Neurophysiological mechanisms of language comprehension

摘要： 在美国，语言障碍困扰着600万到800万人。语言中的一个常见症状 障碍是难以理解句子的语法结构。理解到这句话 “红灯处的车是蓝色的”指的是一辆蓝色的车，需要将“红灯处”识别为一个独特的短语 修饰前面的名词短语“the car”。有语法理解障碍的人 这方面的困难。正常人神经外科患者志愿者的颅内记录 语言功能，我们以前描述的模式，短语结构的建设，在神经活动观察 位于左侧额下回（IFG）和上级颞沟（STS）。这是假设发挥因果关系 在理解句子结构中的作用，但这种作用从未被证明过。目标1将测试 这一假设通过直接电刺激，从而暂时破坏左IFG和STS的 神经外科患者志愿者在句子中的关键短语边界，并观察这如何影响 句子理解准确性。目标2将研究神经活动与结果之间的直接联系。 每次试验的行为使用自定进度的阅读任务，同时我们直接从关键记录神经活动 语言网络网站，特别是左IFG和STS。我们将把神经活动与每个单词联系起来 反应时间，反映了每个单词的处理要求。此外，对于目标1中的实验，我们 将同时记录一个语言网络区域（IFG或STS）的活动，同时刺激另一个 区域，以展示破坏每个区域如何影响语言网络中其他地方的活动。总之， 我们期望扰乱额颞短语合并活动将可靠地产生理解错误， 这种神经活动将与短语处理的行为标记联系在一起， 颅内刺激的方式，我们可以预测的结果，刺激的行为。我们 团队是唯一有资格实现这些目标。这个建议将为我提供培训， 颅内刺激技术与同时记录人类患者志愿者进行 任务，通过正式的指导和指导加深我对理论语言学的理解， 沟通障碍，特别是失语症总之，拟议的研究和培训计划将导致 更好地理解语言障碍中的语法缺陷，从而改善治疗方法， 干预，并将扩大我作为一个神经科学家的影响，作为一个桥梁，独立的资金。

Abstract: Language disorders afflict 6 to 8 million people in the United States. One common symptom in language disorders is difficulty comprehending the grammatical structure of sentences. Understanding that the sentence “The car at the stoplight is blue” refers to a blue car requires recognizing “at the stoplight” as a distinct phrase that modifies the preceding noun phrase “the car”. People with grammatical comprehension disorders have difficulty with this. With intracranial recordings in human neurosurgical patient volunteers with normal language function we previously described the patterns of phrase-structure building in neural activity observed in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and superior temporal sulcus (STS). This is hypothesized to play a causal role in the comprehension of sentence structure, but such a role has never been demonstrated. Aim 1 will test this hypothesis by directly electrically stimulating and thus transiently disrupting the left IFG and STS of neurosurgical patient volunteers at key phrasal boundaries in a sentence and observing how this affects sentence comprehension accuracy. Aim 2 will investigate a direct link between neural activity and the resulting behavior for each trial using a self-paced reading task while we record neural activity directly from key language network sites, specifically the left IFG and STS. We will correlate neural activity with per-word reaction times, which reflect the processing requirements for each word. Also, for the experiments in Aim 1 we will simultaneously record activity from one language network area (IFG or STS) while stimulating the other area to demonstrate how disrupting each area affects activity elsewhere in the language network. Altogether, we expect that disrupting fronto-temporal phrase-merging activity will reliably create comprehension errors, and that this neural activity will be tied to behavioral markers of phrase processing and affected by the intracranial stimulation in a way that we can predict given the result that the stimulation has on behavior. Our team is uniquely qualified to accomplish these aims. This proposal will provide me with training in the technique of intracranial stimulation with simultaneous recording in human patient volunteers performing a task, in deepening my understanding of theoretical linguistics through formal instruction and mentoring, and in communication disorders, specifically aphasia. In summary, the proposed studies and training plan will lead to a better understanding of grammatical deficits in language disorders, leading to improved treatments and interventions, and will expand my impact as a neuroscientist, serving as a bridge to independent funding.