TY - JOUR
T1 - Switching Language Modes
T2 - Complementary Brain Patterns for Formulaic and Propositional Language
AU - Sidtis, John J.
AU - Van Lancker Sidtis, Diana
AU - Dhawan, Vijay
AU - Eidelberg, David
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders (R01 DC 007658), part of the National Institutes of Health. The assistance of Phoebe Spetsieris, and the PET imaging team at the Feinstein Institute, and Michele Burgevin, Vanessa Monser-rat, and the members of the Brain and Behavior Laboratory and the Discovery Science Project at the Nathan Kline Institute is gratefully appreciated.
Publisher Copyright:
© John J. Sidtis et al. 2018.
PY - 2018/4
Y1 - 2018/4
N2 - Language has been modeled as a rule governed behavior for generating an unlimited number of novel utterances using phonological, syntactic, and lexical processes. This view of language as essentially propositional is expanding as a contributory role of formulaic expressions (e.g., you know, have a nice day, how are you?) is increasingly recognized. The basic features of the functional anatomy of this language system have been described by studies of brain damage: left lateralization for propositional language and greater right lateralization and basal ganglia involvement for formulaic expressions. Positron emission tomography (PET) studies of cerebral blood flow (CBF) have established a cortical-subcortical pattern of brain activity predictive of syllable rate during phonological/lexical repetition. The same analytic approach was applied to analyzing brain images obtained during spontaneous monologues. Sixteen normal, right-handed, native English speakers underwent PET scanning during several language tasks. Speech rate for the repetition of phonological/lexical items was predicted by increased CBF in the left inferior frontal region and decreased CBF in the head of the right caudate nucleus, replicating previous results. A complementary cortical-subcortical pattern (CBF increased in the right inferior frontal region and decreased in the left caudate) was predictive of the use of speech formulas during monologue speech. The use of propositional language during the monologues was associated with strong left lateralization (increased CBF at the left inferior frontal region and decreased CBF at the right inferior frontal region). Normal communication involves the integration of two language modes, formulaic and novel, that have different neural substrates.
AB - Language has been modeled as a rule governed behavior for generating an unlimited number of novel utterances using phonological, syntactic, and lexical processes. This view of language as essentially propositional is expanding as a contributory role of formulaic expressions (e.g., you know, have a nice day, how are you?) is increasingly recognized. The basic features of the functional anatomy of this language system have been described by studies of brain damage: left lateralization for propositional language and greater right lateralization and basal ganglia involvement for formulaic expressions. Positron emission tomography (PET) studies of cerebral blood flow (CBF) have established a cortical-subcortical pattern of brain activity predictive of syllable rate during phonological/lexical repetition. The same analytic approach was applied to analyzing brain images obtained during spontaneous monologues. Sixteen normal, right-handed, native English speakers underwent PET scanning during several language tasks. Speech rate for the repetition of phonological/lexical items was predicted by increased CBF in the left inferior frontal region and decreased CBF in the head of the right caudate nucleus, replicating previous results. A complementary cortical-subcortical pattern (CBF increased in the right inferior frontal region and decreased in the left caudate) was predictive of the use of speech formulas during monologue speech. The use of propositional language during the monologues was associated with strong left lateralization (increased CBF at the left inferior frontal region and decreased CBF at the right inferior frontal region). Normal communication involves the integration of two language modes, formulaic and novel, that have different neural substrates.
KW - basal ganglia
KW - language
KW - laterality
KW - performance-based analysis
KW - positron emission tomography
KW - speech formulas
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85046021452&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85046021452&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1089/brain.2017.0573
DO - 10.1089/brain.2017.0573
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85046021452
VL - 8
SP - 189
EP - 196
JO - Brain Connectivity
JF - Brain Connectivity
SN - 2158-0014
IS - 3
ER -