Syntactic Processing in the Human Brain: Coordinated Event Related Potentials and Functional Magnetic Imaging Research Paradigm

Grzegorz Dogil

Universität Stuttgart
Institut für maschinelle Sprachverarbeitung

Montag, 26.11.2001, 16 Uhr c.t., H 8
The various types of functional neuroimaging methods are based on two quite different types of modalities:

These two major types of imaging have been successfully used in the study of neuronal processes correlated with the perception and production of language and speech. Some of the more dramatic results from the fMRI correlates of speech will be provided at the beginning of the talk. However, the results concerning the core areas of language processing, mainly syntax, have been much less streamlined and much less easy to interpret. In particular, the two major methods of imaging (hemodynamic and electrophysiological) seem to point to conflicting and even irresolvable interpretations. An often used argument is that the results of these two neuroimaging methods cannot be compared because these two methods have fundamentally different characteristics, the most prominent of which are concerned with temporal resolution and the ammount and kind of spatial information each provides.

In the talk I will attempt to sketch an experimental paradigm in which the results of both neuroimaging methods may be combined in the interpretation of the results of neurocognitive experiments on language processing. In particular, I will argue that the correlation between hemodynamic fMRI signals and electrophysiologically registered brain oscillations opens new perspectives for looking at the representation of syntax in the human brain.

Literature:
Dogil, G. et al (2002)
The Speaking Brain. Journal of Neurolinguistics 15, 1: 59-90.
Röhm, D. et al (2001)
The role of theta and alpha ascillations for language comprehension in the human electroencephalogram. Neuroscience Letters 310: 137-140.
Weiss, S. and Rappelsberger, P. (2000)
Long-range EEG synchronization during word encoding correlates with successful memory performance. Cognitive Brain Research 9: 299-312.

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Wartung durch: Anke Weinberger (2001-11-21).