Network modulation during complex syntactic processing

Ouden, Dirk-Bart den; Saur, Dorothee; Mader, Wolfgang; Schelter, Björn; Lukic, Sladjana; Wali, Eisha; Timmer, Jens; Thompson, Cynthia K.

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.07.057

Cited by 92 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…A recent DCM study with a picture-sentence matching task has suggested that L. F3op/F3t received driving inputs [44], which was consistent with our DCM results. Moreover, our previous studies revealed that the functional connectivity between L. F3t/F3O (pars orbitalis) and L. AG/SMG was selectively enhanced during sentence processing [45], and that L. AG/SMG was also activated during the identification of correct past-tense forms of verbs, probably reflecting an integration of syntactic and vocabulary knowledge [46].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Syntactic Computation in the Human Brain: The Degree of Merger as a Key Factor

2013

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Our goal of this study is to characterize the functions of language areas in most precise terms. Previous neuroimaging studies have reported that more complex sentences elicit larger activations in the left inferior frontal gyrus (L. F3op/F3t), although the most critical factor still remains to be identified. We hypothesize that pseudowords with grammatical particles and morphosyntactic information alone impose a construction of syntactic structures, just like normal sentences, and that “the Degree of Merger” (DoM) in recursively merged sentences parametrically modulates neural activations. Using jabberwocky sentences with distinct constructions, we fitted various parametric models of syntactic, other linguistic, and nonlinguistic factors to activations measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging. We demonstrated that the models of DoM and “DoM+number of Search (searching syntactic features)” were the best to explain activations in the L. F3op/F3t and supramarginal gyrus (L. SMG), respectively. We further introduced letter strings, which had neither lexical associations nor grammatical particles, but retained both matching orders and symbol orders of sentences. By directly contrasting jabberwocky sentences with letter strings, localized activations in L. F3op/F3t and L. SMG were indeed independent of matching orders and symbol orders. Moreover, by using dynamic causal modeling, we found that the model with a inhibitory modulatory effect for the bottom-up connectivity from L. SMG to L. F3op/F3t was the best one. For this best model, the top-down connection from L. F3op/F3t to L. SMG was significantly positive. By using diffusion-tensor imaging, we confirmed that the left dorsal pathway of the superior longitudinal and arcuate fasciculi consistently connected these regions. Lastly, we established that nonlinguistic order-related and error-related factors significantly activated the right (R.) lateral premotor cortex and R. F3op/F3t, respectively. These results indicate that the identified network of L. F3op/F3t and L. SMG subserves the calculation of DoM in recursively merged sentences.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Syntactic Computation in the Human Brain: The Degree of Merger as a Key Factor

2013

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“…The inferior parietal lobule and the inferior frontal gyrus, two areas known to be interconnected by components of the arcuate fasciculus (Catani & Mesulam, 2008), are major components of the dorsal route, which mediates phoneme-to-grapheme conversion. This route is also critically important for the phonological loop (Amici, et al, 2007) and morphosyntax (den Ouden, et al, 2012; Wilson, et al, 2011), explaining why nonword spelling, the one type of spelling that most heavily relies on the phonological route, was significantly correlated with task of repetition and grammaticality. The correlation of phonological agraphia with atrophy in the inferior parietal lobule and the inferior frontal gyrus is also consistent with the known prominence of agraphia in Broca's aphasia and the Gerstmann syndrome.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anatomic, clinical, and neuropsychological correlates of spelling errors in primary progressive aphasia

et al. 2012

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This study evaluates spelling errors in the three subtypes of primary progressive aphasia (PPA): agrammatic (PPA-G), logopenic (PPA-L), and semantic (PPA-S). Forty one PPA-patients and 36 age-matched healthy controls were administered a test of spelling. The total number of errors and types of errors in spelling to dictation of regular words, exception words and nonwords, were recorded. Error types were classified based on phonetic plausibility. In the first analysis, scores were evaluated by clinical diagnosis. Errors in spelling exception words and phonetically plausible errors were seen in PPA-S. Conversely, PPA-G was associated with errors in nonword spelling and phonetically implausible errors. In the next analysis, spelling scores were correlated to other neuropsychological language test scores. Significant correlations were found between exception word spelling and measures of naming and single word comprehension. Nonword spelling correlated with tests of grammar and repetition. Global language measures did not correlate significantly with spelling scores, however. Cortical thickness analysis based on MRI showed that atrophy in several language regions of interest were correlated with spelling errors. Atrophy in the left supramarginal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) pars orbitalis correlated with errors in nonword spelling, while thinning in the left temporal pole and fusiform gyrus correlated with errors in exception word spelling. Additionally, phonetically implausible errors in regular word spelling correlated with thinning in the left IFG pars triangularis and pars opercularis. Together, these findings suggest two independent systems for spelling to dictation, one phonetic (phoneme to grapheme conversion), and one lexical (whole word retrieval).

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“…Sentence comprehension in cognitively healthy individuals also is supported by a left-lateralized network that includes the inferior and middle frontal gyri, the middle and superior temporal gyri, and the angular gyrus (see den Ouden et al, 2012; Friederici, 2011; Indefrey, Hellwig, Herzog, Seitz, & Hagoort, 2004; Segaert, Menenti, Weber, Petersson, & Hagoort, 2012; Thompson & Kielar, in press; Thompson, den Ouden, Bonakdarpour, Garibaldi, & Parrish, 2010, and many others). Less is known about the neural basis of grammatical production in cognitively healthy speakers, but again neuroimaging studies have highlighted the left fronto-temporal-parietal language network for sentence production, in particular inferior frontal regions (Grande et al, 2012; Indefrey, Hellwig, Herzog, Seitz, & Hagoort, 2004; Segaert, Menenti, Weber, Petersson, & Hagoort, 2012).…”

Section: Neural Mechanisms Of Grammatical Processing Deficitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grammatical impairments in PPA

Thompson

Mack

2014

Aphasiology

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Background Grammatical impairments are commonly observed in the agrammatic subtype of primary progressive aphasia (PPA-G), whereas grammatical processing is relatively preserved in logopenic (PPA-L) and semantic (PPA-S) subtypes. Aims We review research on grammatical deficits in PPA and associated neural mechanisms, with discussion focused on production and comprehension of four aspects of morphosyntactic structure: grammatical morphology, functional categories, verbs and verb argument structure, and complex syntactic structures. We also address assessment of grammatical deficits in PPA, with emphasis on behavioral tests of grammatical processing. Finally, we address research examining the effects of treatment for progressive grammatical impairments. Main Contribution PPA-G is associated with grammatical deficits that are evident across linguistic domains in both production and comprehension. PPA-G is associated with damage to regions including the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and dorsal white matter tracts, which have been linked to impaired comprehension and production of complex sentences. Detailing grammatical deficits in PPA is important for estimating the trajectory of language decline and associated neuropathology. We, therefore, highlight several new assessment tools for examining different aspects of morphosyntactic processing in PPA. Conclusions Individuals with PPA-G present with agrammatic deficit patterns distinct from those associated with PPA-L and PPA-S, but similar to those seen in agrammatism resulting from stroke, and patterns of cortical atrophy and white matter changes associated with PPA-G have been identified. Methods for clinical evaluation of agrammatism, focusing on comprehension and production of grammatical morphology, functional categories, verbs and verb argument structure, and complex syntactic structures are recommended and tools for this are emerging in the literature. Further research is needed to investigate the real-time processes underlying grammatical impairments in PPA, as well as the structural and functional neural correlates of grammatical impairments across linguistic domains. Few studies have examined the effects of treatment for grammatical impairments in PPA; research in this area is needed to better understand how (or if) grammatical processing ability can be improved, the potential for spared neural tissue to be recruited to support this, and whether the neural connections within areas of dysfunctional tissue required for grammatical processing can be enhanced using cortical stimulation.

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Network modulation during complex syntactic processing

Cited by 92 publications

References 54 publications

Syntactic Computation in the Human Brain: The Degree of Merger as a Key Factor

Syntactic Computation in the Human Brain: The Degree of Merger as a Key Factor

Anatomic, clinical, and neuropsychological correlates of spelling errors in primary progressive aphasia

Grammatical impairments in PPA

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