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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 3, 2026

Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks

Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks

Published on: September 5, 2019

Syntactic Complexity and Frequency in the Neurocognitive Language System.

Yun-Hsuan Yang^1,2, William D Marslen-Wilson^1,2, Mirjana Bozic^1,2

¹University of Cambridge.

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

|April 22, 2017

Summary

This study investigated how the brain processes words and phrases. Findings suggest phrases are analyzed differently from words, with syntactic complexity influencing brain region activation.

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Area of Science:

Neurobiology
Cognitive Science
Linguistics

Background:

Prominent neurobiological models assume language comprehension involves a lexicon (temporal regions) and a combinatorial processor (left-lateralized network).
Recent research questions whether frequent phrases are stored like individual words in temporal areas.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if frequent phrases are stored in memory alongside individual words.
To examine the neural basis of spoken language comprehension, differentiating word and phrase processing.

Main Methods:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to study brain activation.
The frequency of words, short phrases, and long phrases in English was manipulated.

Main Results:

Simple words and long phrases activated left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and temporal areas.
Short phrases engaged bilateral temporal areas, indicating syntactic complexity influences LIFG activation.
A frequency effect was observed for words in temporal areas, but not for phrases.

Conclusions:

Long and short phrases are processed in distinct neural networks (left frontal and bilateral temporal, respectively).
Phrases are not retrieved from memory in the same manner as single words during language comprehension.