Specialization in the left prefrontal cortex for sentence comprehension |
| |
Authors: | Hashimoto Ryuichiro Sakai Kuniyoshi L |
| |
Institution: | Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Komaba, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan. |
| |
Abstract: | Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined cortical activation under syntactic decision tasks and a short-term memory task for sentences, focusing on essential properties of syntactic processing. By comparing activation in these tasks with a short-term memory task for word lists, we found that two regions in the left prefrontal cortex showed selective activation for syntactic processing: the dorsal prefrontal cortex (DPFC) and the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Moreover, the left DPFC showed more prominent activation under the short-term memory task for sentences than that for word lists, which cannot be explained by general cognitive factors such as task difficulty and verbal short-term memory. These results support the proposal of specialized systems for sentence comprehension in the left prefrontal cortex. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 PubMed 等数据库收录! |
|