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| Research article summary (published 29 Apr 2009): |
Neural correlates of semantic competition during processing of ambiguous words.
Full Abstract
The current study investigated the neural correlates that underlie the processing of ambiguous words and the potential effects of semantic competition on that processing. Participants performed speeded lexical decisions on semantically related and unrelated prime-target pairs presented in the auditory modality. The primes were either ambiguous words (e.g., ball) or unambiguous words (e.g., athlete), and targets were either semantically related to the dominant (i.e., most frequent) meaning of the ambiguous prime word (e.g., soccer) or to the subordinate (i.e., less frequent) meaning (e.g., dance). Results showed increased activation in the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) for ambiguous-related compared to unambiguous-related stimulus pairs, demonstrating that prefrontal areas are activated even in an implicit task where participants are not required to explicitly analyze the semantic content of the stimuli and to make an overt selection of a particular meaning based on this analysis. Additionally, increased activation was found in the left IFG and the left cingulate gyrus for subordinate meaning compared to dominant meaning conditions, suggesting that additional resources are recruited in order to resolve increased competition demands in accessing the subordinate meaning of an ambiguous word.
Author information
Author/s: Bilenko, Natalia Y (NY); Grindrod, Christopher M (CM); Myers, Emily B (EB); Blumstein, Sheila E (SE);
Affiliation: Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
Grants: R01 DC006220 (Agency:NIDCD NIH HHS)
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Journal: Journal of cognitive neuroscience (J Cogn Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2009-May; vol 21 (issue 5) : pp 960-75
Dates: Created 2009/04/09; Completed 2009/06/04;
PMID: 18702579, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 6/4/2009, IMS Date: 04 Jun 2009 00:00:00)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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