Sensory-modality independent activation of the brain network for language

Abstract

The meaning of a sentence can be understood, whether presented in written or spoken form. Therefore it is highly probable that brain processes supporting language comprehension are at least partly independent of sensory modality. To identify where and when in the brain language processing is independent of sensory modality, we directly compared neuromagnetic brain signals of 200 human subjects (102 males) either reading or listening to sentences. We used multiset canonical correlation analysis to align individual subject data in a way that boosts those aspects of the signal that are common to all, allowing us to capture word-by-word signal variations, consistent across subjects and at a fine temporal scale. Quantifying this consistency in activation across both reading and listening tasks revealed a mostly left hemispheric cortical network. Areas showing consistent activity patterns include not only areas previously implicated in higher-level language processing, such as left prefrontal, superior & middle temporal areas and anterior temporal lobe, but also parts of the control-network as well as subcentral and more posterior temporal-parietal areas. Activity in this supramodal sentence processing network starts in temporal areas and rapidly spreads to the other regions involved. The findings do not only indicate the involvement of a large network of brain areas in supramodal language processing, but also indicate that the linguistic information contained in the unfolding sentences modulates brain activity in a word-specific manner across subjects.Introduction 1 Language can be realized in different modalities: amongst others through writing or 2 in speech. Depending on whether the sensory input modality is visual or auditory, 3 different dedicated networks of brain areas are activated in order to derive meaning 4 from the physical stimulus. Besides the obvious differences in the recruitment of brain 5 circuits that process low-level sensory information, differences in linguistic features across 6 sensory modalities prompt a differential activation of brain areas involved in higher-order 7 1/30 processing as well. For instance, speech is enriched with meaningful prosodic cues, 8 but also requires a coarticulated signal to be parsed into individual words. Written 9 text contains cues in the form of punctuation and spaces, and has the advantage of 10 instantaneous availability of full information compared to the temporally unfolding nature 11 of speech. If text is presented word-by-word, as was done in the present as well as many 12 previous studies, the temporal structure of auditory stimulation can be approximated. 13Nonetheless, the auditory information necessary for word recognition is still temporally 14 distributed, whereas in the visual modality, the entire wordform is instantly available 15 on screen.These, and other, differences are paralleled in the brain's response, and thus 16 the sensory modality in which language stimuli are presented determines the dominant 17 spatiotemporal patterns that will be elic...

Aportaciones desde la teoría de la educación a la investigación de las relaciones entre cognición y tecnología digital

“…Está demostrado que el medio influye en la configuración cerebral humana, y que diferentes medios activan partes cerebrales distintas y desarrollan circuitos diversos en el cerebro (Arana et al, 2020). Un ejemplo lo encontramos en el caso de los músicos que, incluso en estado de reposo, consiguen que las conexiones locales del cerebro y la integración de funciones dentro de la red, se mejoren notablemente debido a cambios estructurales y funcionales (Zhu, Aportaciones desde la teoría de la educación a la investigación de las relaciones entre cognición y tecnología digital 2018).…”