Journal
CORTEX
Volume 65, Issue -, Pages 113-127Publisher
ELSEVIER MASSON, CORP OFF
DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.01.004
Keywords
Semantic composition; Angular gyrus; Anterior temporal cortex; fMRI; Functional connectivity
Funding
- Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) [PSI2012-32350]
- Department of Education, Universities and Research from the Basque Government [PI2012-15, PI2012-74]
- MINECO [PSI2012-32093, PSI2012-32123, PSI2012-31448]
- European Research Council [ERC-2011-ADG-295362]
- Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Science [CSD2008-00048]
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The human semantic combinatorial system allows us to create a wide number of new meanings from a finite number of existing representations. The present study investigates the neural dynamics underlying the semantic processing of different conceptual constructions based on predictions from previous neuroanatomical models of the semantic processing network. In two experiments, participants read sentences for comprehension containing noun-adjective pairs in three different conditions: prototypical (Redundant), nonsense (Anomalous) and low-typical but composable (Contrastive). In Experiment 1 we examined the processing costs associated to reading these sentences and found a processing dissociation between Anomalous and Contrastive word pairs, compared to prototypical (Redundant) stimuli. In Experiment 2, functional connectivity results showed strong co-activation across conditions between inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and posterior middle temporal gyrus (MTG), as well as between these two regions and middle frontal gyrus (MFG), anterior temporal cortex (ATC) and fusifonn gyrus (FG), consistent with previous neuroanatomical models. Importantly, processing of low-typical (but composable) meanings relative to prototypical and anomalous constructions was associated with a stronger positive coupling between ATC and angular gyrus (AG). Our results underscore the critical role of IFG-MTG co-activation during semantic processing and how other relevant nodes within the semantic processing network come into play to handle visual-orthographic information, to maintain multiple lexical-semantic representations in working memory and to combine existing representations while creatively constructing meaning. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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