appropriate context is bigger than for subject-initial clauses. This result is supported by an acceptability study that shows that, given appropriate contexts, object-initial clauses are considered more appropriate than subject-initial clauses. The increased L-IFG activation for processing object-initial clauses without a supportive context may be interpreted as reflecting either reinterpretation or the recipients' failure to correctly predict word order from contextual cues.

scholarly journals Neurobiological Systems for Lexical Representation and Analysis in English

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (10) ◽  
pp. 1678-1691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirjana Bozic ◽  
Lorraine K. Tyler ◽  
Li Su ◽  
Cai Wingfield ◽  
William D. Marslen-Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Multivariate Analyses ◽  
Lexical Representation ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Semantic Transparency ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Complex Words ◽  
The Brain

Current research suggests that language comprehension engages two joint but functionally distinguishable neurobiological processes: a distributed bilateral system, which supports general perceptual and interpretative processes underpinning speech comprehension, and a left hemisphere (LH) frontotemporal system, selectively tuned to the processing of combinatorial grammatical sequences, such as regularly inflected verbs in English [Marslen-Wilson, W. D., & Tyler, L. K. Morphology, language and the brain: The decompositional substrate for language comprehension. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, 362, 823–836, 2007]. Here we investigated how English derivationally complex words engage these systems, asking whether they selectively activate the LH system in the same way as inflections or whether they primarily engage the bilateral system that support nondecompositional access. In an fMRI study, we saw no evidence for selective activation of the LH frontotemporal system, even for highly transparent forms like bravely. Instead, a combination of univariate and multivariate analyses revealed the engagement of a distributed bilateral system, modulated by factors of perceptual complexity and semantic transparency. We discuss the implications for theories of the processing and representation of English derivational morphology and highlight the importance of neurobiological constraints in understanding these processes.

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