Processing linguistic complexity and grammaticality in the left frontal cortex.
We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to directly compare the hemodynamic responses associated with varying degrees of linguistic complexity with those engendered by the processing of ungrammatical utterances. We demonstrate a dissociation within the left inferior frontal cortex between the deep frontal operculum, which responds to syntactic violations, and a core region of Broca's area, that is, the inferior portion of the left pars opercularis in Brodmann area 44, the activation of which is modulated as a function of the complexity of well-formed sentences. The data demonstrate that different brain regions in the prefrontal cortex support distinct mechanisms in the mapping from a linguistic form onto meaning, thereby separating ungrammaticality from linguistic complexity.
Friederici
Angela D
AD
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany. angelafr@cbs.mpg.de
Fiebach
Christian J
CJ
Schlesewsky
Matthias
M
Bornkessel
Ina D
ID
von Cramon
D Yves
DY
D000328:Adult; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008037:Linguistics; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012660:Semantics; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*