Dataset Information

The Role of Verbs in Sentence Production.

ABSTRACT: To investigate the role of verbs in sentence production, the experiment reported here employed a simple sentence elicitation technique based on separate elicitor images for the different sentence constituents: subject, verb, and verbal modifier. This permitted presenting them in different temporal configurations to see whether the time taken to start uttering the subject of a sentence was contingent on having access to information about the action that would determine verb selection. The results show that sentence onset latencies varied in relation to the presentation of the verb elicitor, suggesting that sentence processing depends crucially on having access to the information pertaining to the verb. What is more, increases in the lexical frequency of the actual verbs used significantly reduced onset latencies for the subject noun as expected if the verb lemmas have to be retrieved before the sentence can be processed. Among other things, this argues against strict linearity and in favor of hierarchical incrementality in sentence production. Additionally, the results hint at the possibility that other obligatory sentence constituents [namely, direct objects (DOs) in transitive sentences] may also have to be available before the sentence can be processed.

SUBMITTER: Anton-Mendez I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7042407 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The Role of Verbs in Sentence Production.

Antón-Méndez Inés I

Frontiers in psychology 20200219

To investigate the role of verbs in sentence production, the experiment reported here employed a simple sentence elicitation technique based on separate elicitor images for the different sentence constituents: subject, verb, and verbal modifier. This permitted presenting them in different temporal configurations to see whether the time taken to start uttering the subject of a sentence was contingent on having access to information about the action that would determine verb selection. The results ...[more]

PMID: 32140128

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Project description:BackgroundThe application of videoconferencing to the assessment and treatment of aphasia has been rapidly increasing; however, there is a need to develop treatments targeting sentence production in persons with aphasia (PWA) that can be delivered through videoconferencing. Structural priming has received recent attention as a potential training method for PWA. We investigated the feasibility and efficacy of a collaborative structural priming task delivered via the internet, TelePriming, in facilitating sentence production in PWA and healthy adults.MethodIn Study 1, young adults (YA), older adults (OA), and PWA participated in a collaborative dialogue-like priming task through videoconferencing, taking turns with an interlocutor (experimenter) to describe transitive action pictures with the goal of finding matching pictures. We measured whether participants produced more passive sentences to describe their picture after hearing their interlocutor produce passive compared to active sentences (primes). In Study 2, we compared the data from the OA and PWA of Study 1 (TelePriming) to different groups of OA and PWA, who completed the same priming task in person.ResultsAll three groups showed robust priming effects in Study 1, producing more passive sentences to describe target pictures after hearing the experimenter produce passive versus active sentences. In Study 2, when controlling for demographic information (age, education) and aphasia severity, TelePriming resulted in larger priming effects for OA and PWA, compared to the in-person priming task. Survey results revealed that both OA and PWA experienced increased comfort and satisfaction with using technology following the task.ConclusionInteractive message-structure alignment processes remain largely intact in PWA, and the positive effects of structural priming in a collaborative communicative task are not diminished by remote delivery. The findings demonstrate the feasibility and validity of TelePriming in OA and PWA, laying experimental groundwork for future use of TelePriming in the assessment and treatment of clinical populations with limited access to face-to-face sessions.

Project description:In this event-related potential (ERP) study we reevaluate syntax-first approaches to sentence processing by implementing a novel paradigm in French that includes correct sentences, pure syntactic category violations, lexical-semantic anomalies, and combined anomalies. Our balanced design systematically controlled for target word (noun vs. verb) and the context immediately preceding it. Group results from 36 native speakers of Quebec French revealed that, up to 300 ms, ERPs elicited by syntactic category violations were comparable with ERP responses to correct sentences, showing that there is no early activation reflecting syntactic category identification. Instead, in response to all anomalous conditions, we observed an N400 followed by a P600. Combined anomalies yielded additive effects of syntactic category and lexical-semantic anomalies on the N400, and a large P600 effect similar to the one observed in the pure syntactic condition. These results provide strong evidence against the hypothesis that (i) syntactic categories are processed first, and (ii) that syntactic category errors "block" lexical-semantic processing. Further, the N400 effect in response to pure syntactic category violations reflects a mismatch detection between a predicted word-stem and the actual target. This mechanism takes place simultaneously (and potentially in parallel) with lexical-semantic processing. In contrast, an interaction of syntax and semantics for the P600 reveals that the same neurocognitive resources are recruited for syntactic and semantic integration, both promoted by the implementation of an acceptability judgement task in our design. Additional analyses of individual data complemented these observations: during sentence processing, participants did not rely on one single cognitive mechanism reflected by either the N400 or the P600 effect but on both, suggesting that the biphasic N400-P600 ERP wave can indeed be considered to be an index of phrase-structure violations in most individuals, at least if they are realized on content words.

Project description:Functional neuroimaging and lesion-symptom mapping investigations implicate a left frontal-temporal-parietal network for sentence processing. The majority of studies have focused on sentence comprehension, with fewer in the domain of sentence production, which have not fully elucidated overlapping and/or unique brain structures associated with the two domains, particularly for sentences with noncanonical word order. Using voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM) we examined the relationship between lesions within the left hemisphere language network and both sentence comprehension and production of simple and complex syntactic structures in 76 participants with chronic stroke-induced aphasia. Results revealed shared regions across domains in the anterior and posterior superior temporal gyri (aSTG, pSTG), and the temporal pole (adjusted for verb production/comprehension). Additionally, comprehension was associated with lesions in the anterior and posterior middle temporal gyri (aMTG, pMTG), the MTG temporooccipital regions, SMG/AG, central and parietal operculum, and the insula. Subsequent VLSM analyses (production versus comprehension) revealed critical regions associated with each domain: anterior temporal lesions were associated with production; posterior temporo-parietal lesions were associated with comprehension, implicating important roles for regions within the ventral and dorsal stream processing routes, respectively. Processing of syntactically complex, noncanonical (adjusted for canonical), sentences was associated with damage to the pSTG across domains, with additional damage to the pMTG and IPL associated with impaired sentence comprehension, suggesting that the pSTG is crucial for computing noncanonical sentences across domains and that the pMTG, and IPL are necessary for re-analysis of thematic roles as required for resolution of long-distance dependencies. These findings converge with previous studies and extend our knowledge of the neural mechanisms of sentence comprehension to production, highlighting critical regions associated with both domains, and further address the mechanism engaged for syntactic computation, controlled for the contribution of verb processing.

Dataset Information

The Role of Verbs in Sentence Production.

Publications

The Role of Verbs in Sentence Production.

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