Syntax in a native language still continues to develop in adults: Honorification judgment in Japanese

Native languages (L1s) are tacitly assumed to be complete and stable in adults. Here we report an unexpected individual variation in judgment of L1 regarding Japanese sentences including honorification, and further clarify its neural basis with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). By contra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain and language 2008-10, Vol.107 (1), p.81-89
Main Authors: Momo, Kanako, Sakai, Hiromu, Sakai, Kuniyoshi L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adults
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Cerebral Cortex - anatomy & histology
Cerebral Cortex - physiology
Comparative Analysis
Comprehension - physiology
Diagnostic Tests
Evaluative Thinking
Female
fMRI
Frontal Lobe - anatomy & histology
Frontal Lobe - physiology
Functional Laterality - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Japan
Japanese
Judgment
Language
Language Processing
Language Tests - standards
Languages
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Reading
Semantics
Sentence processing
Sentences
Speech Perception - physiology
Syntax
The frontal cortex
Young Adult
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Description
Summary:Native languages (L1s) are tacitly assumed to be complete and stable in adults. Here we report an unexpected individual variation in judgment of L1 regarding Japanese sentences including honorification, and further clarify its neural basis with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). By contrasting an honorification judgment task with a spelling judgment task, the lower performance group showed more extensive activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus than did the higher performance group. Moreover, activation in the left dorsal and ventral triangular parts negatively correlated with the performance of the honorification judgment task. This modulation pattern demonstrates that cortical activations recruited for sentence processing depend on individual performances even in L1.
ISSN:0093-934X
1090-2155
DOI:10.1016/j.bandl.2007.12.003