title: Localizing components of a complex task: sentence processing and working memory.
abstract: Three areas of the left hemisphere play different roles in sentence comprehension. An area of posterior middle and superior temporal gyrus shows activation correlated with the structural complexity of a sentence, suggesting that this area supports processing of sentence structure. The lateral anterior temporal gyrus is more activated bilaterally by all sentence conditions than by word lists; thus the function of the area probably does not directly support processing of structure but rather processing of words specific to a sentence context. Left inferior frontal cortex also shows activation related to sentence complexity but is also more activated in word list processing than in simple sentences; this region may thus support a form of verbal working memory which maintains sentence structural information as well as lexical items.
authors.affiliation: Department of Linguistics, Graduate School for Behavioral and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Stowe
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Broere
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Paans
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Wijers
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mulder
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Vaalburg
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zwarts
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011932:Reading; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D014936:Word Association Tests