Language processing in context requires more than merely comprehending words and sentences. Important subprocesses are inferences for bridging successive utterances, the use of background knowledge and discourse context, and pragmatic interpretations. The functional neuroanatomy of these text comprehension processes has only recently been investigated. Although there is evidence for right-hemisphere contributions, reviews have implicated the left lateral prefrontal cortex, left temporal regions beyond Wernicke's area, and the left dorso-medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) for text comprehension. To objectively confirm this extended language network and to evaluate the respective contribution of right hemisphere regions, meta-analyses of 23 neuroimaging studies are reported here. The analyses used replicator dynamics based on activation likelihood estimates. Independent of the baseline, the anterior temporal lobes (aTL) were active bilaterally. In addition, processing of coherent compared with incoherent text engaged the dmPFC and the posterior cingulate cortex. Right hemisphere activations were seen most notably in the analysis of contrasts testing specific subprocesses, such as metaphor comprehension. These results suggest task dependent contributions for the lateral PFC and the right hemisphere. Most importantly, they confirm the role of the aTL and the fronto-medial cortex for language processing in context.

This study investigated the neuronal basis of evaluative judgment. Judgments can be defined as the assessment of an external or internal stimulus on an internal scale and they are fundamental for decisionmaking and other cognitive processes. Evaluative judgments (I like George W. Bush: yes/no) are a special type of judgment, in which the internal scale is related to the person's value system (preferences, norms, aesthetic values, etc.). We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activation during the performance of evaluative judgments as opposed to episodic and semantic memory retrieval. Evaluative judgment produced significant activation in the anterior frontomedian cortex (BA 10/9), the inferior precuneus (BA 23/31), and the left inferior prefrontal cortex (BA 45/47). The results show a functional dissociation between the activations in the anterior frontomedian cortex and in the inferior precuneus. The latter was mainly activated by episodic retrieval processes, supporting its function as a multimodal association area that integrates the different aspects of retrieved and newly presented information. In contrast, the anterior frontomedian cortex was mainly involved in evaluative judgments, supporting its role in self-referential processes and in the self-initiation of cognitive processes.

The frontomedian cortex (FMC) has been shown to be important for coherence processes in language comprehension, i.e., for establishing the pragmatic connection between successively presented sentences. The same brain region has a role during theory-ofmind processes, i.e., during the attribution of other people's actions to their motivations, beliefs, or emotions. In this study, we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging at 3 T to disentangle the relative contributions of the FMC to theory-of-mind (ToM) and coherence processes, respectively. The BOLD response of nine participants was recorded while they listened to pragmatically coherent or unrelated sentence pairs. Using a logic instruction for inanimate sentence pairs, ToM processing was discouraged during the first part of the experiment. Using explicit ToM instructions for sentence pairs mentioning human protagonists, ToM processing was induced during the second part. In three of the resulting four conditions a significant increase in the BOLD response was observed in FMC: when ToM instructions were given, both coherent and incoherent trials elicited frontomedian activation, in replication of previous results showing involvement of the FMC during ToM tasks. When logic instructions were given, the coherent trials, but not the incoherent trials, activated the FMC. These results clearly show that the FMC plays a role in coherence processes even in the absence of concomitant ToM processes. The findings support the view of this cortex having a domain-independent functionality related to volitional aspects of the initiation and maintenance of nonautomatic cognitive processes. © 2002 Elsevier Science (USA)

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Abstract& Language comprehension in everyday life requires the continuous integration of prior discourse context and general world knowledge with the current utterance or sentence. In the neurolinguistic literature, these so-called situation model building processes have been ascribed to the prefrontal cortex or to the right hemisphere. In this study, we use whole-head event-related fMRI to directly map the neural correlates of narrative comprehension in context. While being scanned using a spin-echo sequence, 20 participants listened to 32 short stories, half of which contained globally inconsistent information. The inconsistencies concerned either temporal or chronological information or the emotional status of the protagonist. Hearing an inconsistent word elicited activation in the right anterior temporal lobe. The comparison of different information aspects revealed activation in the left precuneus and a bilateral frontoparietal network for chronological information. Emotional information elicited activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the extended amygdaloid complex. In addition, the integration of inconsistent emotional information engaged the dorsal frontomedial cortex (Brodmann's area 8/9), whereas the integration of inconsistent temporal information required the lateral prefrontal cortex bilaterally. These results indicate that listening to stories can elicit activation reflecting content-specific processes. Furthermore, updating of the situation model is not a unitary process but it also depends on the particular requirements of the text. The right hemisphere contributes to language processing in context, but equally important are the left medial and bilateral prefrontal cortices. &