Localising memory retrieval and syntactic composition: an fMRI study of naturalistic language comprehension

This study examines memory retrieval and syntactic composition using fMRI while participants listen to a book, The Little Prince . These two processes are quantified drawing on methods from computational linguistics. Memory retrieval is quantified via multi-word expressions that are likely to be sto...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Language, cognition and neuroscience cognition and neuroscience, 2019-04, Vol.34 (4), p.491-510
Main Authors: Bhattasali, Shohini, Fabre, Murielle, Luh, Wen-Ming, Al Saied, Hazem, Constant, Mathieu, Pallier, Christophe, Brennan, Jonathan R., Spreng, R. Nathan, Hale, John
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anatomy
Brain
Brain architecture
Brain mapping
Cognitive ability
Cognitive science
Comprehension
Computational linguistics
Computational neuroscience
Computer Science
Cortex (parietal)
Document and Text Processing
fMRI
Frontal gyrus
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Information processing
Language
Language thought relationship
lexical cohesion
Listening
Listening comprehension
Memory
Memory retrieval
naturalistic comprehension
Neural and Evolutionary Computing
Neuroscience
Parsing
structural composition
Syntactic analysis
syntax
Temporal lobe
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This study examines memory retrieval and syntactic composition using fMRI while participants listen to a book, The Little Prince . These two processes are quantified drawing on methods from computational linguistics. Memory retrieval is quantified via multi-word expressions that are likely to be stored as a unit, rather than built-up compositionally. Syntactic composition is quantified via bottom-up parsing that tracks tree-building work needed in composed syntactic phrases. Regression analyses localise these to spatially-distinct brain regions. Composition mainly correlates with bilateral activity in anterior temporal lobe and inferior frontal gyrus. Retrieval of stored expressions drives right-lateralised activation in the precuneus. Less cohesive expressions activate well-known nodes of the language network implicated in composition. These results help to detail the neuroanatomical bases of two widely-assumed cognitive operations in language processing.
ISSN:2327-3798
2327-3801
DOI:10.1080/23273798.2018.1518533