FUNCTIONAL NEUROIMAGING STUDIES OF SYNTACTIC PROCESSING

本研究的目的是利用功能神经成像研究句子理解中句法加工的功能神经解剖学。建议的研究主要集中在三个问题上：1。在处理不同的句法结构时，血流的模式是什么？2. 这些模式是否因年龄、性别和惯用手等生物变量而有所不同？3. 这些模式是否因工作记忆容量、句子处理熟练程度和双语能力等认知变量而有所不同？我们将采用的方法是使用事件相关功能磁共振成像来研究句法处理。我们将开展一系列实验，考察受试者对不同句法结构的加工。我们将在当前的拨款周期中调查从文献和我们自己的工作中出现的具体假设。1. 在右撇子、熟练的语言使用者中，句法处理将激活左半球的外围关联皮层，不同的操作激活该区域的不同区域。2. 与处理特定语法结构相关的rCBF模式会因惯用手而异，但与年龄或性别无关。3. 与处理特定句法结构相关的rCBF模式会因句子处理熟练程度而有所不同，但在双语平衡者和工作记忆容量的两种语言中没有差异。本研究将增加我们对句子理解中句法处理的神经基础的认识，将现有数据库扩展到以前未研究的句法操作和群体。

The goal of the proposed studies is to investigate the functional neuroanatomy of syntactic processing in sentence comprehension using functional neuroimaging. The proposed studies focus on three questions: 1. What are the patterns of blood flow associated with processing different syntactic structures? 2. Do these patterns differ as a function of the biological variables of age, sex and handedness? 3. Do these patterns differ as a function of the cognitive variables of working memory capacity, sentence processing proficiency, and bilingualism? The approach we will take to these questions is to study syntactic processing using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. We will carry out a series of experiments in which subjects' processing of different syntactic structures is examined. We will investigate specific hypotheses that emerge from the literature and from our own work in the present grant cycle. 1. In right-handed, proficient language users, syntactic processing will activate left hemisphere perisylvian association cortex, with different operations activating different areas within this region. 2. Patterns of rCBF associated with processing specific syntactic structures will differ as a function of handedness but not age or sex. 3. Patterns of rCBF associated with processing specific syntactic structures will differ as a function of sentence processing proficiency, but not in the two languages of balanced bilinguals or as a function of working memory capacity. The proposed research will increase our knowledge of the neural basis of syntactic processing in sentence comprehension, extending the current database to previously unstudied syntactic operations and populations.