Syntax-Sensitive Regions of the Posterior Inferior Frontal Gyrus and the Posterior Temporal Lobe Are Differentially Recruited by Production and Perception

Matchin, William; Wood, Emily

doi:10.1093/texcom/tgaa029

Cited by 29 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…Regarding the effect’s locus, our results are in line with previous fMRI 9 , 24 , 25 , lesion 49 , and MEG 8 , 21 , 22 findings implicating the LPTL in syntactic processing. However, they contrast with results from two main sets of studies in recent years.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Particularly interesting is the absence of LIFC effects, as this region has been traditionally associated with syntactic processing. However, recent findings suggest that production—rather than comprehension—demands drive activity in that region 23 , 24 . Our results also suggest left-lateralization of syntactic processing, as no right-hemispheric ROIs responded to our manipulation (Supplementary Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Left posterior temporal cortex is sensitive to syntax within conceptually matched Arabic expressions

Matar

Dirani

Marantz

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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During language comprehension, the brain processes not only word meanings, but also the grammatical structure—the “syntax”—that strings words into phrases and sentences. Yet the neural basis of syntax remains contentious, partly due to the elusiveness of experimental designs that vary structure independently of meaning-related variables. Here, we exploit Arabic’s grammatical properties, which enable such a design. We collected magnetoencephalography (MEG) data while participants read the same noun-adjective expressions with zero, one, or two contiguously-written definite articles (e.g., ‘chair purple’; ‘the-chair purple’; ‘the-chair the-purple’), representing equivalent concepts, but with different levels of syntactic complexity (respectively, indefinite phrases: ‘a purple chair’; sentences: ‘The chair is purple.’; definite phrases: ‘the purple chair’). We expected regions processing syntax to respond differently to simple versus complex structures. Single-word controls (‘chair’/‘purple’) addressed definiteness-based accounts. In noun-adjective expressions, syntactic complexity only modulated activity in the left posterior temporal lobe (LPTL), ~ 300 ms after each word’s onset: indefinite phrases induced more MEG-measured positive activity. The effects disappeared in single-word tokens, ruling out non-syntactic interpretations. In contrast, left anterior temporal lobe (LATL) activation was driven by meaning. Overall, the results support models implicating the LPTL in structure building and the LATL in early stages of conceptual combination.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Left posterior temporal cortex is sensitive to syntax within conceptually matched Arabic expressions

Matar

Dirani

Marantz

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Importantly, investigations contrasting speaker-listener dynamics, have demonstrated neural overlap between the modalities for high-level linguistic operations such as syntactic unification of message-level information (e.g., Menenti et al, 2011;Segaert et al, 2012; but see Matchin & Wood, 2020), or communicative alignment in conversation (e.g., Stephens et al, 2010;Silbert et al, 2014;Dikker et al, 2017). These data highlight that the language production and perception systems are more shared than originally thought.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While traditionally both language modalities were investigated separately, more recently, there is increased interest about the nature of language processing under more ecologically valid conditions such as the dyad (e.g., Hasson et al, 2012; Pickering & Garrod, 2013; Schoot et al, 2016). Importantly, investigations contrasting speaker-listener dynamics, have demonstrated neural overlap between the modalities for high-level linguistic operations such as syntactic unification of message-level information (e.g., Menenti et al, 2011; Segaert et al, 2012; but see Matchin & Wood, 2020), or communicative alignment in conversation (e.g., Stephens et al, 2010; Silbert et al, 2014; Dikker et al, 2017). These data highlight that the language production and perception systems are more shared than originally thought.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The same ultra-rapid parallel brain dynamics underpin the production and perception of speech

Fairs

Michelas

Dufour

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The temporal dynamics by which linguistic information becomes available is one of the key properties to understand how language is organised in the brain. An unresolved debate between different brain language models is whether words, the building blocks of language, are activated in a sequential or parallel manner. In this study we approached this issue from a novel perspective by directly comparing the time course of word component activation in speech production versus perception. In an overt object naming task and a passive listening task we analysed with mixed linear models at the single-trial level the event-related brain potentials elicited by the same lexico-semantic and phonological word knowledge in the two language modalities. Results revealed that both word components manifested simultaneously as early as 75 ms after stimulus onset in production and perception; differences between the language modalities only became apparent after 300 ms of processing. The data provide evidence for ultra-rapid parallel dynamics of language processing and are interpreted within a neural assembly framework where words recruit the same integrated cell assemblies across production and perception. These word assemblies ignite early on in parallel and only later on reverberate in a behaviour-specific manner.

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“…Recent research also proposes that left posterior temporal regions play a role in sequence predictions, showing increased activation to sentences versus lists of words (Matchin et al, 2019). Lastly, left pSTS/MTG is activated more strongly for the perception of syntax/sequences relative to production (Matchin & Wood, 2020). These findings suggest a specific contribution of left pSTS to syntactic predictions in English, indicating that this region supports the processing of linguistic sequences (Matchin et al, 2019).…”

Section: Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus For Sequence Processingmentioning

confidence: 79%

Posterior superior temporal sulcus supports sequence-based language processing: Evidence from low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation

Kyriaki¹,

Todd²,

Schlesewsky³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Understanding the sequence (i.e. word order) of linguistic input plays an important role in sentence comprehension, particularly in languages such as English (Bornkessel-Schlesewsky et al., 2015). Neuroimaging and clinical research shows that left posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) contributes towards sequence processing in both linguistic and non-linguistic contexts (Bornkessel et al., 2005; Wilson et al., 2010). To test the causal contribution of left pSTS for sequence-dependent sentence processing, we applied image-guided low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (1 Hz for 15 minutes at 90% resting motor threshold) to this region in 23 healthy native English speakers. Participants undertook an auditory sentence processing task and were asked to identify the sentential actor or undergoer. Sentences were either semantically plausible or were rendered implausible by an animacy violation (e.g. “The student will write the answer” versus “The answer will write the student”). After sham-rTMS (control condition), participants predominantly selected the first noun as the actor and second noun as the undergoer, relying strongly on sequence cues (word order) for interpretation as expected in English speakers. By contrast, after real-rTMS, participants were more likely to use animacy as a cue to interpretation, with higher selections of the animate noun as the actor and inanimate noun as the undergoer regardless of word order. This effect also interacted with question focus and response time. These results indicate that sequence-based language processing is reduced after low-frequency rTMS to pSTS, suggesting a role for pSTS in processing sequential aspects of language such as word order.

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Syntax-Sensitive Regions of the Posterior Inferior Frontal Gyrus and the Posterior Temporal Lobe Are Differentially Recruited by Production and Perception

Cited by 29 publications

References 82 publications

Left posterior temporal cortex is sensitive to syntax within conceptually matched Arabic expressions

Left posterior temporal cortex is sensitive to syntax within conceptually matched Arabic expressions

The same ultra-rapid parallel brain dynamics underpin the production and perception of speech

Posterior superior temporal sulcus supports sequence-based language processing: Evidence from low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation

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