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Updated: May 13, 2026
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Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology
Published on: June 29, 2021
Neural Mechanisms of Bidirectional Visuo-Linguistic Transformation in Interactive Communication
Yulei Shen1,2, Takahiko Koike2,3, Shohei Tsuchimoto4
1Department of Cognitive & Psychological Sciences, Graduate School of Informatics, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
Human Brain Mapping
|May 12, 2026
Summary
This study reveals how the brain flexibly shifts between seeing and speaking during communication. Neural connections between key brain areas dynamically change to support this visual-to-language processing.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Psycholinguistics
Background:
- Human communication relies on transforming visual information into language and vice versa.
- Neural basis of bidirectional visual-linguistic processing in social contexts is unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate neural mechanisms of encoding visual stimuli to language and decoding language to mental imagery.
- Examine dynamic brain connectivity during interactive communication.
Main Methods:
- Utilized hyperscanning functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
- Employed a role-switching communicative task.
- Applied dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to analyze effective connectivity.
Main Results:
- Whole-brain analyses identified key regions: inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), fusiform face area (FFA), and intraparietal sulcus (IPS).
- DCM revealed dynamic reconfiguration of connectivity among IFG, FFA, and IPS.
- Connectivity shifts supported role-dependent top-down and bottom-up information flow.
Conclusions:
- The brain exhibits a flexible, coordinated neural architecture for integrating visual and linguistic information.
- Interplay between perceptual and language systems underlies human communication.
- Findings offer novel insights into the neural basis of social interaction and language processing.
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