The role of coherence and cohesion in text comprehension: an event-related fMRI study

Ferstl, Evelyn C.; Cramon, D. Yves von

doi:10.1016/s0926-6410(01)00007-6

Cited by 243 publications

(212 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Replicating the findings of several previous studies (Ferstl and von Cramon, 2001;Hasson et al, 2007;Mazoyer et al, 1993;Xu et al, 2005), a distributed network of frontal, temporal and parietal brain regions showed significantly greater modulation of activation when reading connected sentences than disconnected sentences in the present study. However, previous results left unclear whether activation in any part of this network is selective to narrative-level processing, or if narrative-level and sentence-level comprehension rely on similar coherence-building mechanisms that differ only in the extent to which they are recruited in each condition.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…The present study identified a distributed network of frontal, temporal, and parietal regions associated with narrative comprehension, broadly replicating the results of previous studies (Ferstl and von Cramon, 2001;Hasson et al, 2007;Mazoyer et al, 1993;Xu et al, 2005). Importantly, however, the present results extend previous findings in several ways.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…The results of such investigations converge on a distributed network of cortical regions subserving discourse-level comprehension. Many of these regions are known to play a relatively general role in language processing -e.g., areas along the middle and superior temporal gyri and inferior frontal cortex (Binder et al, 1994;Ferstl and von Cramon, 2001;Huettner et al, 1989;Maguire et al, 1999;Robertson et al, 2000;St George et al, 1999), which show consistent recruitment in a broad range of word-level language tasks (Fiez and Petersen, 1998;Turkeltaub et al, 2002;Vigneau et al, 2006). However, other regions appear to be specifically recruited during comprehension of coherent text, including the anterior temporal lobes (ATL; Ferstl et al, 2007;Mazoyer et al, 1993;Stowe et al, 1998;Stowe et al, 2005) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC; Hasson et al, 2007;Xu et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Neural substrates of narrative comprehension and memory

2008

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When reading a narrative, comprehension and retention of information benefit considerably from the use of situation models -coherent representations of the characters, locations, and activities described in the text. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore the neural mechanisms supporting situation model processing. Participants read blocks of sentences that were either unrelated to one another or formed coherent narratives. A timecourse-based approach was used to identify regions that differentiated narrative-level comprehension from sentence-level comprehension. Most brain regions that showed modulation of activation during narrative-level comprehension were also modulated to a lesser extent during sentence-level comprehension, suggesting a shared reliance on general coherence-building mechanisms. However, tentative evidence was found for narrativespecific activation in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Additional analyses identified spatiotemporally distinct neural contributions to situation model processing, with posterior parietal regions supporting situation model construction and frontotemporal regions supporting situation model maintenance. Finally, a set of subsequent memory analyses demonstrated that the boost in comprehension and memory performance observed for coherent materials was attributable to the use of integrative situation models rather than lower-level differences in sentence-level or word-level encoding. These results clarify the functional contributions of distinct brain systems to situation model processing and their mapping onto existing psychological models of narrative comprehension.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Neural substrates of narrative comprehension and memory

2008

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“…The observation of bilateral inferior frontal activation during narrative production in the present study suggests that this brain region may play a role as a top-down organizational resource rather than support material-specific stimuli such as language (Crozier et al, 1999, Ferstl & von Cramon, 2001Koechlin, Corrado, Pietrini, & Grafman, 2000;Ramnani & Owen, 2004). The closely matched baselines that we used help us specify the contribution of the activated cortical regions we observed during narrative speech production.…”

Section: Bilateral Inferior Frontal Cortex As An Organizational Resourcesupporting

confidence: 49%

Narrative speech production: An fMRI study using continuous arterial spin labeling

et al. 2008

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Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with continuous arterial spin labeling (CASL) was employed to monitor brain activation during narrative production of a semi-structured speech sample in healthy young adults. Subjects were asked to describe a wordless children's picture story. Significant activations were found in bilateral prefrontal and left temporal-parietal regions during narrative production relative to description of a single picture and relative to viewing the wordless picture story while producing a nonsense word. We conclude that an inferior frontal cortex serves as a top-down organizational resource for narrative comprehension and demonstrate the feasibility of collecting extended speech samples using CASL perfusion fMRI.

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“…However, the data regarding the specialization of the right hemisphere for establishing narrative coherence are mixed (Robertson, et al, 2000;St. George, Kutas, Martinez, & Sereno, 1999;Ferstl & von Cramon, 2002;Ferstl & von Cramon, 2001;Maguire, Frith, & Morris, 1999;Speer, 2005), and there are no direct comparisons of working memory and semantic memory representations of events in the neuroimaging or neuropsychological literatures. An alternative possibility is that event models and event schemata are both implemented by bilateral PFC, but by different regions within PFC or different populations of neurons within a region.…”

Section: Toward Refining the Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Event perception: A mind-brain perspective.

Zacks¹,

Speer²,

Swallow³

et al. 2007

Psychological Bulletin

910

1,018

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People perceive and conceive of activity in terms of discrete events. Here we propose a theory according to which the perception of boundaries between events arises from ongoing perceptual processing and regulates attention and memory. Perceptual systems continuously make predictions about what will happen next. When transient errors in predictions arise, an event boundary is perceived. According to the theory, the perception of events depends on both sensory cues and knowledge structures that represent previously learned information about event parts and inferences about actors' goals and plans. Neurological and neurophysiological data suggest that representations of events may be implemented by structures in the lateral prefrontal cortex and that perceptual prediction error is calculated and evaluated by a processing pathway including the anterior cingulate cortex and subcortical neuromodulatory systems.

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The role of coherence and cohesion in text comprehension: an event-related fMRI study

Cited by 243 publications

References 44 publications

Neural substrates of narrative comprehension and memory

Neural substrates of narrative comprehension and memory

Narrative speech production: An fMRI study using continuous arterial spin labeling

Event perception: A mind-brain perspective.

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