scholarly journals The Language Network is Recruited but Not Required for Nonverbal Event Semantics

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Anna A. Ivanova ◽  
Zachary Mineroff ◽  
Vitor Zimmerer ◽  
Nancy Kanwisher ◽  
Rosemary Varley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Semantic Task ◽  
Line Drawings ◽  
Patient Interactions ◽  
Language Difficulties ◽  
Individual Concepts ◽  
Semantic Plausibility ◽  
Language Areas ◽  
Language Network

The ability to combine individual concepts of objects, properties, and actions into complex representations of the world is often associated with language. Yet combinatorial event-level representations can also be constructed from nonverbal input, such as visual scenes. Here, we test whether the language network in the human brain is involved in and necessary for semantic processing of events presented nonverbally. In Experiment 1, we scanned participants with fMRI while they performed a semantic plausibility judgment task versus a difficult perceptual control task on sentences and line drawings that describe/depict simple agent–patient interactions. We found that the language network responded robustly during the semantic task performed on both sentences and pictures (although its response to sentences was stronger). Thus, language regions in healthy adults are engaged during a semantic task performed on pictorial depictions of events. But is this engagement necessary? In Experiment 2, we tested two individuals with global aphasia, who have sustained massive damage to perisylvian language areas and display severe language difficulties, against a group of age-matched control participants. Individuals with aphasia were severely impaired on the task of matching sentences to pictures. However, they performed close to controls in assessing the plausibility of pictorial depictions of agent–patient interactions. Overall, our results indicate that the left frontotemporal language network is recruited but not necessary for semantic processing of nonverbally presented events.

scholarly journals The language network is recruited but not required for non-verbal event semantics

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna A. Ivanova ◽  
Zachary Mineroff ◽  
Vitor Zimmerer ◽  
Nancy Kanwisher ◽  
Rosemary Varley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Control Task ◽  
Semantic Task ◽  
Line Drawings ◽  
Patient Interactions ◽  
Perceptual Control ◽  
Semantic Plausibility ◽  
Temporal Language ◽  
Language Network

AbstractThe ability to combine individual meanings into complex representations of the world is often associated with language. Yet people also construct combinatorial event-level representations from non-linguistic input, e.g. from visual scenes. Here, we test whether the language network in the human brain is involved in and necessary for semantic processing of nonverbal events. In Experiment 1, we scanned participants with fMRI while they performed a semantic plausibility judgment task vs. a difficult perceptual control task on sentences and line drawings that describe/depict simple agent-patient interactions. We found that the language network responded robustly during the semantic task but not during the perceptual control task. This effect was observed for both sentences and pictures (although the response to sentences was stronger). Thus, language regions in healthy adults are engaged during a semantic task performed on pictorial depictions of events. But is this engagement necessary? In Experiment 2, we tested two individuals with global aphasia, who have sustained massive damage to perisylvian language areas and display severe language difficulties, against a group of age-matched control participants. Individuals with aphasia were severely impaired on a task of matching sentences and pictures. However, they performed close to controls in assessing the plausibility of pictorial depictions of agent-patient interactions. Overall, our results indicate that the left fronto-temporal language network is recruited but not necessary for semantic processing of nonverbal events.

scholarly journals Emotion-Involved Semantic Processing and L2 Vocabulary Memory: A Micro-Level Emotion Manifesto

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-30
Author(s):  
Yu Kanazawa ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
L2 Vocabulary

Emotion is a pervasive phenomenon whose pivotal impacts on cognition have been proposed and increasingly acknowledged (e.g., operator effect and “(de-)energizing” effect; cf. Ciompi & Panksepp, 2005; Damasio, 2003; LeDoux, 2012). In accordance with this, second language acquisition (SLA) studies have recently seen an “affective turn” (Pavlenko, 2013) and several theories have been proposed and studies conducted concerning the effect of affect in SLA from such perspectives as motivation (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011), foreign language anxiety/enjoyment (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2016), Directed Motivational Currents (Dörnyei, Henry, & Muir, 2016), and emotional intelligence (Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2017; Kanazawa, 2016b). The purpose of the experiments was to examine whether emotion-involved semantic processing (EmInvSemProc) results in better incidental L2 memory performance compared to other types of semantic processing (viz., a lexical decision task [LDT] for Experiment A and an imageability judgment task [IJT] for Experiment B).

scholarly journals Syntactic and Semantic Specialization and Integration in 5- to 6-Year-Old Children during Auditory Sentence Processing

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Wang ◽  
Mabel L. Rice ◽  
James R. Booth
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Adult Brain ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Semantic Task

Previous studies have found specialized syntactic and semantic processes in the adult brain during language comprehension. Young children have sophisticated semantic and syntactic aspects of language, yet many previous fMRI studies failed to detect this specialization, possibly due to experimental design and analytical methods. In this current study, 5- to 6-year-old children completed a syntactic task and a semantic task to dissociate these two processes. Multivoxel pattern analysis was used to examine the correlation of patterns within a task (between runs) or across tasks. We found that the left middle temporal gyrus showed more similar patterns within the semantic task compared with across tasks, whereas there was no difference in the correlation within the syntactic task compared with across tasks, suggesting its specialization in semantic processing. Moreover, the left superior temporal gyrus showed more similar patterns within both the semantic task and the syntactic task as compared with across tasks, suggesting its role in integration of semantic and syntactic information. In contrast to the temporal lobe, we did not find specialization or integration effects in either the opercular or triangular part of the inferior frontal gyrus. Overall, our study showed that 5- to 6-year-old children have already developed specialization and integration in the temporal lobe, but not in the frontal lobe, consistent with developmental neurocognitive models of language comprehension in typically developing young children.

P1-10-09. An examination of the connection pattern between each language areas in the language network

2019 ◽  
Vol 130 (10) ◽  
pp. e211
Author(s):  
Mayumi Otani-Yamada ◽  
Riki Matsumoto ◽  
Akihiro Shimotake ◽  
Mitsuhiro Sakamoto ◽  
Masaya Togo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Connection Pattern ◽  
Language Areas ◽  
Language Network

scholarly journals Distinct activated cortical areas and volumes in Uygur-Chinese bilinguals

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 227-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei Jiang ◽  
Li-Xia Yang ◽  
Lin Jia ◽  
Xin Shi ◽  
Hong Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Specific Pattern ◽  
Cortical Activation ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Semantic Judgment ◽  
Significant Difference

AbstractObjective: The aim of this study is to evaluate variations in cortical activation in early and late Uygur-Chinese bilinguals from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. Methodology: During a semantic judgment task with visual stimulation by a single Chinese or Uygur word, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed. The fMRI data regarding activated cortical areas and volumes by both languages were analyzed. Results: The first language (L1) and second language (L2) activated language-related hemispheric regions, including the left inferior frontal and parietal cortices, and L1 specifically activated the left middle temporal gyrus. For both L1 and L2, cortical activation was greater in the left hemisphere, and there was no significant difference in the lateralization index (LI) between the two languages (p > 0.05). Although the total activated cortical areas were larger in early than late bilinguals, the activation volumes were not significantly different. Conclusion: Activated brains areas in early and late fluent bilinguals largely overlapped. However, these areas were more scattered upon presentation of L2 than L1, and L1 had a more specific pattern of activation than L2. For both languages, the left hemisphere was dominant. We found that L2 proficiency level rather than age of acquisition had a greater influence on which brain areas were activated with semantic processing.

Integration Processes Compared: Cortical Differences for Consistency Evaluation and Passive Comprehension in Local and Global Coherence

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 1568-1583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanna Egidi ◽  
Alfonso Caramazza
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Discourse Comprehension ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Passive Listening ◽  
Natural Discourse ◽  
Listening Task ◽  
Consistency Evaluation

This research studies the neural systems underlying two integration processes that take place during natural discourse comprehension: consistency evaluation and passive comprehension. Evaluation was operationalized with a consistency judgment task and passive comprehension with a passive listening task. Using fMRI, the experiment examined the integration of incoming sentences with more recent, local context and with more distal, global context in these two tasks. The stimuli were stories in which we manipulated the consistency of the endings with the local context and the relevance of the global context for the integration of the endings. A whole-brain analysis revealed several differences between the two tasks. Two networks previously associated with semantic processing and attention orienting showed more activation during the judgment than the passive listening task. A network previously associated with episodic memory retrieval and construction of mental scenes showed greater activity when global context was relevant, but only during the judgment task. This suggests that evaluation, more than passive listening, triggers the reinstantiation of global context and the construction of a rich mental model for the story. Finally, a network previously linked to fluent updating of a knowledge base showed greater activity for locally consistent endings than inconsistent ones, but only during passive listening, suggesting a mode of comprehension that relies on a local scope approach to language processing. Taken together, these results show that consistency evaluation and passive comprehension weigh differently on distal and local information and are implemented, in part, by different brain networks.

scholarly journals Neuro-Cognitive Differences in Semantic Processing Between Native Speakers and Proficient Learners of Mandarin Chinese

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-Ho Lai ◽  
Shu-Kai Hsieh ◽  
Chia-Lin Lee ◽  
Lily I-Wen Su ◽  
Te-Hsin Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learners ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Fusiform Gyrus ◽  
Chinese Adult ◽  
Semantic Judgment ◽  
Ventral Pathway

The present study aimed to investigate the neural mechanism underlying semantic processing in Mandarin Chinese adult learners, focusing on the learners who were Indo-European language speakers with advanced levels of proficiency in Mandarin Chinese. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging technique and a semantic judgment task to test 24 Mandarin Chinese adult learners (L2 group) and 26 Mandarin Chinese adult native speakers (L1 group) as a control group. In the task, participants were asked to indicate whether two-character pairs were related in meaning. Compared to the L1 group, the L2 group had greater activation in the bilateral occipital regions, including the fusiform gyrus and middle occipital gyrus, as well as the right superior parietal lobule. On the other hand, less activation in the bilateral temporal regions was found in the L2 group relative to the L1 group. Correlation analysis further revealed that, within the L2 group, increased activation in the left middle temporal gyrus/superior temporal gyrus (M/STG, BA 21) was correlated with higher accuracy in the semantic judgment task as well as better scores in the two vocabulary tests, the Assessment of Chinese character list for grade 3 to grade 9 (A39) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised. In addition, functional connectivity analysis showed that connectivity strength between the left fusiform gyrus and left ventral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG, BA 47) was modulated by the accuracy in the semantic judgment task in the L1 group. By contrast, this modulation effect was weaker in the L2 group. Taken together, our study suggests that Mandarin Chinese adult learners rely on greater recruitment of the bilateral occipital regions to process orthographic information to access the meaning of Chinese characters. Also, our correlation results provide convergent evidence that the left M/STG (BA 21) plays a crucial role in the storage of semantic knowledge for readers to access to conceptual information. Moreover, the connectivity results indicate that the left ventral pathway (left fusiform gyrus-left ventral IFG) is associated with orthographic-semantic processing in Mandarin Chinese. However, this semantic-related ventral pathway might require more time and language experience to be developed, especially for the late adult learners of Mandarin Chinese.

scholarly journals The Behavioral and Neural Effects of Language on Motion Perception

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolien C. Francken ◽  
Peter Kok ◽  
Peter Hagoort ◽  
Floris P. de Lange
Keyword(s):  
Motion Perception ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Motion Stimulus ◽  
The Right ◽  
Language Areas ◽  
Left Middle Temporal Gyrus

Perception does not function as an isolated module but is tightly linked with other cognitive functions. Several studies have demonstrated an influence of language on motion perception, but it remains debated at which level of processing this modulation takes place. Some studies argue for an interaction in perceptual areas, but it is also possible that the interaction is mediated by “language areas” that integrate linguistic and visual information. Here, we investigated whether language–perception interactions were specific to the language-dominant left hemisphere by comparing the effects of language on visual material presented in the right (RVF) and left visual fields (LVF). Furthermore, we determined the neural locus of the interaction using fMRI. Participants performed a visual motion detection task. On each trial, the visual motion stimulus was presented in either the LVF or in the RVF, preceded by a centrally presented word (e.g., “rise”). The word could be congruent, incongruent, or neutral with regard to the direction of the visual motion stimulus that was presented subsequently. Participants were faster and more accurate when the direction implied by the motion word was congruent with the direction of the visual motion stimulus. Interestingly, the speed benefit was present only for motion stimuli that were presented in the RVF. We observed a neural counterpart of the behavioral facilitation effects in the left middle temporal gyrus, an area involved in semantic processing of verbal material. Together, our results suggest that semantic information about motion retrieved in language regions may automatically modulate perceptual decisions about motion.

The Effects of Second-Language Acquisition on Verbal Fluency Among Elderly Israelis

CNS Spectrums ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 377-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir M. Poreh ◽  
Avraham Schweiger
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Phonemic Fluency ◽  
Language Areas ◽  
Fluency Task

ABSTRACTThe present study investigated the effect of age of second-language acquisition (Hebrew) on verbal fluency in a random sample of 196 elderly Israelis from four distinct ethnic groups. Using conventional statistics, it was shown that phonemic fluency, particularly switching, is associated with education and the age of Hebrew acquisition, while semantic fluency, particularly clustering, is associated with age. Ethnic differences were not significant after controlling for the age of Hebrew acquisition and education. Additional analyses show that the tendency of subjects to use borrowed, non-Hebrew words on the phonemic fluency task was associated with lower total scores on this task and later age of Hebrew acquisition. In contrast, the tendency to use non-Hebrew words on the semantic fluency task was associated with age and higher total scores. These findings are discussed with regard to recent functional imaging studies of bilingual subjects. Such findings indicate that native and second languages form distinct areas of activation in the dominant anterior language area, an area often associated with phonemic processing and switching, whereas an overlap of activation of various languages has been demonstrated within the posterior language areas, those that are often associated with semantic processing.

scholarly journals Concurrent use of animacy and event-knowledge during comprehension: Evidence from event-related potentials

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Vega-Mendoza ◽  
Martin John Pickering ◽  
Mante S. Nieuwland
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Semantic Relatedness ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Event Knowledge ◽  
Related Potentials

In two ERP experiments, we investigated whether readers prioritize animacy over real-world event-knowledge during sentence comprehension. We used the paradigm of Paczynski and Kuperberg (2012), who argued that animacy is prioritized based on the observations that the ‘related anomaly effect’ (reduced N400s for context-related anomalous words compared to unrelated words) does not occur for animacy violations, and that animacy violations but not relatedness violations elicit P600 effects. Participants read passive sentences with plausible agents (e.g., The prescription for the mental disorder was written by the psychiatrist) or implausible agents that varied in animacy and semantic relatedness (schizophrenic/guard/pill/fence). In Experiment 1 (with a plausibility judgment task), plausible sentences elicited smaller N400s relative to all types of implausible sentences. Moreover, animate words elicited smaller N400s than inanimate words, and related words elicited smaller N400s than unrelated words. Crucially, at the P600 time-window, we observed more positive ERPs for animate than inanimate words and for related than unrelated words at anterior regions. In Experiment 2 (with no judgment task), we observed an N400 effect with animacy violations, but no other effects. Taken together, the results of our experiments fail to support a prioritized role of animacy information over real-world event-knowledge, but they support an interactive, constraint-based view on incremental semantic processing.

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