The neural processes that underlie your ability to read and understand this sentence are unknown. Sentence comprehension occurs very rapidly, and can only be understood at a mechanistic level by discovering the precise sequence of underlying computational and neural events. However, we have no continuous and online neural measure of sentence processing with high spatial and temporal resolution. Here we report just such a measure: intracranial recordings from the surface of the human brain show that neural activity, indexed by γ-power, increases monotonically over the course of a sentence as people read it. This steady increase in activity is absent when people read and remember nonword-lists, despite the higher cognitive demand entailed, ruling out accounts in terms of generic attention, working memory, and cognitive load. Response increases are lower for sentence structure without meaning ("Jabberwocky" sentences) and word meaning without sentence structure (word-lists), showing that this effect is not explained by responses to syntax or word meaning alone. Instead, the full effect is found only for sentences, implicating compositional processes of sentence understanding, a striking and unique feature of human language not shared with animal communication systems. This work opens up new avenues for investigating the sequence of neural events that underlie the construction of linguistic meaning.ow does a sequence of sounds emerging from one person's mouth create a complex meaning in another person's mind? Although we have long known where language is processed in the brain (1-3), we still know almost nothing about how neural circuits extract and represent the meaning of a sentence. A powerful method for addressing this question is intracranial recording of neural activity directly from the cortical surface in neurosurgery patients (i.e., electrocorticography or ECoG) (4, 5). Although opportunities for ECoG data collection are rare, determined by clinical-not scientific-priorities, they nonetheless offer an unparalleled combination of spatial and temporal resolution, and further provide direct measures of actual neural activity, rather than indirect measures via blood flow (as in PET, fMRI, and near infrared spectroscopy/optical imaging). ECoG data are particularly valuable for the study of uniquely human functions like language, where animal models are inadequate. Here we used ECoG to identify the neural events that occur online as the meaning of a sentence is extracted and represented.Prior intracranial recording studies of language have largely focused on speech perception and production (e.g., refs. 6-11) and word-level processes (e.g., refs. 12-26). However, the most distinctive feature of human language is its compositionality: the ability to create and understand complex meanings from novel combinations of words structured into phrases and sentences (27). As a first step toward understanding the neural basis of sentence comprehension, we recorded intracranial responses while participants read sentences and...

A set of brain regions in the frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes supports high-level linguistic processing. These regions can be reliably identified in individual subjects using fMRI, by contrasting neural responses to meaningful and structured language stimuli vs. stimuli matched for low-level properties but lacking meaning and/or structure. We here present a novel version of a language 'localizer,' which should be suitable for diverse populations including children and/or clinical populations who may have difficulty with reading or cognitively demanding tasks. In particular, we contrast responses to auditorily presented excerpts from engaging interviews or stories, and acoustically degraded versions of these materials. This language localizer is appealing because it uses (a) naturalistic and engaging linguistic materials, (b) auditory presentation,

We analyze the multi-frequency behavior of the quasar 3C 454.3 during three prominent γ -ray outbursts: 2009 Autumn, 2010 Spring, and 2010 Autumn. The data reveal a repeating pattern, including a triple flare structure, in the properties of each γ -ray outburst, which implies similar mechanism(s) and location for all three events. The multi-frequency behavior indicates that the lower frequency events are co-spatial with the γ -ray outbursts, although the γ -ray emission varies on the shortest timescales. We determine that the variability from UV to IR wavelengths during an outburst results from a single synchrotron component whose properties do not change significantly over the different outbursts. Despite a general increase in the degree of optical linear polarization during an outburst, the polarization drops significantly at the peak of the γ -ray event, which suggests that both shocks and turbulent processes are involved. We detect two disturbances (knots) with superluminal apparent speeds in the parsec-scale jet associated with the outbursts in 2009 Autumn and 2010 Autumn. The kinematic properties of the knots can explain the difference in amplitudes of the γ -ray events, while their millimeterwave polarization is related to the optical polarization during the outbursts. We interpret the multi-frequency behavior within models involving either a system of standing conical shocks or magnetic reconnection events located in the parsec-scale millimeter-wave core of the jet. We argue that γ -ray outbursts with variability timescales as short as ∼3 hr can occur on parsec scales if flares take place in localized regions such as turbulent cells.

Classical models have traditionally focused on the left posterior inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area) as a key region for motor planning of speech production. However, converging evidence suggests that it is not critical for either speech motor planning or execution. Alternative cortical areas supporting high-level speech motor planning have yet to be defined. In this review, we focus on the precentral gyrus, whose role in speech production is often thought to be limited to lower-level articulatory muscle control. In particular, we highlight neurosurgical investigations that have shed light on a cortical region anatomically located near the midpoint of the precentral gyrus, hence called the middle precentral gyrus (midPrCG). The midPrCG is functionally located between dorsal hand and ventral orofacial cortical representations and exhibits unique sensorimotor and multisensory functions relevant for speech processing. This includes motor control of the larynx, auditory processing, as well as a role in reading and writing. Furthermore, direct electrical stimulation of midPrCG can evoke complex movements, such as vocalization, and selective injury can cause deficits in verbal fluency, such as pure apraxia of speech. Based on these findings, we propose that midPrCG is essential to phonological-motoric aspects of speech production, especially syllabic-level speech sequencing, a role traditionally ascribed to Broca's area. The midPrCG is a cortical brain area that should be included in contemporary models of speech production with a unique role in speech motor planning and execution.