TY - JOUR
T1 - Early sensitivity of left perisylvian cortex to relationality in nouns and verbs
AU - Williams, Adina
AU - Reddigari, Samir
AU - Pylkkänen, Liina
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the National Science Foundation grant BCS-1221723 (L. Pylkk?nen) and grant G1001 from the NYUAD Institute, New York University Abu Dhabi (L. Pylkk?nen).
PY - 2017/6/1
Y1 - 2017/6/1
N2 - The ability to track the relationality of concepts, i.e., their capacity to encode a relationship between entities, is one of the core semantic abilities humans possess. In language processing, we systematically leverage this ability when computing verbal argument structure, in order to link participants to the events they participate in. Previous work has converged on a large region of left posterior perisylvian cortex as a locus for such processing, but the wide range of experimental stimuli and manipulations has yielded an unclear picture of the region's exact role(s). Importantly, there is a tendency for effects of relationality in single-word studies to localize to posterior temporo-parietal cortex, while argument structure effects in sentences appear in left superior temporal cortex. To characterize these sensitivities, we designed two MEG experiments that cross the factors relationality and eventivity. The first used minimal noun phrases and tested for an effect of semantic composition, while the second employed full sentences and a manipulation of grammatical category. The former identified a region of the left inferior parietal lobe sensitive to relationality, but not eventivity or combination, beginning at 170 ms. The latter revealed a similarly-timed effect of relationality in left mid-superior temporal cortex, independent of eventivity and category. The results suggest that i) multiple sub-regions of perisylvian cortex are sensitive to the relationality carried by concepts even in the absence of arguments, ii) linguistic context modulates the locus of this sensitivity, consistent with prior studies, and iii) relationality information is accessed early – before 200 ms – regardless of the concept's event status or syntactic category.
AB - The ability to track the relationality of concepts, i.e., their capacity to encode a relationship between entities, is one of the core semantic abilities humans possess. In language processing, we systematically leverage this ability when computing verbal argument structure, in order to link participants to the events they participate in. Previous work has converged on a large region of left posterior perisylvian cortex as a locus for such processing, but the wide range of experimental stimuli and manipulations has yielded an unclear picture of the region's exact role(s). Importantly, there is a tendency for effects of relationality in single-word studies to localize to posterior temporo-parietal cortex, while argument structure effects in sentences appear in left superior temporal cortex. To characterize these sensitivities, we designed two MEG experiments that cross the factors relationality and eventivity. The first used minimal noun phrases and tested for an effect of semantic composition, while the second employed full sentences and a manipulation of grammatical category. The former identified a region of the left inferior parietal lobe sensitive to relationality, but not eventivity or combination, beginning at 170 ms. The latter revealed a similarly-timed effect of relationality in left mid-superior temporal cortex, independent of eventivity and category. The results suggest that i) multiple sub-regions of perisylvian cortex are sensitive to the relationality carried by concepts even in the absence of arguments, ii) linguistic context modulates the locus of this sensitivity, consistent with prior studies, and iii) relationality information is accessed early – before 200 ms – regardless of the concept's event status or syntactic category.
KW - Argument structure
KW - Grammatical category
KW - Inferior parietal lobe
KW - Magnetoencephalography
KW - Relationality
KW - Superior temporal cortex
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U2 - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.04.029
DO - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.04.029
M3 - Article
C2 - 28450204
AN - SCOPUS:85018270823
VL - 100
SP - 131
EP - 143
JO - Neuropsychologia
JF - Neuropsychologia
SN - 0028-3932
ER -