Context matters: Novel metaphors in supportive and non-supportive contexts (Preprint)

Creative language is defined as linguistic output that is both novel and appropriate. Metaphors are one such example of creative language in which one concept is used to express another by highlighting certain semantic features. While novelty is an inherent property of unfamiliar metaphors, appropriateness depends on the context. The current study tests the hypothesis that the context in which metaphors are encountered affects its processing. We examined the neural effects of comprehending metaphors in context by comparing neural activations in response to novel metaphors and literal sentences that were either embedded in a meaningful narrative or in matched jabberwocky contexts. We found that the neural correlates of processing metaphoric sentences and their literal counterparts are indistinguishable when embedded in a narrative: both conditions activate bilateral areas along the anterior temporal poles, middle temporal gyri, superior temporal sulci, and the angular gyri. Metaphors embedded in a narrative as compared to their identical counterparts embedded in jabberwocky show increased responses in sensorimotor areas that correspond to the modality of the literal meaning of the target word, perhaps reflecting deeper semantic processing. Our results confirm that context affects neural mechanisms for understanding creative ideas.

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Effects of Task Demands on Neural Correlates of Acoustic and Semantic Processing in Challenging Listening Conditions

10.1101/2021.01.22.427847 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Dhatri S. Devaraju ◽

Amy Kemp ◽

David A. Eddins ◽

Rahul Shrivastav ◽

Bharath Chandrasekaran ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Task Difficulty ◽

Semantic Processing ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Task Demands ◽

Neural Mechanisms ◽

Acoustic Properties ◽

Lower Probability ◽

Temporal Envelope ◽

Envelope Processing ◽

Listening Strategies

AbstractPurposeListeners shift their listening strategies to prioritize lower-level acoustic information and higher-level semantic information in challenging listening conditions. However, the neural mechanisms underlying different strategies are unclear. The current study examined the extent to which encoding of lower-level acoustic cues is modulated by task demand and relationships with the higher-level semantic processing.MethodElectroencephalography (EEG) was acquired while participants listened to sentences in noise that contained either higher or lower probability final words. Task difficulty was modulated by time available to process responses. Cortical tracking of speech - neural correlates of acoustic temporal envelope processing - were estimated using temporal response functions (TRFs).ResultsTask difficulty did not affect cortical tracking of temporal envelope of speech under challenging listening conditions. No correlations were observed between the cortical tracking of temporal envelope of speech and semantic processes, even after controlling for the effect of individualized signal-to-noise ratios.ConclusionsCortical tracking of temporal envelope of speech and semantic processing are differentially influenced by task difficulty. While increased task demands modulated higher-level semantic processing, cortical tracking of temporal envelope of speech may be influenced by task difficulty primarily when the demand is manipulated in terms of acoustic properties of the stimulus, consistent with an emerging perspective in speech perception.

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Neural Correlates of Syntactic Processing in Two-Year-Olds

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/089892905774597236 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 17 (10) ◽

pp. 1667-1678 ◽

Cited By ~ 54

Author(s):

Regine Oberecker ◽

Manuela Friedrich ◽

Angela D. Friederici

Keyword(s):

Sentence Processing ◽

Phrase Structure ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Neural Mechanisms ◽

Syntactic Processing ◽

Early Language ◽

Late Positivity ◽

Early Language Development ◽

First Pass ◽

Anterior Negativity

Event-related brain potential (ERP) studies of sentence processing in adults have shown that phrase-structure violations are associated with two ERP components: an early left anterior negativity (ELAN) and a late, centro-parietal positivity (P600). Although the ELAN reflects highly automatic first-pass sentence parsing, the P600 has been interpreted to reflect later, more controlled processes. The present ERP study investigates the processing of phrase-structure violations in children below three years of age. Both children (mean age of 2.8 years) and adults passively listened to short active sentences that were either correct or syntactically incorrect. Adults displayed an ELAN that was followed by a P600 to the syntactic violation. Children also demonstrated a biphasic ERP pattern consisting of an early left hemispheric negativity and a late positivity. Both components, however, started later and persisted longer than those observed in adults. The left lateralization of the children's negativity suggests that this component can be interpreted as a child-specific precursor to the ELAN observed in adults. The appearance of the early negativity indicates that the neural mechanisms of syntactic parsing are present, in principle, during early language development.

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Neural evidence for the prediction of animacy features during language comprehension: Evidence from MEG and EEG Representational Similarity Analysis

10.1101/709394 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Lin Wang ◽

Edward Wlotko ◽

Edward Alexander ◽

Lotte Schoot ◽

Minjae Kim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Spatial Patterns ◽

Language Comprehension ◽

Neural Activity ◽

Semantic Processing ◽

Sentence Comprehension ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Coarse Grained ◽

Similarity Analysis ◽

Semantic Features ◽

Representational Similarity Analysis

AbstractIt has been proposed that people can generate probabilistic predictions at multiple levels of representation during language comprehension. We used Magnetoencephalography (MEG) and Electroencephalography (EEG), in combination with Representational Similarity Analysis (RSA), to seek neural evidence for the prediction of animacy features. In two studies, MEG and EEG activity was measured as human participants (both sexes) read three-sentence scenarios. Verbs in the final sentences constrained for either animate or inanimate semantic features of upcoming nouns, and the broader discourse context constrained for either a specific noun or for multiple nouns belonging to the same animacy category. We quantified the similarity between spatial patterns of brain activity following the verbs until just before the presentation of the nouns. The MEG and EEG datasets revealed converging evidence that the similarity between spatial patterns of neural activity following animate constraining verbs was greater than following inanimate constraining verbs. This effect could not be explained by lexical-semantic processing of the verbs themselves. We therefore suggest that it reflected the inherent difference in the semantic similarity structure of the predicted animate and inanimate nouns. Moreover, the effect was present regardless of whether a specific word could be predicted, providing strong evidence for the prediction of coarse-grained semantic features that goes beyond the prediction of individual words.Significance statementLanguage inputs unfold very quickly during real-time communication. By predicting ahead we can give our brains a “head-start”, so that language comprehension is faster and more efficient. While most contexts do not constrain strongly for a specific word, they do allow us to predict some upcoming information. For example, following the context, “they cautioned the…”, we can predict that the next word will be animate rather than inanimate (we can caution a person, but not an object). Here we used EEG and MEG techniques to show that the brain is able to use these contextual constraints to predict the animacy of upcoming words during sentence comprehension, and that these predictions are associated with specific spatial patterns of neural activity.

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Neural correlates of beauty retouching to enhance attractiveness of self-depictions in women

10.1101/2020.12.25.424237 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Chisa Ota ◽

Tamami Nakano

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽

Social Media ◽

Neural Activity ◽

Facial Attractiveness ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Neural Mechanisms ◽

Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽

Resonance Imaging ◽

Amygdala Activity ◽

Increased Activity

AbstractBeauty filters, while often employed for retouching photos to appear more attractive on social media, when used in excess cause images to give a distorted impression. The neural mechanisms underlying this change in facial attractiveness according to beauty retouching level remain unknown. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging in women as they viewed photos of their own face or unknown faces that had been retouched at three levels: no, mild, and extreme. The activity in the nucleus accumbens (NA) exhibited a positive correlation with facial attractiveness, whereas amygdala activity showed a negative correlation with attractiveness. Even though the participants rated others’ faces as more attractive than their own, the NA showed increased activity only for their mildly retouched own face and the amygdala exhibited greater activation in the others’ faces condition than the own face condition. Moreover, amygdala activity was greater for extremely retouched faces than for unretouched or mildly retouched faces for both conditions. Frontotemporal and cortical midline areas showed greater activation for one’s own than others’ faces, but such self-related activation was absent when extremely retouched. These results suggest that neural activity dynamically switches between the NA and amygdala according to perceived attractiveness of one’s face.

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Action in cognition: The case of language

Language and Cognition ◽

10.1515/langcog.2009.003 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 45-58 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Lawrence J. Taylor ◽

Rolf A. Zwaan

Keyword(s):

Language Comprehension ◽

Semantic Processing ◽

Fault Tolerant ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Unique Element ◽

Conceptual Representation ◽

Motor Processes ◽

Motor Recruitment ◽

Lines Of Evidence

AbstractEmpirical research has shown that the processing of words and sentences is accompanied by activation of the brain's motor system in language users. The degree of precision observed in this activation seems to be contingent upon (1) the meaning of a linguistic construction and (2) the depth with which readers process that construction. In addition, neurological evidence shows a correspondence between a disruption in the neural correlates of overt action and the disruption of semantic processing of language about action. These converging lines of evidence can be taken to support the hypotheses that motor processes (1) are recruited to understand language that focuses on actions and (2) contribute a unique element to conceptual representation. This article explores the role of this motor recruitment in language comprehension. It concludes that extant findings are consistent with the theorized existence of multimodal, embodied representations of the referents of words and the meaning carried by language. Further, an integrative conceptualization of “fault tolerant comprehension” is proposed.

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Differential prefrontal–temporal neural correlates of semantic processing in children

Brain and Language ◽

10.1016/j.bandl.2005.07.004 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 99 (3) ◽

pp. 226-235 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Henrike K. Blumenfeld ◽

James R. Booth ◽

Douglas D. Burman

Keyword(s):

Semantic Processing ◽

Neural Correlates

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Cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying visual and semantic processing: implications from 'optic aphasia'

Neurocase ◽

10.1093/neucas/3.3.209-l ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 209l-222

Author(s):

A. E. Hillis

Keyword(s):

Semantic Processing ◽

Neural Mechanisms

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Are all the triangles blue? – ERP evidence for the incremental processing of German quantifier restriction

Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/langcog.2016.30 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 603-636 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

PETRA AUGURZKY ◽

OLIVER BOTT ◽

WOLFGANG STERNEFELD ◽

ROLF ULRICH

Keyword(s):

Semantic Processing ◽

Context Effects ◽

Time Window ◽

Contextual Information ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Context Information ◽

Late Positivity ◽

Incremental Processing ◽

Compositional Semantic ◽

Quantifier Restriction

abstractThe present ERP study investigates the neural correlates of pictorial context effects on compositional-semantic processing. We examined whether the incremental processing of questions involving quantifier restriction is modulated by the reliability of pictorial information. Contexts either allowed for an unambiguous meaning evaluation at an early sentential position or were ambiguous with respect to whether a further restrictive cue could trigger later meaning revisions. Attention was either guided towards (Experiment 1) or away from (Experiment 2) the picture–question mapping. In both experiments, negative answers elicited a broadly distributed negativity opposed to affirmative answers as soon as an unambiguous truth evaluation was possible. In the presence of ambiguous context information, the truth evaluation initially remained underspecified, as an early commitment would have resulted in the risk of a semantic reanalysis. The negativity was followed by a late positivity in Experiment 1, but not in Experiment 2, suggesting that attention towards the mismatch affected semantic processing, but only at a later time window. The current results are consistent with the notion that an incremental meaning evaluation is dependent on the reliability of contextual information.

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