title: Brain Network Connectivity During Language Comprehension: Interacting Linguistic and Perceptual Subsystems.
abstract: The dynamic neural processes underlying spoken language comprehension require the real-time integration of general perceptual and specialized linguistic information. We recorded combined electro- and magnetoencephalographic measurements of participants listening to spoken words varying in perceptual and linguistic complexity. Combinatorial linguistic complexity processing was consistently localized to left perisylvian cortices, whereas competition-based perceptual complexity triggered distributed activity over both hemispheres. Functional connectivity showed that linguistically complex words engaged a distributed network of oscillations in the gamma band (20-60 Hz), which only partially overlapped with the network supporting perceptual analysis. Both processes enhanced cross-talk between left temporal regions and bilateral pars orbitalis (BA47). The left-lateralized synchrony between temporal regions and pars opercularis (BA44) was specific to the linguistically complex words, suggesting a specific role of left frontotemporal cross-cortical interactions in morphosyntactic computations. Synchronizations in oscillatory dynamics reveal the transient coupling of functional networks that support specific computational processes in language comprehension.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fonteneau
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Mirjana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bozic
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: William D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Marslen-Wilson
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D003344:Cortical Synchronization; D004569:Electroencephalography; D007839:Functional Laterality; D065818:Gamma Rhythm; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: MEG; gamma oscillations; morphology; speech comprehension