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David Caplan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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effects of tasks on bold signal responses to sentence contrasts review and commentary
Brain and Language, 2012Co-Authors: David CaplanAbstract:Functional neuroimaging studies of Syntactic Processing have been interpreted as identifying the neural locations of parsing and interpretive operations. However, current behavioral studies of sentence Processing indicate that many operations occur simultaneously with parsing and interpretation. In this review, we point to issues that arise in discriminating the effects of these concurrent processes from those of the parser/interpreter in neural measures and to approaches that may help resolve them.
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Task-dependent and task-independent neurovascular responses to Syntactic Processing
Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior, 2007Co-Authors: David Caplan, Evan C. Chen, Gloria WatersAbstract:The neural basis for Syntactic Processing was studied using event-related fMRI to determine the locations of BOLD signal increases in the contrast of Syntactically complex sentences with center-embedded, object-extracted relative clauses and Syntactically simple sentences with right-branching, subject-extracted relative clauses in a group of 15 participants in three tasks. In a sentence verification task, participants saw a target sentence in one of these two Syntactic forms, followed by a probe in a simple active form, and determined whether the probe expressed a proposition in the target. In a plausibility judgment task, participants determined whether a sentence in one of these two Syntactic forms was plausible or implausible. Finally, in a non-word detection task, participants determined whether a sentence in one of these two Syntactic forms contained only real words or a non-word. BOLD signal associated with the Syntactic contrast increased in the left posterior inferior frontal gyrus in non-word detection and in a widespread set of areas in the other two tasks. We conclude that the BOLD activity in the left posterior inferior frontal gyrus reflects Syntactic Processing independent of concurrent cognitive operations and the more widespread areas of activation reflect the use of strategies and the use of the products of Syntactic Processing to accomplish tasks.
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A study of Syntactic Processing in aphasia II: Neurological aspects
Brain and language, 2006Co-Authors: David Caplan, Gloria Waters, Gayle Dede, David N. Kennedy, Nathanial Alpert, Nikos Makris, Jennifer Michaud, Amanda ReddyAbstract:This paper presents the results of a study of the effects of left hemisphere strokes on Syntactically-based comprehension in aphasic patients. We studied 42 patients with aphasia secondary to left hemisphere strokes and 25 control subjects for the ability to assign and interpret three Syntactic structures (passives, object extracted relative clauses, and reflexive pronouns) in enactment, sentence-picture matching and grammaticality judgment tasks. We measured accuracy, RT and self-paced listening times in SPM and GJ. We obtained magnetic resonance (MR) and 5-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) data on 31 patients and 12 controls. The percent of selected regions of interest (ROIs) that was lesioned on MR and the mean normalized PET counts per voxel in ROIs were calculated. In regression analyses, lesion measures in both perisylvian and non-perisylvian ROIs predicted performance. Patients who performed at similar levels behaviorally had lesions of very different sizes, and patients with equivalent lesion sizes varied greatly in their level of performance. The data are consistent with a model in which the neural tissue that is responsible for the operations underlying sentence comprehension and Syntactic Processing is localized in different neural regions in different individuals.
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the relationship between age verbal working memory and language comprehension
Psychology and Aging, 2004Co-Authors: Gayle Dede, David Caplan, Karen A Kemtes, Gloria WatersAbstract:A structural modeling approach was used to examine the relationships between age, verbal working memory (vWM), and 3 types of language measures: online Syntactic Processing, sentence comprehension, and text comprehension. The best-fit model for the online-Processing measure revealed a direct effect of age on online sentence Processing, but no effect mediated through vWM. The best-fit models for sentence and text comprehension included an effect of age mediated through vWM and no direct effect of age. These results indicate that the relationship among age, vWM, and comprehension differs depending on the measure of language Processing and support the view that individual differences in vWM do not affect individuals' online Syntactic Processing.
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a study of Syntactic Processing in aphasia i behavioral psycholinguistic aspects
Brain and Language, 2004Co-Authors: David Caplan, Gloria Waters, Gayle Dede, Jennifer Michaud, Amanda ReddyAbstract:This paper presents the results of a study of Syntactically based comprehension in aphasic patients. We studied 42 patients with aphasia secondary to left hemisphere strokes and 25 control participants. We measured off-line, end-of-sentence, performance (accuracy and reaction time) in two tasks that require comprehension--enactment and sentence-picture matching--and in grammaticality judgment, with whole sentence auditory presentation. We also used sentence-picture matching and grammaticality judgment as tasks in two self-paced listening studies with the same patients to measure on-line performance. In each task and presentation format, we presented sentences that tested the ability to assign and interpret three structural contrasts chosen to examine different basic Syntactic operations: actives and passives, subject and object extracted relative clauses, and reflexive pronouns and matched sentences without these elements. We examined these behavioral data to determine patterns of impairment in individual patients and in groups of patients, using correlational analyses, factor analyses, and analyses of variance. The results showed that almost no individual patients had stable deficits referable to the ability to interpret individual Syntactic structures, that a variety of structural features contributed to sentence Processing complexity both on-line and off-line, that correct responses were associated with normal on-line and errors with abnormal performance, and that the major determinant of performance is a factor that affected performance on all sentence types. The results indicate that the major cause of aphasic impairments of Syntactically based comprehension are intermittent reductions in the Processing capacity available for Syntactic, interpretive, and task-related operations.
Kuniyoshi L. Sakai - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Syntactic Processing in Broca's Area: Brodmann Areas 44 and 45
Brain and nerve = Shinkei kenkyu no shinpo, 2017Co-Authors: Atora Yamada, Kuniyoshi L. SakaiAbstract:Brodmann areas 44 and 45 are known as Broca's area; however, their true functional roles are still unknown. Recent developments in neuroimaging techniques revealed the structures and functions of Broca's area in detail. More specifically regarding language functions, sufficient evidence has been accumulated that this region subserves the center of Syntactic Processing, not necessarily motor functions. Here, we review a role of Broca's area as the grammar center, including other roles in nonlinguistic functions.
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subliminal enhancement of predictive effects during Syntactic Processing in the left inferior frontal gyrus an meg study
Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 2014Co-Authors: Kazuki Iijima, Kuniyoshi L. SakaiAbstract:Predictive Syntactic Processing plays an essential role in language comprehension. In our previous study using Japanese object-verb (OV) sentences, we showed that the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) responses to a verb increased at 120-140 ms after the verb onset, indicating predictive effects caused by a preceding object. To further elucidate the automaticity of the predictive effects in the present magnetoencephalography study, we examined whether a subliminally presented verb (“subliminal verb”) enhanced the predictive effects on the sentence-final verb (“target verb”) unconsciously, i.e., without awareness. By presenting a subliminal verb after the object, enhanced predictive effects on the target verb would be detected in the OV sentences when the transitivity of the target verb matched with that of the subliminal verb (“congruent condition”), because the subliminal verb just after the object could determine the grammaticality of the sentence. For the OV sentences under the congruent condition, we observed significantly increased left IFG responses at 140-160 ms after the target verb onset. In contrast, responses in the precuneus and midcingulate cortex (MCC) were significantly reduced for the OV sentences under the congruent condition at 110-140 and 280-300 ms, respectively. By using partial Granger causality analyses for the OV sentences under the congruent condition, we revealed a bidirectional interaction between the left IFG and MCC at 60-160 ms, as well as a significant influence from the MCC to the precuneus. These results indicate that a top-down influence from the left IFG to the MCC, and then to the precuneus, is critical in Syntactic decisions, whereas the MCC shares its task-set information with the left IFG to achieve automatic and predictive processes of syntax.
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neural correlates of noncanonical Syntactic Processing revealed by a picture sentence matching task
Human Brain Mapping, 2008Co-Authors: Ryuta Kinno, Mitsuru Kawamura, Seiji Shioda, Kuniyoshi L. SakaiAbstract:It remains controversial whether the left inferior frontal gyrus subserves Syntactic Processing or short-term memory demands. Here we devised a novel picture-sentence matching task involving Japanese sentences with different structures to clearly contrast Syntactic reanalysis processes. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), activations under three main conditions were directly compared: a canonical/subject-initial active sentence (AS), a noncanonical/subject-initial passive sentence (PS), and a noncanonical/object-initial scrambled sentence (SS). We found that activation in the dorsal region of the left inferior frontal gyrus (dF3t) was enhanced more by the noncanonical Processing under the PS and SS conditions than by the canonical Processing under the AS condition, and this enhancement was independent of domain-general factors, such as general memory demands and task difficulty. Moreover, the left posterior superior/middle temporal gyrus (pSTG/MTG) showed more enhanced responses to object-initial sentences under the SS condition than to subject-initial sentences under the AS and PS conditions, which were not significantly affected by task difficulty. Furthermore, activation in the left lateral premotor cortex (LPMC) increased under the AS, PS, and SS conditions, in that order. It is possible that task difficulty affects the left LPMC, but the three distinct activations patterns suggest that these frontal and temporal regions work in concert to process Syntactic structures, with their respective contributions dynamically regulated by linguistic requirements.
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selective priming of Syntactic Processing by event related transcranial magnetic stimulation of broca s area
Neuron, 2002Co-Authors: Kuniyoshi L. Sakai, Yasuki Noguchi, Tatsuya Takeuchi, Eiju WatanabeAbstract:It remains controversial whether Broca's aphasia is an articulatory deficit, a lexical-access problem, or agrammatism. In spite of recent neuroimaging studies, the causal link between cortical activity and linguistic subcomponents has not been elucidated. Here we report an experiment with event-related transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to clarify the role of Broca's area, more specifically, the left inferior frontal gyrus (F3op/F3t), in Syntactic Processing. An experimental paradigm contrasted sentences requiring Syntactic decisions with those requiring semantic decisions. We found selective priming effects on Syntactic decisions when TMS was administered to the left F3op/F3t at a specific timing, but not to the left middle frontal gyrus (F2). Our results provide direct evidence of the involvement of the left F3op/F3t in Syntactic Processing.
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specialization in the left prefrontal cortex for sentence comprehension
Neuron, 2002Co-Authors: Ryuichiro Hashimoto, Kuniyoshi L. SakaiAbstract:Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined cortical activation under Syntactic decision tasks and a short-term memory task for sentences, focusing on essential properties of Syntactic Processing. By comparing activation in these tasks with a short-term memory task for word lists, we found that two regions in the left prefrontal cortex showed selective activation for Syntactic Processing: the dorsal prefrontal cortex (DPFC) and the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Moreover, the left DPFC showed more prominent activation under the short-term memory task for sentences than that for word lists, which cannot be explained by general cognitive factors such as task difficulty and verbal short-term memory. These results support the proposal of specialized systems for sentence comprehension in the left prefrontal cortex.
Gloria Waters - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Task-dependent and task-independent neurovascular responses to Syntactic Processing
Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior, 2007Co-Authors: David Caplan, Evan C. Chen, Gloria WatersAbstract:The neural basis for Syntactic Processing was studied using event-related fMRI to determine the locations of BOLD signal increases in the contrast of Syntactically complex sentences with center-embedded, object-extracted relative clauses and Syntactically simple sentences with right-branching, subject-extracted relative clauses in a group of 15 participants in three tasks. In a sentence verification task, participants saw a target sentence in one of these two Syntactic forms, followed by a probe in a simple active form, and determined whether the probe expressed a proposition in the target. In a plausibility judgment task, participants determined whether a sentence in one of these two Syntactic forms was plausible or implausible. Finally, in a non-word detection task, participants determined whether a sentence in one of these two Syntactic forms contained only real words or a non-word. BOLD signal associated with the Syntactic contrast increased in the left posterior inferior frontal gyrus in non-word detection and in a widespread set of areas in the other two tasks. We conclude that the BOLD activity in the left posterior inferior frontal gyrus reflects Syntactic Processing independent of concurrent cognitive operations and the more widespread areas of activation reflect the use of strategies and the use of the products of Syntactic Processing to accomplish tasks.
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A study of Syntactic Processing in aphasia II: Neurological aspects
Brain and language, 2006Co-Authors: David Caplan, Gloria Waters, Gayle Dede, David N. Kennedy, Nathanial Alpert, Nikos Makris, Jennifer Michaud, Amanda ReddyAbstract:This paper presents the results of a study of the effects of left hemisphere strokes on Syntactically-based comprehension in aphasic patients. We studied 42 patients with aphasia secondary to left hemisphere strokes and 25 control subjects for the ability to assign and interpret three Syntactic structures (passives, object extracted relative clauses, and reflexive pronouns) in enactment, sentence-picture matching and grammaticality judgment tasks. We measured accuracy, RT and self-paced listening times in SPM and GJ. We obtained magnetic resonance (MR) and 5-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) data on 31 patients and 12 controls. The percent of selected regions of interest (ROIs) that was lesioned on MR and the mean normalized PET counts per voxel in ROIs were calculated. In regression analyses, lesion measures in both perisylvian and non-perisylvian ROIs predicted performance. Patients who performed at similar levels behaviorally had lesions of very different sizes, and patients with equivalent lesion sizes varied greatly in their level of performance. The data are consistent with a model in which the neural tissue that is responsible for the operations underlying sentence comprehension and Syntactic Processing is localized in different neural regions in different individuals.
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the relationship between age verbal working memory and language comprehension
Psychology and Aging, 2004Co-Authors: Gayle Dede, David Caplan, Karen A Kemtes, Gloria WatersAbstract:A structural modeling approach was used to examine the relationships between age, verbal working memory (vWM), and 3 types of language measures: online Syntactic Processing, sentence comprehension, and text comprehension. The best-fit model for the online-Processing measure revealed a direct effect of age on online sentence Processing, but no effect mediated through vWM. The best-fit models for sentence and text comprehension included an effect of age mediated through vWM and no direct effect of age. These results indicate that the relationship among age, vWM, and comprehension differs depending on the measure of language Processing and support the view that individual differences in vWM do not affect individuals' online Syntactic Processing.
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a study of Syntactic Processing in aphasia i behavioral psycholinguistic aspects
Brain and Language, 2004Co-Authors: David Caplan, Gloria Waters, Gayle Dede, Jennifer Michaud, Amanda ReddyAbstract:This paper presents the results of a study of Syntactically based comprehension in aphasic patients. We studied 42 patients with aphasia secondary to left hemisphere strokes and 25 control participants. We measured off-line, end-of-sentence, performance (accuracy and reaction time) in two tasks that require comprehension--enactment and sentence-picture matching--and in grammaticality judgment, with whole sentence auditory presentation. We also used sentence-picture matching and grammaticality judgment as tasks in two self-paced listening studies with the same patients to measure on-line performance. In each task and presentation format, we presented sentences that tested the ability to assign and interpret three structural contrasts chosen to examine different basic Syntactic operations: actives and passives, subject and object extracted relative clauses, and reflexive pronouns and matched sentences without these elements. We examined these behavioral data to determine patterns of impairment in individual patients and in groups of patients, using correlational analyses, factor analyses, and analyses of variance. The results showed that almost no individual patients had stable deficits referable to the ability to interpret individual Syntactic structures, that a variety of structural features contributed to sentence Processing complexity both on-line and off-line, that correct responses were associated with normal on-line and errors with abnormal performance, and that the major determinant of performance is a factor that affected performance on all sentence types. The results indicate that the major cause of aphasic impairments of Syntactically based comprehension are intermittent reductions in the Processing capacity available for Syntactic, interpretive, and task-related operations.
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effects of acoustic degradation on Syntactic Processing implications for the nature of the resource system used in language Processing
Brain and Cognition, 2002Co-Authors: Sasha Yampolsky, Gloria Waters, David Caplan, Melanie L Matthies, Peter ChiuAbstract:This study investigated the effect of noise masking on on-line Syntactic Processing. Ninety college students were tested on measures of working memory and on-line sentence comprehension. Subjects were divided equally into three listening conditions: no noise masking, -3 dB signal-to-noise ratio (S:N), -4.5 dB S:N. The auditory moving windows (AMW) paradigm was used to measure on-line sentence Processing. In the AMW paradigm, subjects pressed a button for the successive presentation of each phrase in two types of sentences (Syntactically simple and complex), and listening times were recorded for each phrase. Previous studies have shown that the verb in the more complex sentence type is the most capacity demanding portion of the sentence. Listening times were longer overall with increased noise masking, and listening times were longer overall at the verb of the harder sentence type. However, the increase at the verb was not larger with increased noise masking. All three groups showed similar effects of Syntactic structure in the on-line data. The on-line Syntactic effects were not due to problems in word recognition. Correlational analyses did not indicate a relationship between the increase in Processing time at the capacity demanding region of the harder sentence types and any of the measures of working memory capacity in any of the three listening conditions. Results indicate that on-line sentence Processing is not affected by noise masking if lexical access (e.g., word recognition) remains intact.
Lorraine K Tyler - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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language related domain specific and domain general systems in the human brain
Current opinion in behavioral sciences, 2018Co-Authors: Karen L Campbell, Lorraine K TylerAbstract:While a long history of neuropsychological research places language function within a primarily left-lateralized frontotemporal system, recent neuroimaging work has extended this language network to include a number of regions traditionally thought of as ‘domain-general’. These include dorsal frontal, parietal, and medial temporal lobe regions known to underpin cognitive functions such as attention and memory. In this paper, we argue that these domain-general systems are not required for language Processing and are instead an artefact of the tasks typically used to study language. Recent work from our lab shows that when Syntactic Processing — arguably the only domain-specific language function — is measured in a task-free, naturalistic manner, only the left-lateralized frontotemporal syntax system and auditory network are activated. When syntax is measured within the context of a task, several other domain-general networks come online and are functionally connected to the frontotemporal system. While we have long argued that Syntactic Processing does not occur in isolation but is processed in parallel with semantics and pragmatics — functions of the wider language system — our recent work makes a strong case for the domain-specificity of the frontotemporal syntax system and its autonomy from domain-general networks.
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functional organization of the neural language system dorsal and ventral pathways are critical for syntax
Cerebral Cortex, 2013Co-Authors: John Griffiths, Emmanuel Stamatakis, William D Marslenwilson, Lorraine K TylerAbstract:The core of human language, which differentiates it from the communicative abilities of other species, is the set of combinatorial operations called syntax. For over a century researchers have attempted to understand how this essential function is organized in the brain. Here, we combine behavioral and neuroimaging methods, with left hemisphere-damaged patients and healthy controls, to identify the pathways connecting the brain regions involved in Syntactic Processing. In a previous functional magnetic resonance imaging study (Tyler LK, Wright P, Randall B, Marslen-Wilson WD, Stamatakis EA. 2010b. Reorganization of Syntactic Processing following left-hemisphere brain damage: does right-hemisphere activity preserve function? Brain. 133(11):3396--3408.), we established that regions of left inferior frontal cortex and left posterior middle temporal cortex were activated during Syntactic Processing. These clusters were used here as seeds for probabilistic tractography analyses in patients and controls, allowing us to delineate, and measure the integrity of, the white matter tracts connecting the frontal and temporal regions active for syntax. We found that structural disconnection in either of 2 fiber bundles—the arcuate fasciculus or the extreme capsule fiber system—was associated with Syntactic impairment in patients. The results demonstrate the causal role in Syntactic analysis of these 2 major left hemisphere fiber bundles—challenging existing views about their role in language functions and providing a new basis for future research in this key area of human cognition.
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left inferior frontal cortex and syntax function structure and behaviour in patients with left hemisphere damage
Brain, 2011Co-Authors: Lorraine K Tyler, William D Marslenwilson, Billi Randall, Paul Wright, Barry J Devereux, Jie Zhuang, Marina Papoutsi, Emmanuel StamatakisAbstract:For the past 150 years, neurobiological models of language have debated the role of key brain regions in language function. One consistently debated set of issues concern the role of the left inferior frontal gyrus in Syntactic Processing. Here we combine measures of functional activity, grey matter integrity and performance in patients with left hemisphere damage and healthy participants to ask whether the left inferior frontal gyrus is essential for Syntactic Processing. In a functional neuroimaging study, participants listened to spoken sentences that either contained a Syntactically ambiguous or matched unambiguous phrase. Behavioural data on three tests of Syntactic Processing were subsequently collected. In controls, Syntactic Processing co-activated left hemisphere Brodmann areas 45/47 and posterior middle temporal gyrus. Activity in a left parietal cluster was sensitive to working memory demands in both patients and controls. Exploiting the variability in lesion location and performance in the patients, voxel-based correlational analyses showed that tissue integrity and neural activity—primarily in left Brodmann area 45 and posterior middle temporal gyrus—were correlated with preserved Syntactic performance, but unlike the controls, patients were insensitive to Syntactic preferences, reflecting their Syntactic deficit. These results argue for the essential contribution of the left inferior frontal gyrus in Syntactic analysis and highlight the functional relationship between left Brodmann area 45 and the left posterior middle temporal gyrus, suggesting that when this relationship breaks down, through damage to either region or to the connections between them, Syntactic Processing is impaired. On this view, the left inferior frontal gyrus may not itself be specialized for Syntactic Processing, but plays an essential role in the neural network that carries out Syntactic computations.
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reorganization of Syntactic Processing following left hemisphere brain damage does right hemisphere activity preserve function
Brain, 2010Co-Authors: Lorraine K Tyler, William D Marslenwilson, Billi Randall, Paul Wright, Emmanuel StamatakisAbstract:The extent to which the human brain shows evidence of functional plasticity across the lifespan has been addressed in the context of pathological brain changes and, more recently, of the changes that take place during healthy ageing. Here we examine the potential for plasticity by asking whether a strongly left-lateralized system can successfully reorganize to the right-hemisphere following left-hemisphere brain damage. To do this, we focus on syntax, a key linguistic function considered to be strongly left-lateralized, combining measures of tissue integrity, neural activation and behavioural performance. In a functional neuroimaging study participants heard spoken sentences that differentially loaded on Syntactic and semantic information. While healthy controls activated a left-hemisphere network of correlated activity including Brodmann areas 45/47 and posterior middle temporal gyrus during Syntactic Processing, patients activated Brodmann areas 45/47 bilaterally and right middle temporal gyrus. However, voxel-based morphometry analyses showed that only tissue integrity in left Brodmann areas 45/47 was correlated with activity and performance; poor tissue integrity in left Brodmann area 45 was associated with reduced functional activity and increased Syntactic deficits. Activity in the right-hemisphere was not correlated with damage in the left-hemisphere or with performance. Reduced neural integrity in the left-hemisphere through brain damage or healthy ageing results in increased right-hemisphere activation in homologous regions to those left-hemisphere regions typically involved in the young. However, these regions do not support the same linguistic functions as those in the left-hemisphere and only indirectly contribute to preserved Syntactic capacity. This establishes the unique role of the left hemisphere in syntax, a core component in human language.
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preserving Syntactic Processing across the adult life span the modulation of the frontotemporal language system in the context of age related atrophy
Cerebral Cortex, 2010Co-Authors: Lorraine K Tyler, William D Marslenwilson, Billi Randall, Paul Wright, Meredith A Shafto, Emmanuel StamatakisAbstract:Although widespread neural atrophy is an inevitable consequence of normal aging, not all cognitive abilities decline as we age. For example, spoken language comprehension tends to be preserved, despite atrophy in neural regions involved in language function. Here, we combined measures of behavior, functional activation, and gray matter (GM) change in a younger (19--34 years) and older group (49--86 years) of participants to identify the mechanisms leading to preserved language comprehension across the adult life span. We focussed primarily on Syntactic functions because these are strongly left lateralized, providing the potential for contralateral recruitment. In an functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we used a word-monitoring task to minimize working memory demands, manipulating the availability of semantics and syntax to ask whether syntax is preserved in aging because of the functional recruitment of other brain regions, which successfully compensate for neural atrophy. Performance in the older group was preserved despite GM loss. This preservation was related to increased activity in right hemisphere frontotemporal regions, which was associated with age-related atrophy in the left hemisphere frontotemporal network activated in the young. We argue that preserved Syntactic Processing across the life span is due to the shift from a primarily left hemisphere frontotemporal system to a bilateral functional language network.
Peter Hagoort - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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how social opinion influences Syntactic Processing an investigation using virtual reality
the 22nd Annual Conference on Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing (AMLaP 2016), 2016Co-Authors: Evelien Heyselaar, Katrien Segaert, Peter HagoortAbstract:The extent to which you adapt your grammatical choices to match that of your interlocutor's (structural priming) can be influenced by the social opinion you have of your interlocutor. However, the direction and reliability of this effect is unclear as different studies have reported seemingly contradictory results. We have operationalized social perception as the ratings of strangeness for different avatars in a virtual reality study. The use of avatars ensured maximal control over the interlocutor's behaviour and a clear dimension along which to manipulate social perceptions toward this interlocutor. Our results suggest an inverted U-shaped curve in structural priming magnitude for passives as a function of strangeness: the participants showed the largest priming effects for the intermediately strange, with a decrease when interacting with the least- or most-strange avatars. The relationship between social perception and priming magnitude may thus be non-linear. There seems to be a 'happy medium' in strangeness, evoking the largest priming effect. We did not find a significant interaction of priming magnitude with any social perception.
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information structure influences depth of Syntactic Processing event related potential evidence for the chomsky illusion
PLOS ONE, 2012Co-Authors: Marcel C M Bastiaansen, Lin Wang, Yufang Yang, Peter HagoortAbstract:Information structure facilitates communication between interlocutors by highlighting relevant information. It has previously been shown that information structure modulates the depth of semantic Processing. Here we used event-related potentials to investigate whether information structure can modulate the depth of Syntactic Processing. In question-answer pairs, subtle (number agreement) or salient (phrase structure) Syntactic violations were placed either in focus or out of focus through information structure marking. P600 effects to these violations reflect the depth of Syntactic Processing. For subtle violations, a P600 effect was observed in the focus condition, but not in the non-focus condition. For salient violations, comparable P600 effects were found in both conditions. These results indicate that information structure can modulate the depth of Syntactic Processing, but that this effect depends on the salience of the information. When subtle violations are not in focus, they are processed less elaborately. We label this phenomenon the Chomsky illusion.
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shared syntax in language production and language comprehension an fmri study
Cerebral Cortex, 2012Co-Authors: Katrien Segaert, Laura Menenti, Kirsten Weber, Karl Magnus Petersson, Peter HagoortAbstract:During speaking and listening Syntactic Processing is a crucial step. It involves specifying Syntactic relations between words in a sentence. If the production and comprehension modality share the neuronal substrate for Syntactic Processing then Processing syntax in one modality should lead to adaptation effects in the other modality. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment, participants either overtly produced or heard descriptions of pictures. We looked for brain regions showing adaptation effects to the repetition of Syntactic structures. In order to ensure that not just the same brain regions but also the same neuronal populations within these regions are involved in Syntactic Processing in speaking and listening, we compared Syntactic adaptation effects within Processing modalities (Syntactic production-to-production and comprehension-to-comprehension priming) with Syntactic adaptation effects between Processing modalities (Syntactic comprehensionto-production and production-to-comprehension priming). We found Syntactic adaptation effects in left inferior frontal gyrus (Brodmann’s area [BA] 45), left middle temporal gyrus (BA 21), and bilateral supplementary motor area (BA 6) which were equally strong within and between Processing modalities. Thus, Syntactic repetition facilitates Syntactic Processing in the brain within and across Processing modalities to the same extent. We conclude that that the same neurobiological system seems to subserve Syntactic Processing in speaking and listening.
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Musical Syntactic Processing in agrammatic Broca's aphasia
Aphasiology, 2008Co-Authors: Aniruddh D. Patel, John R. Iversen, Marlies Wassenaar, Peter HagoortAbstract:Background: Growing evidence for overlap in the Syntactic Processing of language and music in non‐brain‐damaged individuals leads to the question of whether aphasic individuals with grammatical comprehension problems in language also have problems Processing structural relations in music. Aims: The current study sought to test musical Syntactic Processing in individuals with Broca's aphasia and grammatical comprehension deficits, using both explicit and implicit tasks. Methods & Procedures: Two experiments were conducted. In the first experiment 12 individuals with Broca's aphasia (and 14 matched controls) were tested for their sensitivity to grammatical and semantic relations in sentences, and for their sensitivity to musical Syntactic (harmonic) relations in chord sequences. An explicit task (acceptability judgement of novel sequences) was used. The second experiment, with 9 individuals with Broca's aphasia (and 12 matched controls), probed musical Syntactic Processing using an implicit task (harmonic p...
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How the brain solves the binding problem for language: A neurocomputational model of Syntactic Processing
NeuroImage, 2003Co-Authors: Peter HagoortAbstract:Syntax is one of the components in the architecture of language Processing that allows the listener/reader to bind single-word information into a unified interpretation of multiword utterances. This paper discusses ERP effects that have been observed in relation to Syntactic Processing. The fact that these effects differ from the semantic N400 indicates that the brain honors the distinction between semantic and Syntactic binding operations. Two models of Syntactic Processing attempt to account for syntax-related ERP effects. One type of model is serial, with a first phase that is purely Syntactic in nature (syntax-first model). The other type of model is parallel and assumes that information immediately guides the interpretation process once it becomes available. This is referred to as the immediacy model. ERP evidence is presented in support of the latter model. Next, an explicit computational model is proposed to explain the ERP data. This Unification Model assumes that Syntactic frames are stored in memory and retrieved on the basis of the spoken or written word form input. The Syntactic frames associated with the individual lexical items are unified by a dynamic binding process into a structural representation that spans the whole utterance. On the basis of a meta-analysis of imaging studies on syntax, it is argued that the left posterior inferior frontal cortex is involved in binding Syntactic frames together, whereas the left superior temporal cortex is involved in retrieval of the Syntactic frames stored in memory. Lesion data that support the involvement of this left frontotemporal network in Syntactic Processing are discussed.
