title: Beyond the language given: the neural correlates of inferring speaker meaning.
abstract: Even though language allows us to say exactly what we mean, we often use language to say things indirectly, in a way that depends on the specific communicative context. For example, we can use an apparently straightforward sentence like "It is hard to give a good presentation" to convey deeper meanings, like "Your talk was a mess!" One of the big puzzles in language science is how listeners work out what speakers really mean, which is a skill absolutely central to communication. However, most neuroimaging studies of language comprehension have focused on the arguably much simpler, context-independent process of understanding direct utterances. To examine the neural systems involved in getting at contextually constrained indirect meaning, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging as people listened to indirect replies in spoken dialog. Relative to direct control utterances, indirect replies engaged dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, right temporo-parietal junction and insula, as well as bilateral inferior frontal gyrus and right medial temporal gyrus. This suggests that listeners take the speaker's perspective on both cognitive (theory of mind) and affective (empathy-like) levels. In line with classic pragmatic theories, our results also indicate that currently popular "simulationist" accounts of language comprehension fail to explain how listeners understand the speaker's intended message.
authors: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen 6525 XD, The Netherlands, Institute of Experimental Psychology, SAS, Bratislava 813 64, Slovakia.
authors: Jana
authors: J
authors: Bašnáková
authors: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen 6525 EN, The Netherlands and.
authors: Kirsten
authors: K
authors: Weber
authors: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen 6525 XD, The Netherlands.
authors: Karl Magnus
authors: KM
authors: Petersson
authors: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen 6525 XD, The Netherlands, Utrecht Institute for Linguistics OTS, Trans 10, 3512 JK, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Jos
authors: J
authors: van Berkum
authors: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen 6525 XD, The Netherlands, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen 6525 EN, The Netherlands and.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Hagoort
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012660:Semantics; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: communication; fMRI; indirect replies; speaker meaning; theory of mind