Facilitated Lexical Ambiguity Processing by Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over the Left Inferior Frontal Cortex

Ihara, Atsushi; Mimura, Takanori; Soshi, Takahiro; Yorifuji, Shiro; Hirata, Masayuki; Goto, Tetsu; Yoshinime, Toshiki; Umehara, Hiroaki; Fujimaki, Norio

doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00703

Cited by 16 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…A more causal link between the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and this selection process of contextual semantic representations of polysemous words has been provided by patient studies showing that it is impaired when a focal brain lesion affects this precise area ( Hagoort, 1993 ; Swaab et al 2003 ). Recently, a trans-cranial direct current stimulation over this area has been reported as enhancing this contextual selection process in the case of ambiguous words ( Ihara et al , 2015 ). Interestingly, previous studies using shorter SOAs than the one we used here (<300 ms vs 500 ms in our case) also reported behavioral evidence of processing of the multiple meanings of polysemous visible words ( Swinney et al , 1979 ; Onifer and Swinney, 1981 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unconscious semantic processing of polysemous words is not automatic

Rohaut

Alario

Meadow

et al. 2016

Neuroscience of Consciousness

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Semantic processing of visually presented words can be identified both on behavioral and neurophysiological evidence. One of the major discoveries of the last decades is the demonstration that these signatures of semantic processing, initially observed for consciously perceived words, can also be detected for masked words inaccessible to conscious reports. In this context, the distinction between conscious and unconscious verbal semantic processing constitutes a challenging scientific issue. A prominent view considered that while conscious representations are subject to executive control, unconscious ones would operate automatically in a modular way, independent from control and top-down influences. Recent findings challenged this view by revealing that endogenous attention and task-setting can have a strong influence on unconscious processing. However, one of the major arguments supporting the automaticity of unconscious semantic processing still stands, stemming from a seminal observation reported by Marcel in 1980 about polysemous words. In the present study we reexamined this evidence. We present a combination of behavioral and event-related-potentials (ERPs) results that refute this view by showing that the current conscious semantic context has a major and similar influence on the semantic processing of both visible and masked polysemous words. In a classical lexical decision task, a polysemous word was preceded by a word which defined the current semantic context. Crucially, this context was associated with only one of the two meanings of the polysemous word, and was followed by a word/pseudo-word target. Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence of semantic priming of target words by masked polysemous words was strongly dependent on the conscious context. Moreover, we describe a new type of influence related to the response-code used to answer for target words in the lexical decision task: unconscious semantic priming constrained by the conscious context was present both in behavior and ERPs exclusively when right-handed subjects were instructed to respond to words with their right hand. The strong and respective influences of conscious context and response-code on semantic processing of masked polysemous words demonstrate that unconscious verbal semantic representations are not automatic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unconscious semantic processing of polysemous words is not automatic

Rohaut

Alario

Meadow

et al. 2016

Neuroscience of Consciousness

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show abstract

“…These studies attributed activation in posterior LIFG to greater processing demands in retrieval and selection of the meanings during integration with sentential context information. However, activation in this region, is also found in listening to ambiguous sentences (Rodd, Davis, & Johnsrude, 2005; Vitello, Warren, Devlin, & Rodd, 2014), reading syntactically ambiguous sentences (Snijders et al, 2009) and processing of ambiguous single words (Bilenko, Grindrod, Myers, & Blumstein, 2009; Ihara et al, 2015; Newman & Joanisse, 2011). This recruitment of left posterior inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in the resolution of many types of ambiguities may indicate its involvement in a more general cognitive control process within the language network (Bedny, Hulbert, & Thompson-Schill, 2007; Bedny, McGill, & Thompson-Schill, 2008; Gold, Balota, Kirchhoff, & Buckner, 2004; January, Trueswell, & Thompson-Schill, 2009; Novick, Trueswell, & Thompson-Schill, 2005; Taylor et al, 2013).…”

Section: Brain Activity Patterns In Processing Semantic Ambiguitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Phonological ambiguity modulates resolution of semantic ambiguity during reading: An fMRI study of Hebrew.

Bitan¹,

Kaftory²,

Meiri-Leib³

et al. 2017

Neuropsychology

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“…The left anterior temporal area (BA 38) is related to semantic integration [6]: The features activated as a concept unit are computed for matching or coherence [60] via an amodal neural hub [57,61]. The inferior frontal area (BA 47), on the other hand, is associated with the activation or selection of appropriate features [62][63][64][65]. The present study demonstrates that the left frontotemporal connection can be automatically activated for semantic processing without direct attention to semantic relations.…”

Section: Results Of Csd Analysismentioning

confidence: 75%

Neural Coupling between Interhemispheric and Frontoparietal Functional Connectivity during Semantic Processing

Soshi

2023

Preprint

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Interhemispheric and frontoparietal functional connectivity have been reported to increase during explicit information processing. However, it is unclear how and when interhemispheric and frontoparietal functional connectivity interact during explicit semantic processing. Here, we tested the neural coupling hypothesis that explicit semantic processing promotes neural activity in the nondominant right hemispheric areas owing to synchronization with enhanced frontoparietal functional connectivity at later processing stages. We analyzed electroencephalogram data obtained using a semantic priming paradigm, which comprised visual priming and target words successively presented under direct or indirect attention to semantic association. Scalp potential analysis demonstrated that the explicit processing of congruent targets reduced negative event-related potentials, as previously reported. Current source density analysis showed that explicit semantic processing activated the right temporal area during later temporal intervals. Sub-sequent dynamic functional connectivity analyses of current source density revealed that explicit semantic processing increased the correlation between right temporal source activities and frontoparietal functional connectivity in later temporal intervals. These findings indicate that explicit semantic processing increases neural coupling between the interhemispheric and frontoparietal functional connectivity during later stages of semantic processing.

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Facilitated Lexical Ambiguity Processing by Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over the Left Inferior Frontal Cortex

Cited by 16 publications

References 47 publications

Unconscious semantic processing of polysemous words is not automatic

Unconscious semantic processing of polysemous words is not automatic

Phonological ambiguity modulates resolution of semantic ambiguity during reading: An fMRI study of Hebrew.

Neural Coupling between Interhemispheric and Frontoparietal Functional Connectivity during Semantic Processing

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