Where syntax meets math: right intraparietal sulcus activation in response to grammatical number agreement violations.
Previous research has shown that the processing of words referring to actions activated motor areas. Here, we show activation of the right intraparietal sulcus, an area that has been associated with quantity processing, when participants are asked to read pairs of words with number agreement violations as opposed to phrases with gender agreement violations or with no violation. In addition, we show activation in the left premotor and left inferior frontal areas when either gender or number agreement is violated. We argue that number violation automatically activates processes linked to quantity processing which are not directly related to language mechanisms.
Carreiras
Manuel
M
Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. m.carreiras@bcbl.eu
Carr
Lindsay
L
Barber
Horacio A
HA
Hernandez
Arturo
A
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D055815:Young Adult