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Papers by Frank Burchert
Human brain …, Jan 1, 2004
Many agrammatic aphasics have a specific syntactic comprehension deficit involving processing syn... more Many agrammatic aphasics have a specific syntactic comprehension deficit involving processing syntactic transformations. It has been proposed that this deficit is due to a dysfunction of Broca's area, an area that is thought to be critical for comprehension of complex transformed sentences. The goal of this study was to investigate the role of Broca's area in processing canonical and non-canonical sentences in healthy subjects. The sentences were presented auditorily and were controlled for task difficulty. Subjects were asked to judge the grammaticality of the sentences while their brain activity was monitored using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. Processing both kinds of sentences resulted in activation of language-related brain regions. Comparison of non-canonical and canonical sentences showed greater activation in bilateral temporal regions; a greater activation of Broca's area in processing antecedent-gap relations was not found. Moreover, the posterior part of Broca's area was conjointly activated by both sentence conditions. Broca's area is thus involved in general syntactic processing as required by grammaticality judgments and does not seem to have a specific role in processing syntactic transformations. Hum. Brain Mapp. 22:72 -81, 2004.
Journal of …, Jan 1, 2003
One of the leading neurolinguistic theories of syntactic comprehension disorders in agrammatic ap... more One of the leading neurolinguistic theories of syntactic comprehension disorders in agrammatic aphasic subjects-the Trace Deletion Hypothesis-postulates a specific impairment in processing syntactic chains, and that this function is mediated by Broca's area. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the specific involvement of Broca's area in processing syntactic traces can be verified using functional brain imaging. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while healthy subjects were asked to judge the grammaticality of visually presented sentences with and without movement of phrasal constituents. During both kinds of sentences, fMRI showed activation in language-related brain regions. Comparing both kinds of sentences did not result in differential brain activation of left frontal or temporal regions. In particular, Broca's area was similarly activated in processing both moved and nonmoved sentences. Thus, Broca's area seems to be involved in general syntactic processing as required by grammaticality judgments rather than having a specific function in transmitting syntactic relations. q
Human brain …, Jan 1, 2004
Many agrammatic aphasics have a specific syntactic comprehension deficit involving processing syn... more Many agrammatic aphasics have a specific syntactic comprehension deficit involving processing syntactic transformations. It has been proposed that this deficit is due to a dysfunction of Broca's area, an area that is thought to be critical for comprehension of complex transformed sentences. The goal of this study was to investigate the role of Broca's area in processing canonical and non-canonical sentences in healthy subjects. The sentences were presented auditorily and were controlled for task difficulty. Subjects were asked to judge the grammaticality of the sentences while their brain activity was monitored using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. Processing both kinds of sentences resulted in activation of language-related brain regions. Comparison of non-canonical and canonical sentences showed greater activation in bilateral temporal regions; a greater activation of Broca's area in processing antecedent-gap relations was not found. Moreover, the posterior part of Broca's area was conjointly activated by both sentence conditions. Broca's area is thus involved in general syntactic processing as required by grammaticality judgments and does not seem to have a specific role in processing syntactic transformations. Hum. Brain Mapp. 22:72 -81, 2004.
Journal of …, Jan 1, 2003
One of the leading neurolinguistic theories of syntactic comprehension disorders in agrammatic ap... more One of the leading neurolinguistic theories of syntactic comprehension disorders in agrammatic aphasic subjects-the Trace Deletion Hypothesis-postulates a specific impairment in processing syntactic chains, and that this function is mediated by Broca's area. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the specific involvement of Broca's area in processing syntactic traces can be verified using functional brain imaging. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while healthy subjects were asked to judge the grammaticality of visually presented sentences with and without movement of phrasal constituents. During both kinds of sentences, fMRI showed activation in language-related brain regions. Comparing both kinds of sentences did not result in differential brain activation of left frontal or temporal regions. In particular, Broca's area was similarly activated in processing both moved and nonmoved sentences. Thus, Broca's area seems to be involved in general syntactic processing as required by grammaticality judgments rather than having a specific function in transmitting syntactic relations. q