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Spectrotemporal cortical dynamics and semantic control during sentence completion
Tim Coolen1, Alexandru Mihai Dumitrescu2, Vincent Wens2
1Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), Laboratoire de Neuroanatomie et Neuroimagerie Translationnelles (LN(2)T), Brussels, Belgium; Université Libre de Bruxelles, Hôpital Universitaire de Bruxelles (HUB), CUB Hôpital Erasme, Department of Radiology, Brussels, Belgium.
Objective:
To investigate cortical oscillations during a sentence completion task (SC) using magnetoencephalography (MEG), focusing on the semantic control network (SCN), its leftward asymmetry, and the effects of semantic control load.
Methods:
Twenty right-handed adults underwent MEG while performing SC, consisting of low cloze (LC: multiple responses) and high cloze (HC: single response) stimuli. Spectrotemporal power modulations as event-related synchronizations (ERS) and desynchronizations (ERD) were analyzed: first, at the whole-brain level; second, in key SCN regions, posterior middle/inferior temporal gyri (pMTG/ITG) and inferior frontal gyri (IFG), under different semantic control loads.
Results:
Three cortical response patterns emerged: early (0-200 ms) theta-band occipital ERS; intermediate (200-700 ms) semantic network alpha/beta-band ERD; late (700-3000 ms) dorsal language stream alpha/beta/gamma-band ERD. Under high semantic control load (LC), pMTG/ITG showed prolonged left-sided engagement (ERD) and right-sided inhibition (ERS). Left IFG exhibited heightened late (2500-2550 ms) beta-band ERD with increased semantic control load (LC vs. HC).
Conclusions:
SC involves distinct cortical responses and depends on the left IFG and asymmetric engagement of the pMTG/ITG for semantic control.
Significance:
Future use of SC in neuromagnetic preoperative language mapping and for understanding the pathophysiology of language disorders in neurological conditions.
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