Mechanism of case processing in the brain: an fMRI study.

In sentence comprehension research, the case system, which is one of the subsystems of the language processing system, has been assumed to play a crucial role in signifying relationships in sentences between noun phrases (NPs) and other elements, such as verbs, prepositions, nouns, and tense. Howeve...

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Main Authors: Satoru Yokoyama, Hideki Maki, Yosuke Hashimoto, Masahiko Toma, Ryuta Kawashima
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3395705?pdf=render
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author Satoru Yokoyama
Hideki Maki
Yosuke Hashimoto
Masahiko Toma
Ryuta Kawashima
author_facet Satoru Yokoyama
Hideki Maki
Yosuke Hashimoto
Masahiko Toma
Ryuta Kawashima
author_sort Satoru Yokoyama
collection DOAJ
description In sentence comprehension research, the case system, which is one of the subsystems of the language processing system, has been assumed to play a crucial role in signifying relationships in sentences between noun phrases (NPs) and other elements, such as verbs, prepositions, nouns, and tense. However, so far, less attention has been paid to the question of how cases are processed in our brain. To this end, the current study used fMRI and scanned the brain activity of 15 native English speakers during an English-case processing task. The results showed that, while the processing of all cases activates the left inferior frontal gyrus and posterior part of the middle temporal gyrus, genitive case processing activates these two regions more than nominative and accusative case processing. Since the effect of the difference in behavioral performance among these three cases is excluded from brain activation data, the observed different brain activations would be due to the different processing patterns among the cases, indicating that cases are processed differently in our brains. The different brain activations between genitive case processing and nominative/accusative case processing may be due to the difference in structural complexity between them.
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spelling doaj.art-084f31699f97405daf8d41d042edcfa42022-12-22T00:09:45ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-0177e4047410.1371/journal.pone.0040474Mechanism of case processing in the brain: an fMRI study.Satoru YokoyamaHideki MakiYosuke HashimotoMasahiko TomaRyuta KawashimaIn sentence comprehension research, the case system, which is one of the subsystems of the language processing system, has been assumed to play a crucial role in signifying relationships in sentences between noun phrases (NPs) and other elements, such as verbs, prepositions, nouns, and tense. However, so far, less attention has been paid to the question of how cases are processed in our brain. To this end, the current study used fMRI and scanned the brain activity of 15 native English speakers during an English-case processing task. The results showed that, while the processing of all cases activates the left inferior frontal gyrus and posterior part of the middle temporal gyrus, genitive case processing activates these two regions more than nominative and accusative case processing. Since the effect of the difference in behavioral performance among these three cases is excluded from brain activation data, the observed different brain activations would be due to the different processing patterns among the cases, indicating that cases are processed differently in our brains. The different brain activations between genitive case processing and nominative/accusative case processing may be due to the difference in structural complexity between them.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3395705?pdf=render
spellingShingle Satoru Yokoyama
Hideki Maki
Yosuke Hashimoto
Masahiko Toma
Ryuta Kawashima
Mechanism of case processing in the brain: an fMRI study.
PLoS ONE
title Mechanism of case processing in the brain: an fMRI study.
title_full Mechanism of case processing in the brain: an fMRI study.
title_fullStr Mechanism of case processing in the brain: an fMRI study.
title_full_unstemmed Mechanism of case processing in the brain: an fMRI study.
title_short Mechanism of case processing in the brain: an fMRI study.
title_sort mechanism of case processing in the brain an fmri study
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3395705?pdf=render
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