The role of the ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex in idiom comprehension: An rTMS study

Häuser, Katja; Titone, Debra; Baum, Shari R.

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.09.003

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 106 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In the case of ambiguity, both meanings have to be kept in memory until a disambiguation process is performed, which seems to be implemented in the brain in a bilateral network including inferior frontal and middle temporal gyri for semantic representations as well as an anterior prefrontal area for cognitive control (Papagno and Romero Lauro, 2010). While the bulk of processing idioms seems to be performed by the left hemisphere (Häuser et al, 2016), the right hemisphere seems to play a particular role for the inhibition and/or maintenance of non-salient meanings (Mashal et al, 2008) or for accessory functions such as non-language (e.g., visuospatial) semantic representations of literal and non-literal meanings (Papagno et al, 2006).…”

Section: Idiomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Margins of the Language Network in the Brain

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This review paper summarizes the various brain modules that are involved in speech and language communication in addition to a left-dominant "core" language network that, for the present purpose, has been restricted to elementary formal-linguistic and more or less disembodied functions such as abstract phonology, syntax, and very basic lexical functions. This left-dominant perisylvian language network comprises parts of inferior frontal gyrus, premotor cortex, and upper temporal lobe, and a temporoparietal interface. After introducing this network, first, the various roles of neighboring and functionally connected brain regions are discussed. As a second approach, entire additional networks were considered rather than single regions, mainly motivated by resting-state studies indicating more or less stable connectivity patterns within these networks. Thirdly, some examples are provided for language tasks with functional demands exceeding the operating domain of the core language network. The rationale behind this approach is to present some outline of how the brain produces and perceives language, accounting, first, for a bulk of clinical studies showing typical forms of aphasia in case of left-hemispheric lesions in the core language network and second, for widespread activation patterns beyond this network in various experimental studies with language tasks. Roughly, the brain resources that complement the core language system in a task-specific way can be described as a number of brain structures and networks that are related to (1) motor representations, (2) sensory-related representations, (3) non-verbal memory structures, (4) affective/emotional processing, (5) social cognition and theory of mind, (6) meaning in context, and (7) cognitive control. After taking into account all these aspects, first, it seems clear that natural language communication cannot really work without additional systems. Second, it also becomes evident that during language acquisition the core language network has to be built up from outside, that is, from various neuronal activations that are related to sensory input, motor imitation, nursing, pre-linguistic sound communication, and pre-linguistic pragmatics. Furthermore, it might be worth considering that also in cases of aphasia the language network might be restored by being trained from outside.

show abstract

Section: Idiomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Margins of the Language Network in the Brain

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For instance, the neural circuitry underlying idiom comprehension at the same time partially overlaps (in left inferior frontal gyrus) with the network associated with metaphor processing (when both are compared with literal language) and shows idiom-specific activations extending to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The involvement of prefrontal cortices attested by fMRI (e.g., Romero Lauro et al, 2008; and evidence reviewed in Bohrn et al, 2012) and trans-cranial magnetic stimulation (TMS; e.g., Häuser, Titone, & Baum, 2016; Rizzo, Sandrini, & Papagno, 2007) studies points to a crucial role of cognitive control mechanisms in idioms comprehension. As Häuser et al (2016) argued, the conflict between literal and figurative meanings may require controlled mechanisms to select among competing representations.…”

Section: Processing Idioms: Compositionality and Other Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The involvement of prefrontal cortices attested by fMRI (e.g., Romero Lauro et al, 2008; and evidence reviewed in Bohrn et al, 2012) and trans-cranial magnetic stimulation (TMS; e.g., Häuser, Titone, & Baum, 2016; Rizzo, Sandrini, & Papagno, 2007) studies points to a crucial role of cognitive control mechanisms in idioms comprehension. As Häuser et al (2016) argued, the conflict between literal and figurative meanings may require controlled mechanisms to select among competing representations.…”

Section: Processing Idioms: Compositionality and Other Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Basic composition and enriched integration in idiom processing: An EEG study.

Canal¹,

Pesciarelli²,

Vespignani³

et al. 2017

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We investigated the extent to which the literal meanings of the words forming literally-plausible idioms (e.g., break the ice) are semantically composed, and how the idiomatic meaning is integrated in the unfolding sentence representation. Participants read ambiguous idiom strings embedded in highly predictable, literal and idiomatic contexts, while their EEG was recorded. Control sentences only contained the idiom-final word whose cloze values were as high as in literal and idiomatic contexts. Event Related Potentials data showed that differences in the amplitude of a Frontal positivity (PNP) emerged at the beginning and at the end of the idiom strings, with the Idiomatic context condition associated with more positive voltages. The Time-Frequency analysis of the EEG showed an increase in power of the middle gamma frequency band only in the Literal context condition. These findings suggest that sentence revision mechanisms, associated with the frontal PNP, are involved in idiom meaning integration, and that the literal semantic composition of the idiomatic constituents, associated with changes in gamma frequency, is not carried out after idiom recognition

show abstract

“…Similarly, it has been found that novel metaphors tend to be associated with a greater processing cost than more familiar or conventional metaphors (Blasko & Briihl, 1997;Blasko & Connine, 1993;Bowdle & Gentner, 2005;Columbus et al, 2015;Gentner & Wolff, 1997;Jones & Estes, 2005;Lai & Curran, 2013;Lai, Curran, & Menn, 2009), and that frontal brain regions associated with more effortful semantic processing are recruited in novel metaphor processing (Mashal, Faust, Hendler, & Jung-Beeman, 2007;Rutter, Kröger, Stark, et al, 2012), and novel idiom processing (Häuser, Titone, & Baum, 2016).…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

When is literal meaning inhibited? Evidence from nonsense in the metaphor-induced lexical forgetting paradigm.

George¹,

Wiley²

2019

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A common feature of metaphoric language processing is a conflict between literal and figurative aspects of meaning. A consequence of this is the need to select the most appropriate meaning among competing associates when we encounter such phrases. The goal of the present experiments was to adapt the "impossible" retrieval approach of previous retrieval-induced and problem-solving-induced forgetting (RIF; PSIF) studies to test for the use of inhibitory mechanisms during metaphor comprehension. To achieve this goal, a series of 3 studies assessed forgetting following the processing of nonsense metaphors that were unlikely to lead to viable interpretations within a short period of time (Jealousy is a barn). In the first 2 experiments, processing nonsense metaphors led to reduced recall for previously studied literal associates. In a 3rd study, processing nonsense metaphors led to longer recognition latencies for literal associates on a cue-independent task. In contrast, no evidence of forgetting was seen because of the processing of familiar metaphors in any study. Because participants are unlikely to reach a viable interpretation of these nonsense metaphors, and because results were similar using recall and cue-independent recognition measures, these results provide novel support for an inhibitory account for this forgetting effect over a blocking or cue-based interference account. (PsycINFO Database Record

show abstract

The role of the ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex in idiom comprehension: An rTMS study

Cited by 9 publications

References 106 publications

The Margins of the Language Network in the Brain

The Margins of the Language Network in the Brain

Basic composition and enriched integration in idiom processing: An EEG study.

When is literal meaning inhibited? Evidence from nonsense in the metaphor-induced lexical forgetting paradigm.

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About