TY - JOUR

T1 - Objective assessment of automatic language comprehension mechanisms in the brain: Novel E/MEG paradigm

AU - Hyder, Rasha

AU - Højlund, Andreas

AU - Jensen, Mads

AU - Østergaard, Karen

AU - Shtyrov, Yury

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Society for Psychophysiological Research

PY - 2020/4

Y1 - 2020/4

N2 - Assessing the brain activity related to language comprehension is required in a range of situations. Particularly in cases when subjects’ cooperation with instructions cannot be guaranteed (e.g., in neurological patients), a protocol is needed that could be independent from attention and behavioural tasks. In this study, we aimed at designing a novel approach for neuro-magnetic recordings of brain activity which could allow for probing the neural foundations underpinning three key levels of speech comprehension: lexical, semantic and (morpho-)syntactic, without requiring active attention on speech input or any active task, whilst keeping the recording session duration as short as possible. To this end, we designed two different auditory paradigms using the same set of single word-based lexical, semantic and syntactic contrasts: a modified version of the multi-feature oddball paradigm and an equiprobable design. Combined MEG/EEG data were recorded form young, healthy participants, presented with these stimuli while watching a silent movie. Data from the equiprobable design yielded significant activations in temporal and inferior frontal areas associated with the lexical, semantic and morpho-syntactic contrasts. In turn, neural dissociations observed in the multi-feature paradigm emerged mainly in temporal cortices and were confined to the lexical and semantic conditions with a striking lack of any statistically significant effects for syntactic violations. Our findings indicate that, by employing the equiprobable design, a comprehensive range of key linguistic processes could be assessed in a passive, attention-free manner within a relatively short time (here, ~27 min), thus making this paradigm a time-efficient and patient-friendly tool.

AB - Assessing the brain activity related to language comprehension is required in a range of situations. Particularly in cases when subjects’ cooperation with instructions cannot be guaranteed (e.g., in neurological patients), a protocol is needed that could be independent from attention and behavioural tasks. In this study, we aimed at designing a novel approach for neuro-magnetic recordings of brain activity which could allow for probing the neural foundations underpinning three key levels of speech comprehension: lexical, semantic and (morpho-)syntactic, without requiring active attention on speech input or any active task, whilst keeping the recording session duration as short as possible. To this end, we designed two different auditory paradigms using the same set of single word-based lexical, semantic and syntactic contrasts: a modified version of the multi-feature oddball paradigm and an equiprobable design. Combined MEG/EEG data were recorded form young, healthy participants, presented with these stimuli while watching a silent movie. Data from the equiprobable design yielded significant activations in temporal and inferior frontal areas associated with the lexical, semantic and morpho-syntactic contrasts. In turn, neural dissociations observed in the multi-feature paradigm emerged mainly in temporal cortices and were confined to the lexical and semantic conditions with a striking lack of any statistically significant effects for syntactic violations. Our findings indicate that, by employing the equiprobable design, a comprehensive range of key linguistic processes could be assessed in a passive, attention-free manner within a relatively short time (here, ~27 min), thus making this paradigm a time-efficient and patient-friendly tool.

KW - cortex

KW - EEG

KW - lexicality

KW - MEG

KW - Morphosyntax

KW - semantics

KW - morphosyntax

UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/psyp.13543

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85079450087&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/psyp.13543

DO - 10.1111/psyp.13543

M3 - Article

VL - 57

JO - Psychophysiology

JF - Psychophysiology

SN - 0048-5772

IS - 5

M1 - e13543

ER -