Form and content: dissociating syntax and semantics in sentence comprehension
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Updated: Oct 18, 2026

Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks
Published on: September 5, 2019
1Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles 90095, USA. mirella@loni.ucla.edu
Abstract:
The distinction between syntax (sentence form) and semantics (sentence meaning) is fundamental to our thinking about language. Whether and where this distinction is represented at the neural level is still a matter of considerable debate. In the present fMRI study, we examined the neural correlates of syntactic and semantic functions using an innovative activation paradigm specifically designed to unequivocally disentangle syntactic from lexicosemantic aspects of sentence processing. Our findings strongly indicate that a part of Broca's area (BA 44, pars opercularis) is critically implicated in processing syntactic information, whereas the lower portion of the left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 47, pars orbitalis) is selectively involved in processing the semantic aspects of a sentence.
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