FUNCTIONAL NEUROIMAGING STUDIES OF SYNTACTIC PROCESSING

本研究的目的是利用功能神经成像技术探讨句子理解中句法加工的功能神经解剖学。 拟议的研究集中在三个问题上：1。与处理不同句法结构相关的血流模式是什么？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、句子处理能力和双语能力等认知变量而不同？我们将采用事件相关功能磁共振成像研究句法加工。 我们将进行一系列的实验，考察被试对不同句法结构的加工。 我们将调查从文献中出现的具体假设，并从我们自己的工作在本赠款周期。1.在惯用右手的熟练语言使用者中，句法处理会激活左半球的大脑外侧裂周联合皮层，不同的操作会激活该区域的不同区域。2.与处理特定句法结构相关的rCBF模式将作为利手的函数而不同，而不是年龄或性别。3.与处理特定句法结构相关的rCBF模式将作为句子处理能力的函数而不同，但不是在两种语言的平衡双语者中或作为工作记忆容量的函数。这项研究将增加我们对句子理解中句法处理的神经基础的了解，将目前的数据库扩展到以前未研究的句法操作和人群。

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.