title: Reconciling time, space and function: a new dorsal-ventral stream model of sentence comprehension.
abstract: We present a new dorsal-ventral stream framework for language comprehension which unifies basic neurobiological assumptions (Rauschecker & Scott, 2009) with a cross-linguistic neurocognitive sentence comprehension model (eADM; Bornkessel & Schlesewsky, 2006). The dissociation between (time-dependent) syntactic structure-building and (time-independent) sentence interpretation assumed within the eADM provides a basis for the division of labour between the dorsal and ventral streams in comprehension. We posit that the ventral stream performs time-independent unifications of conceptual schemata, serving to create auditory objects of increasing complexity. The dorsal stream engages in the time-dependent combination of elements, subserving both syntactic structuring and a linkage to action. Furthermore, frontal regions accomplish general aspects of cognitive control in the service of action planning and execution rather than linguistic processing. This architecture is supported by a range of existing empirical findings and helps to resolve a number of theoretical and empirical puzzles within the existing dorsal-ventral streams literature.
authors: Department of Germanic Linguistics, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany. iboke@staff.uni-marburg.de
authors: Ina
authors: I
authors: Bornkessel-Schlesewsky
authors: Matthias
authors: M
authors: Schlesewsky
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D013995:Time