Research article summary (published 13 May 2005):

Who did what to whom? The neural basis of argument hierarchies during language comprehension.

Full Abstract

The present fMRI study aimed at identifying neural correlates of the syntax-semantics interface in language comprehension. This was achieved by examining what we refer to as "argument hierarchy construction", i.e., determining which participant in a sentence is the "Actor" and which is the "Undergoer" of the event expressed by the verb. In order to identify the neural bases of argument hierarchy processing, we manipulated three factors known to influence the complexity of argument hierarchy construction in German, namely argument order, verb class and morphological ambiguity. Increased argument hierarchization demands engendered enhanced activation in a network of inferior frontal, posterior superior temporal, premotor and parietal areas. Moreover, components of this network were differentially modulated by the individual factors. In particular, the left posterior superior temporal sulcus showed an enhanced sensitivity for morphological information and the syntactic realization of the verb-based argument hierarchy, while the activation of the left inferior frontal gyrus (pars opercularis) corresponded to linearization demands and was independent of morphological information. We therefore argue that, for German, posterior superior temporal and inferior frontal regions engage in the extraction of actorhood from morphosyntactic structure and in the sequential realization of hierarchical interpretive dependencies, respectively.

Author information

Author/s: Bornkessel, Ina (I); Zysset, Stefan (S); Friederici, Angela D (AD); von Cramon, D Yves (DY); Schlesewsky, Matthias (M);

Affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany. bornke(-atsign-)cbs.mpg.de

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Journal Article

Journal: NeuroImage (Neuroimage), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2005-May; vol 26 (issue 1) : pp 221-33

Dates: Created 2005/05/02; Completed 2005/07/12;

PMID: 15862222, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult Brain - physiology Cerebral Cortex - physiology Comprehension - physiology Conflict (Psychology) Female Frontal Lobe - physiology Humans Image Processing, Computer-Assisted

Language Magnetic Resonance Imaging Male Nerve Net - physiology Oxygen - blood Psycholinguistics Reading Semantics Temporal Lobe - physiology

Associated Chemicals: Oxygen (7782-44-7)

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