BOLD response to motion verbs in left posterior middle temporal gyrus during story comprehension

Wallentin, Mikkel; Højlund, Andreas; Vuust, Peter; Dohn, Anders; Roepstorff, Andreas; Lund, Torben Ellegaard

doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2011.04.006

Cited by 87 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…This raises the possibility that verb selectivity in the left LTC may be driven primarily by semantic differences between action verbs and object nouns. Indeed, several studies have found that sentences referring to actions activate regions in LTC (Wallentin et al, 2011;Deen & McCarthy, 2010;Rueschemeyer, Glenberg, Kaschak, Mueller, & Friederici, 2010;Saygin, McCullough, Alac, & Emmorey, 2010;Hauk, Davis, Kherif, & Pulvermuller, 2008;Wallentin, Lund, Ostergaard, Ostergaard, & Roepstorff, 2005;Davis, Meunier, & Marslen-Wilson, 2004), including a verb-selective region in STS (Davis et al, 2004). However, a recent study investigating responses in functionally localized verb-selective LTC regions showed that these regions are not modulated by the amount of visual motion or motor activity associated with verbs, with equally selective responses to verbs such as to jump and to think (Bedny et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Independent Representations of Verbs and Actions in Left Lateral Temporal Cortex

Peelen

Romagno

Caramazza

2012

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

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Abstract■ Verbs and nouns differ not only on formal linguistic grounds but also in what they typically refer to: Verbs typically refer to actions, whereas nouns typically refer to objects. Prior neuroimaging studies have revealed that regions in the left lateral temporal cortex (LTC), including the left posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG), respond selectively to action verbs relative to object nouns. Other studies have implicated the left pMTG in action knowledge, raising the possibility that verb selectivity in LTC may primarily reflect action-specific semantic features. Here, using functional neuroimaging, we test this hypothesis. Participants performed a simple memory task on visually presented verbs and nouns that described either events (e.g., "he eats" and "the conversation") or states (e.g., "he exists" and "the value"). Verbselective regions in the left pMTG and the left STS were defined in individual participants by an independent localizer contrast between action verbs and object nouns. Both regions showed equally strong selectivity for event and state verbs relative to semantically matched nouns. The left STS responded more to states than events, whereas there was no difference between states and events in the left pMTG. Finally, whole-brain group analysis revealed that action verbs, relative to state verbs, activated a cluster in pMTG that was located posterior to the verb-selective pMTG clusters. Together, these results indicate that verb selectivity in LTC is independent of action representations. We consider other differences between verbs and nouns that may underlie verb selectivity in LTC, including the verb property of predication. ■

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Independent Representations of Verbs and Actions in Left Lateral Temporal Cortex

Peelen

Romagno

Caramazza

2012

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

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“…But they are more frequently regarded as forming a subset of the functional network thought to enable representation of the visual and somatomotor features of actions when they are perceived, performed, conceptualized, and verbally processed (Caspers et al, 2010;Kemmerer et al, 2012;Molenberghs et al, 2012;Pulvermuller, 2013;Watson et al, 2013;Rizzolatti et al, 2014;Urgesi et al, 2014;Kemmerer, 2015). This included a region of the left posterior MTG that has been associated with encoding the visual motion components of action concepts (Chen et al, 2008;Deen and McCarthy, 2010;Saygin et al, 2010;Wallentin et al, 2011;Humphreys et al, 2013;Watson et al, 2013). Interestingly, this seems to contrast with the view that the left posterior MTG represents more schematic aspects of the event structures encoded by both action and non-action verbs/sentences (Bedny et al, 2008(Bedny et al, , 2012.…”

Section: Brain Regions For Conceptualizing An Action At Different Loasmentioning

confidence: 99%

The neural basis of conceptualizing the same action at different levels of abstraction

Spunt

Kemmerer

Adolphs

2015

Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci

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People can conceptualize the same action (e.g. 'riding a bike') at different levels of abstraction (LOA), where higher LOAs specify the abstract motives that explain why the action is performed (e.g. 'getting exercise'), while lower LOAs specify the concrete steps that indicate how the action is performed (e.g. 'gripping handlebars'). Prior neuroimaging studies have shown that why and how questions about actions differentially activate two cortical networks associated with mental-state reasoning and action representation, respectively; however, it remains unknown whether this is due to the differential demands of the questions per se or to the shifts in LOA those questions produce. We conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging while participants judged pairs of action phrases that varied in LOA and that could be framed either as a why question (Why ride a bike? Get exercise.) or a how question (How to get exercise? Ride a bike.). Question framing (why vs how) had no effect on activity in regions of the two networks. Instead, these regions uniquely tracked parametric variation in LOA, both across and within trials. This suggests that the human capacity to understand actions at different LOA is based in the relative activity of two cortical networks.

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“…Furthermore, when the linguistic context is stronger, that is, when stimuli are sentences or narratives describing motion, studies have found activation of motion processing areas more proximal to MT+ (Wallentin et al, 2011;Saygin, McCullough, Alac, & Emmorey, 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

The Behavioral and Neural Effects of Language on Motion Perception

Francken

Kok

Hagoort

et al. 2015

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

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Abstract■ Perception does not function as an isolated module but is tightly linked with other cognitive functions. Several studies have demonstrated an influence of language on motion perception, but it remains debated at which level of processing this modulation takes place. Some studies argue for an interaction in perceptual areas, but it is also possible that the interaction is mediated by "language areas" that integrate linguistic and visual information. Here, we investigated whether language-perception interactions were specific to the language-dominant left hemisphere by comparing the effects of language on visual material presented in the right (RVF) and left visual fields (LVF). Furthermore, we determined the neural locus of the interaction using fMRI. Participants performed a visual motion detection task. On each trial, the visual motion stimulus was presented in either the LVF or in the RVF, preceded by a centrally presented word (e.g., "rise"). The word could be congruent, incongruent, or neutral with regard to the direction of the visual motion stimulus that was presented subsequently. Participants were faster and more accurate when the direction implied by the motion word was congruent with the direction of the visual motion stimulus. Interestingly, the speed benefit was present only for motion stimuli that were presented in the RVF. We observed a neural counterpart of the behavioral facilitation effects in the left middle temporal gyrus, an area involved in semantic processing of verbal material. Together, our results suggest that semantic information about motion retrieved in language regions may automatically modulate perceptual decisions about motion. ■

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BOLD response to motion verbs in left posterior middle temporal gyrus during story comprehension

Cited by 87 publications

References 49 publications

Independent Representations of Verbs and Actions in Left Lateral Temporal Cortex

Independent Representations of Verbs and Actions in Left Lateral Temporal Cortex

The neural basis of conceptualizing the same action at different levels of abstraction

The Behavioral and Neural Effects of Language on Motion Perception

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