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FMRI adaptation dissociates syntactic complexity dimensions.

ABSTRACT: The current fMRI adaptation study sought to elucidate the dimensions of syntactic complexity and their underlying neural substrates. For the first time with fMRI, we investigated repetition suppression (i.e., fMRI adaptation) for two orthogonal dimensions of sentence complexity: embedding position (right-branching vs. center-embedding) and movement type (subject vs. object). Two novel results were obtained: First, we found syntactic adaptation in Broca's area and second, this adaptation was structured. Anterior Broca's area (BA 45) selectively adapted to movement type, while posterior Broca's area (BA 44) demonstrated adaptation to both movement type and embedding position (as did left posterior superior temporal gyrus and right inferior precentral sulcus). The functional distinction within Broca's area is critical not only to an understanding of the functional neuroanatomy of language, but also to theoretical accounts of syntactic complexity, demonstrating its multi-dimensional nature. These results implicate that during syntactic comprehension, a large network of areas is engaged, but that only anterior Broca's area is selective to syntactic movement.

SUBMITTER: Santi A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2909752 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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fMRI adaptation dissociates syntactic complexity dimensions.

Santi Andrea A Grodzinsky Yosef Y

NeuroImage 20100323 4

The current fMRI adaptation study sought to elucidate the dimensions of syntactic complexity and their underlying neural substrates. For the first time with fMRI, we investigated repetition suppression (i.e., fMRI adaptation) for two orthogonal dimensions of sentence complexity: embedding position (right-branching vs. center-embedding) and movement type (subject vs. object). Two novel results were obtained: First, we found syntactic adaptation in Broca's area and second, this adaptation was stru ...[more]

PMID: 20338244

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Project description:Syntax, the grammatical structure of sentences, is a fundamental aspect of language. It remains debated whether reduced syntactic complexity is unique to schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) or whether it is also present in major depressive disorder (MDD). Furthermore, the association of syntax (including syntactic complexity and diversity) with language-related neuropsychology and psychopathological symptoms across disorders remains unclear. Thirty-four SSD patients and thirty-eight MDD patients diagnosed according to DSM-IV-TR as well as forty healthy controls (HC) were included and tasked with describing four pictures from the Thematic Apperception Test. We analyzed the produced speech regarding its syntax delineating measures for syntactic complexity (the total number of main clauses embedding subordinate clauses) and diversity (number of different types of complex sentences). We performed cluster analysis to identify clusters based on syntax and investigated associations of syntactic, to language-related neuropsychological (verbal fluency and verbal episodic memory), and psychopathological measures (positive and negative formal thought disorder) using network analyses. Syntax in SSD was significantly reduced in comparison to MDD and HC, whereas the comparison of HC and MDD revealed no significant differences. No associations were present between speech measures and current medication, duration and severity of illness, age or sex; the single association accounted for was education. A cluster analysis resulted in four clusters with different degrees of syntax across diagnoses. Subjects with less syntax exhibited pronounced positive and negative symptoms and displayed poorer performance in executive functioning, global functioning, and verbal episodic memory. All cluster-based networks indicated varying degrees of domain-specific and cross-domain connections. Measures of syntactic complexity were closely related while syntactic diversity appeared to be a separate node outside of the syntactic network. Cross-domain associations were more salient in more complex syntactic production.

Dataset Information

FMRI adaptation dissociates syntactic complexity dimensions.

Publications

fMRI adaptation dissociates syntactic complexity dimensions.

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