Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Distributed cortical networks for syntax processing: Broca's area as the common denominator.

St Heim1, B Opitz, A D Friederici

  • 1Max Planck Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, PO Box 500 355, 04303 Leipzig, Germany. heim@cns.mpg.de

Brain and Language
|May 15, 2003
PubMed
Summary

Brain imaging reveals distinct prefrontal cortex regions involved in processing word category and grammatical gender during word recognition. These findings clarify the neural basis of syntactic information processing.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Alpha power during task performance predicts individual language comprehension.

NeuroImage·2022
Same author

Infant cognition includes the potentially human-unique ability to encode embedding.

Science advances·2018
Same author

A revival of Homo loquens as a builder of labeled structures: Neurocognitive considerations.

Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews·2017
Same author

Neural networks for harmonic structure in music perception and action.

NeuroImage·2016
Same author

The neurobiological nature of syntactic hierarchies.

Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews·2016
Same author

Constraints on an annihilation signal from a core of constant dark matter density around the milky way center with H.E.S.S.

Physical review letters·2015

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Syntactic information, including word category and grammatical gender, is processed at different stages during word recognition.
  • The specific brain systems supporting these distinct processing times remain largely undetermined.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neural correlates of processing different types of syntactic information during word recognition using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
  • To differentiate the brain regions involved in processing word category versus grammatical gender.

Main Methods:

  • An event-related fMRI study was conducted with human subjects.
  • Participants performed a syntactic gender decision task (GEN), a word category decision task (WC), or a physical baseline task (BASE).

Related Experiment Videos

  • Reaction times and brain activation patterns were analyzed.

    • Main Results:

    • Reaction times were faster for the word category task (WC) compared to the syntactic gender task (GEN).
    • Both syntactic tasks (GEN and WC) activated the inferior tip of Brodmann area 44 (BA 44) relative to baseline.
    • The syntactic gender task (GEN) additionally activated Brodmann area 45 (BA 45), while the word category task (WC) activated Brodmann area 47 (BA 47).

    Conclusions:

    • The inferior portion of BA 44, along with specific prefrontal areas (BA 45 for gender, BA 47 for category), supports syntactic processing.
    • These findings suggest a neural dissociation for processing different types of syntactic information, with BA 44 playing a general role and adjacent areas specializing in specific syntactic features.