Mikkel Wallentin | Aarhus University (original) (raw)

Papers by Mikkel Wallentin

Kristensen, Line Burholt & Wallentin, Mikkel (in press) Putting Broca’s region into context – fMRI evidence for a role in predictive language processing. In Willems, R. (ed.): Cognitive Neuroscience of Natural Language Use, Cambridge University Press.

Broca’s region is known to play a key role in speech production as well as in the processing of l... more Broca’s region is known to play a key role in speech production as well as in the processing of language
input. Still, the exact function (or functions) of Broca’s region remains highly disputed. Within the
generativist framework it has been argued that part of Broca’s region is dedicated to syntactical analysis.
Others, however, have related Broca’s region activity to more domain-general processes, e.g. working
memory load and argument hierarchy demands. We here present results that show how contextual cues
completely alter the effects of syntax in behaviour and in Broca’s region, and suggest that activation in this
area reflects general linguistic processing costs or prediction error. We review the fMRI literature in the
light of this theory.

Working memory (WM) evoked by linguistic cues for allocentric spatial and egocentric spatial aspe... more Working memory (WM) evoked by linguistic cues for allocentric spatial and egocentric spatial aspects of a visual scene was investigated by correlating fMRI BOLD signal (or “activation”) with performance on a spatial-relations task. Subjects indicated the relative positions of a person or object (referenced by the personal pronouns “he/she/it”) in a previously shown image relative to either themselves (egocentric reference frame) or shifted to a reference frame anchored in another person or object in the image (allocentric reference frame), e.g. “Was he
in front of you/her?” Good performers had both shorter response time and more correct responses than poor performers in both tasks. These behavioural variables were entered into a principal component analysis. The first component reflected generalised performance level. We found that the frontal eye fields (FEF), bilaterally, had a higher BOLD response during recall involving allocentric compared to egocentric spatial reference frames, and that this difference was larger in good performers than in poor performers as measured by the first behavioral principal component. The frontal eye fields may be used when subjects move their internal gaze during shifting reference frames in representational space. Analysis of actual eye movements in three subjects revealed no difference between egocentric and allocentric recall tasks where visual stimuli were also absent. Thus, the FEF machinery for directing eye movements may also be involved in changing reference frames within WM.

Brain and language, Jan 1, 2009

This review brings together evidence from a diverse field of methods for investigating sex differ... more This review brings together evidence from a diverse field of methods for investigating sex differences in language processing. Differences are found in certain language-related deficits, such as stuttering, dyslexia, autism and schizophrenia. Common to these is that language problems may follow from, rather than cause the deficit. Large studies have been conducted on sex differences in verbal abilities within the normal population, and a careful reading of the results suggests that differences in language proficiency do not exist. Early differences in language acquisition show a slight advantage for girls, but this gradually disappears. A difference in language lateralization of brain structure and function in adults has also been suggested, perhaps following size differences in the corpus callosum. Neither of these claims is substantiated by evidence. In addition, overall results from studies on regional grey matter distribution using voxel-based morphometry, indicate no consistent differences between males and females in language-related cortical regions. Language function in Wada tests, aphasia, and in normal ageing also fails to show sex differentiation.

Brain and language, Jan 1, 2005

Conveying complex mental scenarios is at the heart of human language. Advances in cognitive lingu... more Conveying complex mental scenarios is at the heart of human language. Advances in cognitive linguistics suggest this is mediated by an ability to activate cognitive systems involved in non-linguistic processing of spatial information. In this fMRI-study, we compare sentences with a concrete spatial meaning to sentences with an abstract meaning. Using this contrast, we demonstrate that sentence meaning involving motion in a concrete topographical context, whether linked to animate or inanimate subjects nouns, yield more activation in a bilateral posterior network, including fusiform/parahippocampal, and retrosplenial regions, and the temporaloccipital-parietal junction. These areas have previously been shown to be involved in mental navigation and spatial memory tasks. Sentences with an abstract setting activate an extended largely left-lateralised network in the anterior temporal, and inferior and superior prefrontal cortices, previously found activated by comprehension of complex semantics such as narratives. These findings support a model of language, where the understanding of spatial semantic content emerges from the recruitment of brain regions involved in non-linguistic spatial processing.

…, Jan 1, 2005

The left posterior middle temporal region, anterior to V5/MT, has been shown to be responsive bot... more The left posterior middle temporal region, anterior to V5/MT, has been shown to be responsive both to images with implied motion, to simulated motion, and to motion verbs. In this study, we investigated whether sentence context alters the response of the left posterior middle temporal region. 'Fictive motion' sentences are sentences in which an inanimate subject noun, semantically incapable of self movement, is coupled with a motion verb, yielding an apparent semantic contradiction (e.g. 'The path comes into the garden.'). However, this context yields no less activation in the left posterior middle temporal region than sentences in which the motion can be applied to the subject noun. We speculate that the left posterior middle temporal region activity in fictive motion sentences reflects the fact that the hearer applies motion to the depicted scenario by scanning it egocentrically.

Neuroimage, Jan 1, 2006

Music is experienced and understood on the basis of foreground/ background relationships created ... more Music is experienced and understood on the basis of foreground/ background relationships created between actual music and the underlying meter. In contemporary styles of music so-called polyrhythmic, structures hence create tension between a counter pulse and the main pulse. This exerts a marked influence on the listener, particularly when the experience of the original meter is maintained during the counter pulse. We here demonstrate that Brodmann area 47, an area associated with higher processing of language, is activated bilaterally when musicians tap the main pulse in a polymetric context where the music emphasizes a counter meter. This suggests that the processing of metric elements of music relies on brain areas also involved in language comprehension. We propose that BA47 is involved in general neuronal processing of temporal coherence subserving both language and music. D

Neuroreport, Jan 1, 2008

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we contrasted major and minor mode melodies controll... more Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we contrasted major and minor mode melodies controlled for liking to study the neural basis of musical mode perception. To examine the influence of the larger dissonance in minor melodies on neural activation differences, we further introduced a strongly dissonant stimulus, in the form of a chromatic scale. Minor mode melodies were evaluated as sadder than major melodies, and in comparison they caused increased activity in limbic structures, namely left parahippocampal gyrus, bilateral ventral anterior cingulate, and in left medial prefrontal cortex. Dissonance explained some, but not all, of the heightened activity in the limbic structures when listening to minor mode music.

Neuroimage, Jan 1, 2006

Language comprehension relies on processing of context. Working memory (WM) evoked by linguistic ... more Language comprehension relies on processing of context. Working memory (WM) evoked by linguistic cues for spatial and nonspatial aspects of a visual scene was investigated by correlating fMRI BOLD signal (or Factivation_) with reaction times (RTs). Subjects were asked to indicate either the relative positions or ages of people or objects (referenced by the personal pronouns ''he/she/it'') in a previously shown image. Good performers of a particular task showed shorter RTs than poor performers. Task-specific activation that is greater in good performers than poor ones is taken to indicate involvement of a given region in performance of the task. Our results indicate that dorsoposterior precuneus supports spatial WM during linguistic processing while a network of areas including the caudate support nonspatial WM in categorization of age. We argue that within-subjects variation of RTs across trials reflects effort. Good performers have higher activity in precuneus as a function of effort compared to poor performers during the spatial task, whereas the opposite is found for the nonspatial task, providing further evidence for specifically spatial WM in dorsoposterior precuneus. Task-independent performancerelated modulations of activity were found in Broca's area and amygdala. Broca's area activity increased with effort in both tasks, with a greater increase in good performers than in poor performers, consistent with the region's general role in verbal WM. By contrast, activation in amygdala decreased with effort, with a greater decrease in good performers. We take this deactivation to reflect performancemediating emotional control. These findings indicate that multiple parallel memory systems are available during language processing, appropriate for different tasks, with performance reflecting which system is selected trial-by-trial and subject-by-subject. D

Brain and language, Jan 1, 2009

Human communicational interaction can be mediated by a host of expressive means from words in a n... more Human communicational interaction can be mediated by a host of expressive means from words in a natural language to gestures and material symbols. Given the proper contextual setting even an everyday object can gain a mediating function in a communicational situation. In this study we used event-related fMRI to study the brain activity caused by everyday material objects when they are perceived as signals. We found that comprehension of material signals activates bilaterally areas of the ventral stream and pars triangularis of the inferior frontal cortex, that is, areas traditionally associated with verbal language and semantics. In addition, we found that right-hemisphere inferior frontal cortex is recruited as a function of the increasing unconventionality of communicative objects. Together these findings support an interpretation of the traditional language areas as playing a more general role across modalities in relation to communicational mediation of social semantic meaning.

Human brain …, Jan 1, 2008

The ''overlapping systems'' theory of language function argues that linguistic meaning constructi... more The ''overlapping systems'' theory of language function argues that linguistic meaning construction crucially relies on contextual information provided by ''nonlinguistic'' cognitive systems, such as perception and memory. This study examines whether linguistic processing of spatial relations established by reading sentences call on the same posterior parietal neural system involved in processing spatial relations set up through visual input. Subjects read simple sentences, which presented two agents in relation to each other, and were subsequently asked to evaluate spatial (e.g., ''Was he turned towards her?'') and equally concrete nonspatial content (e.g., ''Was he older than her?''). We found that recall of the spatial content relative to the nonspatial content resulted in higher BOLD response in a dorsoposterior network of brain regions, most significantly in precuneus, strikingly overlapping a network previously shown to be involved in recall of spatial aspects of images depicting similar scenarios. This supports a neurocognitive model of language function, where sentences establish meaning by interacting with the perceptual and working memory networks of the brain. Hum Brain Mapp 29:524-532, 2008. V V C 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. in Wiley InterScience (www. interscience.wiley.com). V V C 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. r Human Brain Mapping 29:524-532 (2008) r r Precuneus Processes Space Created by Language r r 525 r r Precuneus Processes Space Created by Language r r 529 r Average number of words: 3 Average number of syllables: 4.9 r Wallentin et al. r r 532 r

… Resonance Materials in …, Jan 1, 2006

High sensitivity to magnetic susceptibility changes and accurate localization of functional activ... more High sensitivity to magnetic susceptibility changes and accurate localization of functional activations are key requisites for pulse sequences used for BOLD fMRI. This paper seeks to develop a framework for analysing the performance of various k-space sampling techniques in this respect, with special emphasis on spiral EPI (spiral) and cartesian EPI (EPI) and their performance under influence of induced field gradients (SFGs) and stochastic noise. A numerical method for calculating synthetic MR images is developed and used to simulate BOLD fMRI experiments using EPI and spirals. The data is then examined for activation using a pixel-wise t test. Nine subjects are scanned with both techniques while performing a motor task. SPM99 is used for analysing the experimental data. The simulated spirals provide generally higher t scores at low SFGs but lose more strength than EPI at higher SFGs, where EPI activation is offset from the true position. In the primary motor area spirals provide significantly higher t scores (P < 0.0002). In-plane variation of EPI is higher in phase-encoding direction than in frequency-encoding direction (P < 0.003). In the low SFG areas spirals provide stronger activation than EPI and less spatial variability. Thus, spirals are recommended for fMRI in motor area and language areas.

Neuropsychologia, Jan 1, 2008

Working memory (WM) evoked by linguistic cues for allocentric spatial and egocentric spatial aspe... more Working memory (WM) evoked by linguistic cues for allocentric spatial and egocentric spatial aspects of a visual scene was investigated by correlating fMRI BOLD signal (or "activation") with performance on a spatial-relations task. Subjects indicated the relative positions of a person or object (referenced by the personal pronouns "he/she/it") in a previously shown image relative to either themselves (egocentric reference frame) or shifted to a reference frame anchored in another person or object in the image (allocentric reference frame), e.g. "Was he in front of you/her?" Good performers had both shorter response time and more correct responses than poor performers in both tasks. These behavioural variables were entered into a principal component analysis. The first component reflected generalised performance level. We found that the frontal eye fields (FEF), bilaterally, had a higher BOLD response during recall involving allocentric compared to egocentric spatial reference frames, and that this difference was larger in good performers than in poor performers as measured by the first behavioural principal component. The frontal eye fields may be used when subjects move their internal gaze during shifting reference frames in representational space. Analysis of actual eye movements in three subjects revealed no difference between egocentric and allocentric recall tasks where visual stimuli were also absent. Thus, the FEF machinery for directing eye movements may also be involved in changing reference frames within WM.

Neuropsychologia, Jan 1, 2010

This experiment tests how people produce and detect deception while playing a computerized versio... more This experiment tests how people produce and detect deception while playing a computerized version of the dice game, Meyer. Deception is an integral part of this game, and the participants played it as in real life, without constraints on whether or when to attempt to deceive their opponent, and whether or when to accuse them of deception. We stress that deception is a complex act that cannot be exclusively associated with telling a falsehood, and that it is facilitated by hierarchical decision-making and risk evaluation. In comparison with a non-competitive control condition, both claiming truthfully and claiming falsely were associated with activity in fronto-polar cortex (BA10). However, relative to true claims, false claims were associated with greater activity in the premotor and parietal cortices. We speculate that the activity in BA10 is associated with the development of high-level executive strategies involved in both types of claim, while the premotor and parietal activity is associated with the need to select which particular claim to make.

Mind & …, Jan 1, 2010

What is the role of language in social interaction? What does language bring to social encounters... more What is the role of language in social interaction? What does language bring to social encounters? We argue that language can be conceived of as a tool for interacting minds, enabling especially effective and flexible forms of social coordination, perspective-taking and joint action. In a review of evidence from a broad range of disciplines, we pursue elaborations of the language-as-a-tool metaphor, exploring four ways in which language is employed in facilitation of social interaction. We argue that language dramatically extends the possibility-space for interaction, facilitates the profiling and navigation of joint attentional scenes, enables the sharing of situation models and action plans, and mediates the cultural shaping of interacting minds.

Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Jan 1, 2008

Abstract: It is widely assumed that human learning and the structure of human languages are intim... more Abstract: It is widely assumed that human learning and the structure of human languages are intimately related. This relationship is frequently suggested to derive from a language-specific biological endowment, which encodes universal, but communicatively arbitrary, principles ...

Proceeding of the seventh …, Jan 1, 2009

ABSTRACT Nearly all neuroimaging studies of creative behavior investigate verbal associations. Th... more ABSTRACT Nearly all neuroimaging studies of creative behavior investigate verbal associations. These studies find an involvement of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). In contrast, two recent studies of pianists found the right DLPFC to be linked ...

Brain and …, Jan 1, 2011

A primary focus within neuroimaging research on language comprehension is on the distribution of ... more A primary focus within neuroimaging research on language comprehension is on the distribution of semantic knowledge in the brain. Studies have shown that the left posterior middle temporal gyrus (LPMT), a region just anterior to area MT/V5, is important for the processing of complex action knowledge. It has also been found that motion verbs cause activation in LPMT. In this experiment we investigated whether this effect could be replicated in a setting resembling real life language comprehension, i.e. without any overt behavioral task during passive listening to a story. During fMRI participants listened to a recording of the story ''The Ugly Duckling''. We incorporated a nuisance elimination regression approach for factoring out known nuisance variables both in terms of physiological noise, sound intensity, linguistic variables and emotional content. Compared to the remaining text, clauses containing motion verbs were accompanied by a robust activation of LPMT with no other significant effects, consistent with the hypothesis that this brain region is important for processing motion knowledge, even during naturalistic language comprehension conditions.

Neuroscience …, Jan 1, 2011

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Learning and Individual …, Jan 1, 2010

Learning and Individual …, Jan 1, 2010

This paper reports results from three experiments using the Musical Ear Test (MET), a new test de... more This paper reports results from three experiments using the Musical Ear Test (MET), a new test designed for measuring musical abilities in both musicians and non-musicians in an objective way with a relatively short duration (b 20 min.). In the first experiment we show how the MET is capable of clearly distinguishing between a group of professional musicians and a group of non-musicians. In the second experiment we demonstrate that results from the MET are strongly correlated with measures of musical expertise obtained using an imitation test. In the third experiment we show that the MET also clearly distinguishes groups of non-musicians, amateurs and professional musicians. The test is found to have a large internal consistency (Cronbach alpha: 0.87). We further show a correlation with amount of practice within the group of professionals as well as a correlation with a forward digit span test.

Kristensen, Line Burholt & Wallentin, Mikkel (in press) Putting Broca’s region into context – fMRI evidence for a role in predictive language processing. In Willems, R. (ed.): Cognitive Neuroscience of Natural Language Use, Cambridge University Press.

Broca’s region is known to play a key role in speech production as well as in the processing of l... more Broca’s region is known to play a key role in speech production as well as in the processing of language
input. Still, the exact function (or functions) of Broca’s region remains highly disputed. Within the
generativist framework it has been argued that part of Broca’s region is dedicated to syntactical analysis.
Others, however, have related Broca’s region activity to more domain-general processes, e.g. working
memory load and argument hierarchy demands. We here present results that show how contextual cues
completely alter the effects of syntax in behaviour and in Broca’s region, and suggest that activation in this
area reflects general linguistic processing costs or prediction error. We review the fMRI literature in the
light of this theory.

Working memory (WM) evoked by linguistic cues for allocentric spatial and egocentric spatial aspe... more Working memory (WM) evoked by linguistic cues for allocentric spatial and egocentric spatial aspects of a visual scene was investigated by correlating fMRI BOLD signal (or “activation”) with performance on a spatial-relations task. Subjects indicated the relative positions of a person or object (referenced by the personal pronouns “he/she/it”) in a previously shown image relative to either themselves (egocentric reference frame) or shifted to a reference frame anchored in another person or object in the image (allocentric reference frame), e.g. “Was he
in front of you/her?” Good performers had both shorter response time and more correct responses than poor performers in both tasks. These behavioural variables were entered into a principal component analysis. The first component reflected generalised performance level. We found that the frontal eye fields (FEF), bilaterally, had a higher BOLD response during recall involving allocentric compared to egocentric spatial reference frames, and that this difference was larger in good performers than in poor performers as measured by the first behavioral principal component. The frontal eye fields may be used when subjects move their internal gaze during shifting reference frames in representational space. Analysis of actual eye movements in three subjects revealed no difference between egocentric and allocentric recall tasks where visual stimuli were also absent. Thus, the FEF machinery for directing eye movements may also be involved in changing reference frames within WM.

Brain and language, Jan 1, 2009

This review brings together evidence from a diverse field of methods for investigating sex differ... more This review brings together evidence from a diverse field of methods for investigating sex differences in language processing. Differences are found in certain language-related deficits, such as stuttering, dyslexia, autism and schizophrenia. Common to these is that language problems may follow from, rather than cause the deficit. Large studies have been conducted on sex differences in verbal abilities within the normal population, and a careful reading of the results suggests that differences in language proficiency do not exist. Early differences in language acquisition show a slight advantage for girls, but this gradually disappears. A difference in language lateralization of brain structure and function in adults has also been suggested, perhaps following size differences in the corpus callosum. Neither of these claims is substantiated by evidence. In addition, overall results from studies on regional grey matter distribution using voxel-based morphometry, indicate no consistent differences between males and females in language-related cortical regions. Language function in Wada tests, aphasia, and in normal ageing also fails to show sex differentiation.

Brain and language, Jan 1, 2005

Conveying complex mental scenarios is at the heart of human language. Advances in cognitive lingu... more Conveying complex mental scenarios is at the heart of human language. Advances in cognitive linguistics suggest this is mediated by an ability to activate cognitive systems involved in non-linguistic processing of spatial information. In this fMRI-study, we compare sentences with a concrete spatial meaning to sentences with an abstract meaning. Using this contrast, we demonstrate that sentence meaning involving motion in a concrete topographical context, whether linked to animate or inanimate subjects nouns, yield more activation in a bilateral posterior network, including fusiform/parahippocampal, and retrosplenial regions, and the temporaloccipital-parietal junction. These areas have previously been shown to be involved in mental navigation and spatial memory tasks. Sentences with an abstract setting activate an extended largely left-lateralised network in the anterior temporal, and inferior and superior prefrontal cortices, previously found activated by comprehension of complex semantics such as narratives. These findings support a model of language, where the understanding of spatial semantic content emerges from the recruitment of brain regions involved in non-linguistic spatial processing.

…, Jan 1, 2005

The left posterior middle temporal region, anterior to V5/MT, has been shown to be responsive bot... more The left posterior middle temporal region, anterior to V5/MT, has been shown to be responsive both to images with implied motion, to simulated motion, and to motion verbs. In this study, we investigated whether sentence context alters the response of the left posterior middle temporal region. 'Fictive motion' sentences are sentences in which an inanimate subject noun, semantically incapable of self movement, is coupled with a motion verb, yielding an apparent semantic contradiction (e.g. 'The path comes into the garden.'). However, this context yields no less activation in the left posterior middle temporal region than sentences in which the motion can be applied to the subject noun. We speculate that the left posterior middle temporal region activity in fictive motion sentences reflects the fact that the hearer applies motion to the depicted scenario by scanning it egocentrically.

Neuroimage, Jan 1, 2006

Music is experienced and understood on the basis of foreground/ background relationships created ... more Music is experienced and understood on the basis of foreground/ background relationships created between actual music and the underlying meter. In contemporary styles of music so-called polyrhythmic, structures hence create tension between a counter pulse and the main pulse. This exerts a marked influence on the listener, particularly when the experience of the original meter is maintained during the counter pulse. We here demonstrate that Brodmann area 47, an area associated with higher processing of language, is activated bilaterally when musicians tap the main pulse in a polymetric context where the music emphasizes a counter meter. This suggests that the processing of metric elements of music relies on brain areas also involved in language comprehension. We propose that BA47 is involved in general neuronal processing of temporal coherence subserving both language and music. D

Neuroreport, Jan 1, 2008

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we contrasted major and minor mode melodies controll... more Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we contrasted major and minor mode melodies controlled for liking to study the neural basis of musical mode perception. To examine the influence of the larger dissonance in minor melodies on neural activation differences, we further introduced a strongly dissonant stimulus, in the form of a chromatic scale. Minor mode melodies were evaluated as sadder than major melodies, and in comparison they caused increased activity in limbic structures, namely left parahippocampal gyrus, bilateral ventral anterior cingulate, and in left medial prefrontal cortex. Dissonance explained some, but not all, of the heightened activity in the limbic structures when listening to minor mode music.

Neuroimage, Jan 1, 2006

Language comprehension relies on processing of context. Working memory (WM) evoked by linguistic ... more Language comprehension relies on processing of context. Working memory (WM) evoked by linguistic cues for spatial and nonspatial aspects of a visual scene was investigated by correlating fMRI BOLD signal (or Factivation_) with reaction times (RTs). Subjects were asked to indicate either the relative positions or ages of people or objects (referenced by the personal pronouns ''he/she/it'') in a previously shown image. Good performers of a particular task showed shorter RTs than poor performers. Task-specific activation that is greater in good performers than poor ones is taken to indicate involvement of a given region in performance of the task. Our results indicate that dorsoposterior precuneus supports spatial WM during linguistic processing while a network of areas including the caudate support nonspatial WM in categorization of age. We argue that within-subjects variation of RTs across trials reflects effort. Good performers have higher activity in precuneus as a function of effort compared to poor performers during the spatial task, whereas the opposite is found for the nonspatial task, providing further evidence for specifically spatial WM in dorsoposterior precuneus. Task-independent performancerelated modulations of activity were found in Broca's area and amygdala. Broca's area activity increased with effort in both tasks, with a greater increase in good performers than in poor performers, consistent with the region's general role in verbal WM. By contrast, activation in amygdala decreased with effort, with a greater decrease in good performers. We take this deactivation to reflect performancemediating emotional control. These findings indicate that multiple parallel memory systems are available during language processing, appropriate for different tasks, with performance reflecting which system is selected trial-by-trial and subject-by-subject. D

Brain and language, Jan 1, 2009

Human communicational interaction can be mediated by a host of expressive means from words in a n... more Human communicational interaction can be mediated by a host of expressive means from words in a natural language to gestures and material symbols. Given the proper contextual setting even an everyday object can gain a mediating function in a communicational situation. In this study we used event-related fMRI to study the brain activity caused by everyday material objects when they are perceived as signals. We found that comprehension of material signals activates bilaterally areas of the ventral stream and pars triangularis of the inferior frontal cortex, that is, areas traditionally associated with verbal language and semantics. In addition, we found that right-hemisphere inferior frontal cortex is recruited as a function of the increasing unconventionality of communicative objects. Together these findings support an interpretation of the traditional language areas as playing a more general role across modalities in relation to communicational mediation of social semantic meaning.

Human brain …, Jan 1, 2008

The ''overlapping systems'' theory of language function argues that linguistic meaning constructi... more The ''overlapping systems'' theory of language function argues that linguistic meaning construction crucially relies on contextual information provided by ''nonlinguistic'' cognitive systems, such as perception and memory. This study examines whether linguistic processing of spatial relations established by reading sentences call on the same posterior parietal neural system involved in processing spatial relations set up through visual input. Subjects read simple sentences, which presented two agents in relation to each other, and were subsequently asked to evaluate spatial (e.g., ''Was he turned towards her?'') and equally concrete nonspatial content (e.g., ''Was he older than her?''). We found that recall of the spatial content relative to the nonspatial content resulted in higher BOLD response in a dorsoposterior network of brain regions, most significantly in precuneus, strikingly overlapping a network previously shown to be involved in recall of spatial aspects of images depicting similar scenarios. This supports a neurocognitive model of language function, where sentences establish meaning by interacting with the perceptual and working memory networks of the brain. Hum Brain Mapp 29:524-532, 2008. V V C 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. in Wiley InterScience (www. interscience.wiley.com). V V C 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. r Human Brain Mapping 29:524-532 (2008) r r Precuneus Processes Space Created by Language r r 525 r r Precuneus Processes Space Created by Language r r 529 r Average number of words: 3 Average number of syllables: 4.9 r Wallentin et al. r r 532 r

… Resonance Materials in …, Jan 1, 2006

High sensitivity to magnetic susceptibility changes and accurate localization of functional activ... more High sensitivity to magnetic susceptibility changes and accurate localization of functional activations are key requisites for pulse sequences used for BOLD fMRI. This paper seeks to develop a framework for analysing the performance of various k-space sampling techniques in this respect, with special emphasis on spiral EPI (spiral) and cartesian EPI (EPI) and their performance under influence of induced field gradients (SFGs) and stochastic noise. A numerical method for calculating synthetic MR images is developed and used to simulate BOLD fMRI experiments using EPI and spirals. The data is then examined for activation using a pixel-wise t test. Nine subjects are scanned with both techniques while performing a motor task. SPM99 is used for analysing the experimental data. The simulated spirals provide generally higher t scores at low SFGs but lose more strength than EPI at higher SFGs, where EPI activation is offset from the true position. In the primary motor area spirals provide significantly higher t scores (P < 0.0002). In-plane variation of EPI is higher in phase-encoding direction than in frequency-encoding direction (P < 0.003). In the low SFG areas spirals provide stronger activation than EPI and less spatial variability. Thus, spirals are recommended for fMRI in motor area and language areas.

Neuropsychologia, Jan 1, 2008

Working memory (WM) evoked by linguistic cues for allocentric spatial and egocentric spatial aspe... more Working memory (WM) evoked by linguistic cues for allocentric spatial and egocentric spatial aspects of a visual scene was investigated by correlating fMRI BOLD signal (or "activation") with performance on a spatial-relations task. Subjects indicated the relative positions of a person or object (referenced by the personal pronouns "he/she/it") in a previously shown image relative to either themselves (egocentric reference frame) or shifted to a reference frame anchored in another person or object in the image (allocentric reference frame), e.g. "Was he in front of you/her?" Good performers had both shorter response time and more correct responses than poor performers in both tasks. These behavioural variables were entered into a principal component analysis. The first component reflected generalised performance level. We found that the frontal eye fields (FEF), bilaterally, had a higher BOLD response during recall involving allocentric compared to egocentric spatial reference frames, and that this difference was larger in good performers than in poor performers as measured by the first behavioural principal component. The frontal eye fields may be used when subjects move their internal gaze during shifting reference frames in representational space. Analysis of actual eye movements in three subjects revealed no difference between egocentric and allocentric recall tasks where visual stimuli were also absent. Thus, the FEF machinery for directing eye movements may also be involved in changing reference frames within WM.

Neuropsychologia, Jan 1, 2010

This experiment tests how people produce and detect deception while playing a computerized versio... more This experiment tests how people produce and detect deception while playing a computerized version of the dice game, Meyer. Deception is an integral part of this game, and the participants played it as in real life, without constraints on whether or when to attempt to deceive their opponent, and whether or when to accuse them of deception. We stress that deception is a complex act that cannot be exclusively associated with telling a falsehood, and that it is facilitated by hierarchical decision-making and risk evaluation. In comparison with a non-competitive control condition, both claiming truthfully and claiming falsely were associated with activity in fronto-polar cortex (BA10). However, relative to true claims, false claims were associated with greater activity in the premotor and parietal cortices. We speculate that the activity in BA10 is associated with the development of high-level executive strategies involved in both types of claim, while the premotor and parietal activity is associated with the need to select which particular claim to make.

Mind & …, Jan 1, 2010

What is the role of language in social interaction? What does language bring to social encounters... more What is the role of language in social interaction? What does language bring to social encounters? We argue that language can be conceived of as a tool for interacting minds, enabling especially effective and flexible forms of social coordination, perspective-taking and joint action. In a review of evidence from a broad range of disciplines, we pursue elaborations of the language-as-a-tool metaphor, exploring four ways in which language is employed in facilitation of social interaction. We argue that language dramatically extends the possibility-space for interaction, facilitates the profiling and navigation of joint attentional scenes, enables the sharing of situation models and action plans, and mediates the cultural shaping of interacting minds.

Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Jan 1, 2008

Abstract: It is widely assumed that human learning and the structure of human languages are intim... more Abstract: It is widely assumed that human learning and the structure of human languages are intimately related. This relationship is frequently suggested to derive from a language-specific biological endowment, which encodes universal, but communicatively arbitrary, principles ...

Proceeding of the seventh …, Jan 1, 2009

ABSTRACT Nearly all neuroimaging studies of creative behavior investigate verbal associations. Th... more ABSTRACT Nearly all neuroimaging studies of creative behavior investigate verbal associations. These studies find an involvement of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). In contrast, two recent studies of pianists found the right DLPFC to be linked ...

Brain and …, Jan 1, 2011

A primary focus within neuroimaging research on language comprehension is on the distribution of ... more A primary focus within neuroimaging research on language comprehension is on the distribution of semantic knowledge in the brain. Studies have shown that the left posterior middle temporal gyrus (LPMT), a region just anterior to area MT/V5, is important for the processing of complex action knowledge. It has also been found that motion verbs cause activation in LPMT. In this experiment we investigated whether this effect could be replicated in a setting resembling real life language comprehension, i.e. without any overt behavioral task during passive listening to a story. During fMRI participants listened to a recording of the story ''The Ugly Duckling''. We incorporated a nuisance elimination regression approach for factoring out known nuisance variables both in terms of physiological noise, sound intensity, linguistic variables and emotional content. Compared to the remaining text, clauses containing motion verbs were accompanied by a robust activation of LPMT with no other significant effects, consistent with the hypothesis that this brain region is important for processing motion knowledge, even during naturalistic language comprehension conditions.

Neuroscience …, Jan 1, 2011

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Learning and Individual …, Jan 1, 2010

Learning and Individual …, Jan 1, 2010

This paper reports results from three experiments using the Musical Ear Test (MET), a new test de... more This paper reports results from three experiments using the Musical Ear Test (MET), a new test designed for measuring musical abilities in both musicians and non-musicians in an objective way with a relatively short duration (b 20 min.). In the first experiment we show how the MET is capable of clearly distinguishing between a group of professional musicians and a group of non-musicians. In the second experiment we demonstrate that results from the MET are strongly correlated with measures of musical expertise obtained using an imitation test. In the third experiment we show that the MET also clearly distinguishes groups of non-musicians, amateurs and professional musicians. The test is found to have a large internal consistency (Cronbach alpha: 0.87). We further show a correlation with amount of practice within the group of professionals as well as a correlation with a forward digit span test.