Prefrontal Cortex: Role in Language Communication during Social Interaction

Abstract

One important question that remains open for the relationship between the brain and social behavior is whether and how prefrontal mechanisms responsible for social cognitive processes take place in language communication. Conventional studies have highlighted the role of inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in processing context-independent linguistic information in speech and discourse. However, it is unclear how the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC), and other structures (such as medial superior frontal gyrus, premotor cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, etc.) are involved when socially relevant language is encountered in real-life scenarios. Emerging neuroimaging and patient studies have suggested the association of prefrontal regions with individual differences and impairments in the comprehension of speech act, nonliteral language, or construction-based pragmatic information. By summarizing and synthesizing the most recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, this chapter aims to show how neurocognitive components underlying the social function of prefrontal cortex support pragmatic language processing, such as weighing relevant social signals, resolving ambiguities, and identifying hidden speaker meanings. The conclusion lends impact on an emerging interest in neuropragmatics and points out a promising line of research to address the mediating role of prefrontal cortex in the relation of language and social cognition.

Perceptual Attributes of Human-Like Animal Stickers as Nonverbal Cues Encoding Social Expressions in Virtual Communication

“…Inference: That person is poor). The extent to which an inference is engaged can be systematically involved in the medial prefrontal cortex [33], a region critical to decoding nonverbal meaning in social communication [34]. Consistent with previous literature, our data shows the social expressions that mark pragmatic functions were modulated by fantasy; moreover, the more imaginative to the cartoon animals, the more expressive the stickers were perceived [34].…”

“…For stickers of cartoon animals, cats were judged as cuter than other animals to express happiness 33 , and sadness 34 . Pigs and ducks were judged as less cuter than other animals to express agreement 35 , commitment 36 , grievance 37 , fun 38 .…”

Trends in Usage-Based and Pragmatic Language Processing and Learning: A Bibliometric Analysis on Psycholinguistics and Second-Language Acquisition Studies

“…The keywords that appeared at least five times among target publications in the topic of psycholinguistics and pragmatic and usage-based language processing highlighted the following related themes [Language (17), Comprehension (11), Psycholinguistics (10), Speech (8), Speakers (7), Acquisition (6), Information (5), Context (5), and Perception (5)] and methodology [Eye-movements (5) and Children (5)]. In the topic of usage-based and pragmatic language learning, the keywords that occurred at least 10 times among target publications represented the themes highlighting Second Language Acquisition (76) and L2 Acquisition (15), Bilingualism (56), Language Acquisition (23), Spanish (20), Pragmatics (17), Study Abroad (15), Language, (14), Working Memory (14), Second Language (13), English (13), Vocabulary (13), Second Language Learning (12), German (10), Interlanguage Pragmatics (10), and fMRI (10).…”

“…The co-occurrence and the bibliometric coupling analysis demonstrate that researchers are most interested in the processing of various interpersonal and socio-pragmatic functions in L1 and L2 speakers in the field of psycholinguistics, as well as factors underlying L2 acquisition from children to adults, and the impact of the cognitive and neurodevelopmental impairments in the field of second-language acquisition. One important direction is to combine the real-time neurophysiological recordings (such as eye-tracking, EEGs and fMRI) with the psycholinguistic paradigms for investigating the real-world language use to reveal the neurocognitive architecture underlying pragmatic language processing and those underlying language acquisition (e.g., [6,7] for some reviews). The use of virtual reality to create naturalistic scenarios will be a good complementary approach to test the impact of real-world social interaction on one's language processing and learning [8].…”

Adapting to Changes in Communication: The Orbitofrontal Cortex in Language and Speech Processing

“…One traditional view, which sees language processing as driven by domain-specific operations, argues that the language function is supported by the left perisylvian network, and early research on the language connectome mainly focused on the arcuate fasciculus that connects Broca’s and Wernicke’s Areas. However, recent work has shown that neural networks beyond language processing may support language and speech tasks in a broader and more communicative sense, proposing an insufficient role of traditional language networks underlying the language tasks and that domain-general networks, or neural networks serving other cognitive functions, such as executive and social functions, play crucial roles in certain language functions [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ].…”