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Broca's area, sentence comprehension, and working memory: an fMRI Study
Corianne Rogalsky1, William Matchin, Gregory Hickok
1Center for Cognitive Neuroscience & Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California Irvine, USA.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
|October 30, 2008
Summary
Broca's area's role in sentence processing was investigated. Findings suggest the pars opercularis region supports sentence comprehension through articulatory rehearsal, a component of verbal working memory.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psycholinguistics
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- The precise function of Broca's area in sentence processing is debated, with theories suggesting roles in syntax or verbal working memory.
- Previous research indicates sub-regions of Broca's area show increased activity with complex sentence structures (object-relative clauses) compared to simpler ones (subject-relative clauses).
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether the increased activity in Broca's area for complex sentences is linked to the articulatory rehearsal component of verbal working memory.
- To differentiate the roles of Broca's area sub-regions (pars triangularis and pars opercularis) in sentence comprehension under varying cognitive loads.
Main Methods:
- A behavioral experiment assessed sentence comprehension during concurrent speech articulation (inhibiting articulatory rehearsal) and a control finger-tapping task.
- An fMRI experiment measured brain activity while participants judged sentence plausibility under conditions of concurrent speech articulation, finger-tapping, or no concurrent task.
Main Results:
- Behavioral data showed object-relative clauses were harder to comprehend during speech articulation than during the finger-tapping task, supporting the role of articulatory rehearsal.
- fMRI results revealed that the syntactic complexity effect in Broca's pars opercularis was abolished during concurrent speech articulation but not finger-tapping.
- Activity in the pars triangularis was affected by the finger-tapping task but not by concurrent speech articulation.
Conclusions:
- Broca's pars opercularis appears to contribute to sentence comprehension specifically through its involvement in articulatory rehearsal.
- The pars triangularis may be involved in other aspects of sentence processing or executive functions not directly related to articulatory rehearsal.
- These findings help clarify the functional specialization within Broca's area concerning language processing and working memory.
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