Separate influences in learning: Evidence from artificial grammar learning with traumatic brain injury patients

Pothos, Emmanuel M.; Wood, Rodger Ll.

doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2009.04.019

Cited by 22 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 44 publications

(46 reference statements)

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“…It is also of interest to note that there seems to be a considerable overlap between regions implicated in the perception/production of music and the perception/production of abstract sequences, including the left inferior frontal region (Janata & Grafton, 2003;Tillmann et al, 2006). Brain lesion data and results on specific language impairment (SLI) are consistent with these findings, suggesting that abnormal language processing are paralleled by impairment in structured sequence learning/processing (Christiansen, Kelly, Shillock, & Greenfield, 2009;Evans, Saffran, & Robe-Torres, 2009;Hoen et al, 2003;Hsu, Christiansen, Tomblin, Zhang, & Gómez, 2006;Pothos & Wood, 2009;Reali & Christiansen, 2009;Richardson, Harris, Plante, & Gerken, 2006;Uddén et al, 2008). However, there is a functional anterior-posterior gradient within the left inferior frontal region related to language (Bookheimer, 2002;Hagoort, 2005).…”

Section: Dynamic Functional Modularity and The Role Of The Left Infermentioning

confidence: 72%

What artificial grammar learning reveals about the neurobiology of syntax

2012

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a b s t r a c tIn this paper we examine the neurobiological correlates of syntax, the processing of structured sequences, by comparing FMRI results on artificial and natural language syntax. We discuss these and similar findings in the context of formal language and computability theory. We used a simple right-linear unification grammar in an implicit artificial grammar learning paradigm in 32 healthy Dutch university students (natural language FMRI data were already acquired for these participants). We predicted that artificial syntax processing would engage the left inferior frontal region (BA 44/45) and that this activation would overlap with syntax-related variability observed in the natural language experiment. The main findings of this study show that the left inferior frontal region centered on BA 44/45 is active during artificial syntax processing of well-formed (grammatical) sequence independent of local subsequence familiarity. The same region is engaged to a greater extent when a syntactic violation is present and structural unification becomes difficult or impossible. The effects related to artificial syntax in the left inferior frontal region (BA 44/45) were essentially identical when we masked these with activity related to natural syntax in the same subjects. Finally, the medial temporal lobe was deactivated during this operation, consistent with the view that implicit processing does not rely on declarative memory mechanisms that engage the medial temporal lobe. In the context of recent FMRI findings, we raise the question whether Broca's region (or subregions) is specifically related to syntactic movement operations or the processing of hierarchically nested non-adjacent dependencies in the discussion section. We conclude that this is not the case. Instead, we argue that the left inferior frontal region is a generic on-line sequence processor that unifies information from various sources in an incremental and recursive manner, independent of whether there are any processing requirements related to syntactic movement or hierarchically nested structures. In addition, we argue that the Chomsky hierarchy is not directly relevant for neurobiological systems.

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Section: Dynamic Functional Modularity and The Role Of The Left Infermentioning

confidence: 72%

What artificial grammar learning reveals about the neurobiology of syntax

2012

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“…Thus, instead of automatic leaming of abstract grammatical mies, intentional hypothesis-testing mechanisms might play a larger role. This conclusion is supported by Pothos and Wood (2009), who administered an AGL task to a sample of patients with prefrontal brain injuries. Using the COVIS (Competition between Verbal and Implicit Systems; Ashby & Maddox, 2005) model of category leaming as a conceptual framework, Pothos and Wood (2009) argued that when the effects of item similarity (e.g., chunks) are balanced across grammatical (G) and nongrammatical (NG) test stimuli, grammaticality should be based primarily on a verbal hypothesis-testing system.…”

Section: Multiple Pathways To Learning In Agl?mentioning

confidence: 78%

“…This conclusion is supported by Pothos and Wood (2009), who administered an AGL task to a sample of patients with prefrontal brain injuries. Using the COVIS (Competition between Verbal and Implicit Systems; Ashby & Maddox, 2005) model of category leaming as a conceptual framework, Pothos and Wood (2009) argued that when the effects of item similarity (e.g., chunks) are balanced across grammatical (G) and nongrammatical (NG) test stimuli, grammaticality should be based primarily on a verbal hypothesis-testing system. The results indicated that grammar knowledge, but not chunk strength knowledge, was impaired in brain-injured patients, suggesting that mle-based grammar information is acquired exclusively through intentional processing mechanisms, which rely heavily on the prefrontal lobes.…”

Section: Multiple Pathways To Learning In Agl?mentioning

confidence: 78%

Using dual-task methodology to dissociate automatic from nonautomatic processes involved in artificial grammar learning.

Hendricks

Conway

Kellogg

2013

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

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Previous studies have suggested that both automatic and intentional processes contribute to the learning of grammar and fragment knowledge in artificial grammar learning (AGL) tasks. To explore the relative contribution of automatic and intentional processes to knowledge gained in AGL, we utilized dual-task methodology to dissociate automatic and intentional grammar- and fragment-based knowledge in AGL at both acquisition and at test. Both experiments used a balanced chunk strength grammar to assure an equal proportion of fragment cues (i.e., chunks) in grammatical and nongrammatical test items. In Experiment 1, participants engaged in a working memory dual-task either during acquisition, test, or both acquisition and test. The results showed that participants performing the dual-task during acquisition learned the artificial grammar as well as the single-task group, presumably by relying on automatic learning mechanisms. A working memory dual-task at test resulted in attenuated grammar performance, suggesting a role for intentional processes for the expression of grammatical learning at test. Experiment 2 explored the importance of perceptual cues by changing letters between the acquisition and test phase; unlike Experiment 1, there was no significant learning of grammatical information for participants under dual-task conditions in Experiment 2, suggesting that intentional processing is necessary for successful acquisition and expression of grammar-based knowledge under transfer conditions. In sum, it appears that some aspects of learning in AGL are indeed relatively automatic, although the expression of grammatical information and the learning of grammatical patterns when perceptual similarity is eliminated both appear to require explicit resources.

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“…in agrammatic aphasics, predominantly with lesions in Broca's region [15,50], Broca's aphasics [50] and traumatic brain patients with prefrontal damage [51]. Moreover, the integrity of white matter fibre tracts in the LIFG is associated with AGL performance [52].…”

Section: Neuroimaging Of the Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus In Artificiamentioning

confidence: 99%

A rostro-caudal gradient of structured sequence processing in the left inferior frontal gyrus

Uddén

Bahlmann

2012

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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In this paper, we present two novel perspectives on the function of the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG). First, a structured sequence processing perspective facilitates the search for functional segregation within the LIFG and provides a way to express common aspects across cognitive domains including language, music and action. Converging evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation studies suggests that the LIFG is engaged in sequential processing in artificial grammar learning, independently of particular stimulus features of the elements (whether letters, syllables or shapes are used to build up sequences). The LIFG has been repeatedly linked to processing of artificial grammars across all different grammars tested, whether they include non-adjacent dependencies or mere adjacent dependencies. Second, we apply the sequence processing perspective to understand how the functional segregation of semantics, syntax and phonology in the LIFG can be integrated in the general organization of the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC). Recently, it was proposed that the functional organization of the lateral PFC follows a rostro-caudal gradient, such that more abstract processing in cognitive control is subserved by more rostral regions of the lateral PFC. We explore the literature from the viewpoint that functional segregation within the LIFG can be embedded in a general rostro-caudal abstraction gradient in the lateral PFC. If the lateral PFC follows a rostro-caudal abstraction gradient, then this predicts that the LIFG follows the same principles, but this prediction has not yet been tested or explored in the LIFG literature. Integration might provide further insights into the functional architecture of the LIFG and the lateral PFC.

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Separate influences in learning: Evidence from artificial grammar learning with traumatic brain injury patients

Cited by 22 publications

References 44 publications

What artificial grammar learning reveals about the neurobiology of syntax

What artificial grammar learning reveals about the neurobiology of syntax

Using dual-task methodology to dissociate automatic from nonautomatic processes involved in artificial grammar learning.

A rostro-caudal gradient of structured sequence processing in the left inferior frontal gyrus

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