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Papers by michiru makuuchi

Research paper thumbnail of Detecting brain injury and cognitive function affecting the drawing process of patients with brain tumors – Quantitative analysis of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test –

The Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the Japanese Psychological Association, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of P141 Contribution of the motor system to McGurk effect-event-related fMRI and TMS studies

Clinical Neurophysiology, 2017

Results: We found a significant effect of conditioning TMS over PMv on the LLR amplitude, only wh... more Results: We found a significant effect of conditioning TMS over PMv on the LLR amplitude, only when TMS was delivered around 15 ms from the electrical stimulation. Conclusion: We propose that the observed interaction between TMS and peripheral nerve stimulation occurs at the cortical level. In particular, the hypothesis that we favour is that the corticofugal volley evoked by TMS on PMv interacts with the afferent volley from the median nerve at the level of M1. This protocol could provide information on cortico-cortical connectivity in alternative to dualcoil TMS methodology.

Research paper thumbnail of Broca's area supports the processing of dependent expression in sentence

NeuroImage, 2009

262 SU-PM Patients with impaired auditory comprehension activate the 'dorsal' temporo-frontal str... more 262 SU-PM Patients with impaired auditory comprehension activate the 'dorsal' temporo-frontal stream when listening to intelligible speech,

Research paper thumbnail of Pupil Dilation Reflects Emotional Arousal Via Poetic Language

Perceptual and Motor Skills

We investigated pupillary responses to the world’s shortest fixed verses, Japanese haiku as aesth... more We investigated pupillary responses to the world’s shortest fixed verses, Japanese haiku as aesthetic poetry (AP) and senryu as comic poetry (CP), in comparison with non-poetry control stimuli (NP) comprised of slogans that had the same rhythm patterns. Native Japanese speakers without literary training listened to these stimuli while we recorded their pupil diameters. We found that participants’ pupils were significantly dilated for CP compared to NP in an early time window. While AP also evoked larger dilations than NP, the latency for AP-related pupil dilation was relatively long. Thus, lay people experience quick and intense arousal in response to funny and humorous words, while aesthetic properties of words may also elicit intense but slower changes in listeners’ arousal levels, presumably because they evoke more implicit and subtle emotional effects. This study is the first to provide evidence that poetic language elicits human pupillary dilation. A better understanding of the...

Research paper thumbnail of Phosphatidylinositol-3 Kinase in Fission Yeast: A Possible Role in Stress Responses

Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, 1995

A DNA fragment coding for a part of a putative phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase was cloned from Schi... more A DNA fragment coding for a part of a putative phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase was cloned from Schizosaccharomyces pomhe by cross-hybridization with Saccharomyces cerevisiae VPS34 gene, a yeast homologue of mammalian PI-3 kinase. The clone contained an open reading frame of 797 amino acids but lacked the initiation codon, A TG. The predicted amino acid sequence was homologous to those of S. cerevisiae VPS34 and mammalian PI-3 kinase genes. Disruption of the gene resulted in extremely low levels of PI-3-P and higher levels of PI-4-P, supporting the idea that the gene codes for the PI-3 kinase of S. pomhe. The disruptants harbored large vacuoles and were sensitive to stresses such as high temperature or high concentration of monovalent and divalent cations.

Research paper thumbnail of Identifying Brain Regions Related to Word Prediction During Listening to Japanese Speech by Combining a LSTM Language Model and MEG

Recently, a neuroscientific approach has revealed that humans understand language while subconsci... more Recently, a neuroscientific approach has revealed that humans understand language while subconsciously predicting the next word from the preceding context. Most studies on human word prediction have investigated the correlations between brain activity while reading or listening to sentences on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the predictive difficulty of each word in a sentence calculated by the N-gram language model. However, because of its low temporal resolution, fMRI is not optimal for identifying the changes in brain activity that accompany language comprehension. In addition, the N-gram language model is a simple computational structure that does not account for the structure of the human brain. Furthermore, it is necessary for humans to retain information prior to the N-1 word in order to form a contextual understanding of a presented story. Therefore, in the present study, we measured brain activity using magnetoencephalography (MEG), which has a higher tempo...

Research paper thumbnail of Both parietal lobes are involved in drawing: a functional MRI study and implications for constructional apraxia

Cognitive Brain Research, 2003

In clinical studies, many researchers have reported that drawing can be disturbed by left or righ... more In clinical studies, many researchers have reported that drawing can be disturbed by left or right unilateral parietal lobe damage (constructional apraxia). There seem to be two possible predictions about the cerebral laterality for drawing. The first is that drawing requires both parietal lobes, therefore, a lesion to either side can disrupt drawing. The second is that individuals can differ in laterality: some have only right or left activations, and some have bilateral. To test these predictions, we investigated with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) the cerebral activation whilst 17 right-handed healthy subjects performed a drawing task. The experiment consisted of two conditions: (1). naming an object in a presented picture and drawing it by using right index finger (DRAWING & NAMING); (2). naming an object in a presented picture (NAMING). We considered the brain regions that had greater activity in the DRAWING&NAMING condition than in the NAMING condition were the neural substrates of drawing. Individual analysis revealed that all subjects showed parietal activation bilaterally. We interpret that the results support the first prediction that both parietal lobes are required for drawing. By calculating the laterality indices of the individual parietal activations, it was found that there were more left dominant subjects than right dominant subjects (left, 12; right, 5). The results are inconsistent with previous studies on the incidence of constructional apraxia. In addition, we found activation in regions that were not previously reported in the literature of constructional apraxia: they are the ventral premotor area and posterior part of inferior temporal sulcus.

Research paper thumbnail of Brain activation during ideomotor praxis: imitation and movements executed by verbal command

Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 2005

Background: Ideomotor apraxia is a disorder of both imitation movements and movements executed by... more Background: Ideomotor apraxia is a disorder of both imitation movements and movements executed by verbal command. Lesion studies have identified the left parietal lobe as the neural correlate for ideomotor praxis (IP), although there are opposing views. Objectives: To localise the neural substrates for IP using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Brain regions activated by both imitation and verbal command movements were tested against a simple self paced movement. Methods: Twenty two young, right handed, healthy subjects were examined. Functional and anatomical data were acquired. The experiment comprised three motor conditions (imitation, movements executed by verbal command, and finger bending/unbending) and a rest condition. All motor tasks were performed using the left hand. Eighteen drawings of left hand postures were presented for the imitation condition. Identical postures were instructed verbally for the verbal command condition. The finger bending/ unbending movement was self paced. Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal increases were compared during two kinds of IP (imitation and verbal command movements) and during finger bending/ unbending movements. Results: The depth of the posterior part of the left intraparietal sulcus and bilateral precunei were activated during both imitation and verbal command movements. The difference in BOLD signal between imitation and verbal command movements was localised in the dorsal and ventral occipital areas. BOLD signal differences for movements executed by verbal command against imitation were observed in the superior temporal areas. Conclusions: The depth of the posterior part of the left intraparietal sulcus and bilateral precunei are the neural substrates for IP.

Research paper thumbnail of Hand shape selection in pantomimed grasping: Interaction between the dorsal and the ventral visual streams and convergence on the ventral premotor area

Human Brain Mapping, 2011

In visually guided grasping, possible hand shapes are computed from the geometrical features of t... more In visually guided grasping, possible hand shapes are computed from the geometrical features of the object, while prior knowledge about the object and the goal of the action influence both the computation and the selection of the hand shape. We investigated the system dynamics of the human brain for the pantomiming of grasping with two aspects accentuated. One is object recognition, with the use of objects for daily use. The subjects mimed grasping movements appropriate for an object presented in a photograph either by precision or power grip. The other is the selection of grip hand shape. We manipulated the selection demands for the grip hand shape by having the subjects use the same or different grip type in the second presentation of the identical object. Effective connectivity analysis revealed that the increased selection demands enhance the interaction between the anterior intraparietal sulcus (AIP) and posterior inferior temporal gyrus (pITG), and drive the converging causal influences from the AIP, pITG, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to the ventral premotor area (PMv). These results suggest that the dorsal and ventral visual areas interact in the pantomiming of grasping, while the PMv integrates the neural information of different regions to select the hand posture. The present study proposes system dynamics in visually guided movement toward meaningful objects, but further research is needed to examine if the same dynamics is found also in real grasping.

Research paper thumbnail of Who was the agent? The neural correlates of reanalysis processes during sentence comprehension

Human Brain Mapping, 2011

Sentence comprehension is a complex process. Besides identifying the meaning of each word and pro... more Sentence comprehension is a complex process. Besides identifying the meaning of each word and processing the syntactic structure of a sentence, it requires the computation of thematic information, that is, information about who did what to whom. The present fMRI study investigated the neural basis for thematic reanalysis (reanalysis of the thematic roles initially assigned to noun phrases in a sentence) and its interplay with syntactic reanalysis (reanalysis of the underlying syntactic structure originally constructed for a sentence). Thematic reanalysis recruited a network consisting of Broca's area, that is, the left pars triangularis (LPT), and the left posterior superior temporal gyrus, whereas only LPT showed greater sensitivity to syntactic reanalysis. These data provide direct evidence for a functional neuroanatomical basis for two linguistically motivated reanalysis processes during sentence comprehension.

Research paper thumbnail of Is Broca's Area Crucial for Imitation?

Research paper thumbnail of Segregating the core computational faculty of human language from working memory

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2009

In contrast to simple structures in animal vocal behavior, hierarchical structures such as center... more In contrast to simple structures in animal vocal behavior, hierarchical structures such as center-embedded sentences manifest the core computational faculty of human language. Previous artificial grammar learning studies found that the left pars opercularis (LPO) subserves the processing of hierarchical structures. However, it is not clear whether this area is activated by the structural complexity per se or by the increased memory load entailed in processing hierarchical structures. To dissociate the effect of structural complexity from the effect of memory cost, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging study of German sentence processing with a 2-way factorial design tapping structural complexity (with/without hierarchical structure, i.e., center-embedding of clauses) and working memory load (long/short distance between syntactically dependent elements; i.e., subject nouns and their respective verbs). Functional imaging data revealed that the processes for structure an...

Research paper thumbnail of Cerebral Cortex doi:10.1093/cercor/bhs058 Processing Noncanonical Sentences in Broca’s Region: Reflections of Movement Distance and Type

Various noncanonical sentence constructions are derived from basic sentence structures by a phras... more Various noncanonical sentence constructions are derived from basic sentence structures by a phrase displacement called Movement. The moved phrase (filler) leaves a silent copy at the extracted position (gap) and is reactivated when the hearer/reader passes over the gap. Consequently, memory operations are assumed to occur to establish the filler--gap link. For languages that have a relatively free word order like German, a distinct linguistic operation called Scrambling is proposed. Although Movement and Scrambling are assumed to be different linguistic operations, they both involve memory prone filler--gap processes. To clarify whether filler--gap memory processes in Scrambling and Movement differ neuroanatomically, we designed a functional magnetic resonance imaging study and compared the effect of memory load parameterized by filler--gap distance in the 2 sentence types. Here, we show that processing of the 2 sentence types

Research paper thumbnail of Network dynamics of memory operations in language processing

Michiru Makuuchi1, Yosef Grodzinsky2, 3, Katrin Amunts4, 5, Andrea Santi2, Angela D. Friederici1,... more Michiru Makuuchi1, Yosef Grodzinsky2, 3, Katrin Amunts4, 5, Andrea Santi2, Angela D. Friederici1,6 1 Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences 2 Department of Linguistics, McGill University 3 Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University 4 Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University 5 INB-3, Medicine of the Research Center Juelich 6 Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, USA

Research paper thumbnail of When a sentence loses semantics: Selective involvement of a left anterior temporal subregion in semantic processing

Although the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL) has been associated with semantic processing, the ... more Although the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL) has been associated with semantic processing, the role of this region in syntactic structure building of sentences remains a subject of debate. Functional neuroimaging studies contrasting well‐formed sentences with word lists lacking syntactic structure have produced mixed results. The current functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined whether the left ATL is selectively involved in semantic processing or also plays a role in syntactic structure building by manipulating syntactic complexity and meaningfulness in a novel way. To deprive semantic/pragmatic information from a sentence, we replaced all content words with pronounceable meaningless placeholders. We conducted an experiment with a 2 × 2 factorial design with factors of SEMANTICS (natural sentences [NAT]; sentences with placeholders [SPH]) and SYNTAX (the basic Japanese Subject‐Object‐Verb [SOV] word order; a changed Object‐Subject‐Verb [OSV] word order). A main effect...

Research paper thumbnail of Graphomotor memory in Exner’s area enhances word learning in the blind

Handwriting is thought to impede vocabulary learning in sighted adults because the motor executio... more Handwriting is thought to impede vocabulary learning in sighted adults because the motor execution of writing interferes with efficient audiovisual processing during encoding. However, the motor memory of writing may facilitate adult word learning when visual sensory inputs are severely restricted. Using functional MRI, we show that late-blind participants, but not sighted participants, learned novel words by recruiting the left dorsal premotor cortex known as Exner’s writing area and its functional coupling with the left hippocampus. During later recall, the phonological and semantic contents of these words are represented in the activation patterns of the left hippocampus as well as in those of left frontotemporal language areas. These findings suggest that motor codes of handwriting help blind participants maintain word-form representations during learning and retrieval. We propose that such reliance on the motor system reflects a broad architecture of the cerebral language netwo...

Research paper thumbnail of Neural mechanisms for the processing of movement and scrambling constructions

Languages feature sentences that implement rather similar meanings through varied word orders. As... more Languages feature sentences that implement rather similar meanings through varied word orders. As the resulting representations are related, syntactic theory assumed the existence of a basic word-order, from which others are derived. Movement, an operation of central syntactic significance is assumed in order to capture such regularities (1, 2). Typically, the moved element ("filler") precedes the position from which it is extracted in the base ("gap"). In addition to standard linguistic evidence, there exists behavioral (3-5) and neurological (6-10) evidence for the filler-gap link a relation of central importance to sentence processing. Cross-linguistic differences complicate the picture. Languages like German, Japanese, and Hindi seem to allow more possible wordorders than English, for which an operation called scrambling (11) is invoked. It is similar to movement in that it maintains filler-gap relations, but is potentially different (12) as it is language sp...

Research paper thumbnail of Neural processing of degraded speech using speaker’s mouth movement

The 15th International Conference on Auditory-Visual Speech Processing

Research paper thumbnail of Mechanical Regulation Underlies Effects of Exercise on Serotonin-Induced Signaling in the Prefrontal Cortex Neurons

iScience

Mechanical forces are known to be involved in various biological processes. However, it remains u... more Mechanical forces are known to be involved in various biological processes. However, it remains unclear whether brain functions are mechanically regulated under physiological conditions. Here, we demonstrate that treadmill running and passive head motion (PHM), both of which produce mechanical impact on the head, have similar effects on the hallucinogenic 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) receptor subtype 2A (5-HT 2A) signaling in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of rodents. PHM generates interstitial fluid movement that is estimated to exert shear stress of a few pascals on cells in the PFC. Fluid shear stress of a relevant magnitude on cultured neuronal cells induces ligand-independent internalization of 5-HT 2A receptor, which is observed in mouse PFC neurons after treadmill running or PHM. Furthermore, inhibition of interstitial fluid movement by introducing polyethylene glycol hydrogel eliminates the effect of PHM on 5-HT 2A receptor signaling in the PFC. Our findings indicate that neuronal cell function can be physiologically regulated by mechanical forces in the brain.

Research paper thumbnail of Neuroimaging studies on drawing suggest a link between symbolic behavior to language: A potential hint to the Neanderthal language controversy

Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (Evolang12)

This paper is distributed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-ND license.

Research paper thumbnail of Detecting brain injury and cognitive function affecting the drawing process of patients with brain tumors – Quantitative analysis of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test –

The Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the Japanese Psychological Association, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of P141 Contribution of the motor system to McGurk effect-event-related fMRI and TMS studies

Clinical Neurophysiology, 2017

Results: We found a significant effect of conditioning TMS over PMv on the LLR amplitude, only wh... more Results: We found a significant effect of conditioning TMS over PMv on the LLR amplitude, only when TMS was delivered around 15 ms from the electrical stimulation. Conclusion: We propose that the observed interaction between TMS and peripheral nerve stimulation occurs at the cortical level. In particular, the hypothesis that we favour is that the corticofugal volley evoked by TMS on PMv interacts with the afferent volley from the median nerve at the level of M1. This protocol could provide information on cortico-cortical connectivity in alternative to dualcoil TMS methodology.

Research paper thumbnail of Broca's area supports the processing of dependent expression in sentence

NeuroImage, 2009

262 SU-PM Patients with impaired auditory comprehension activate the 'dorsal' temporo-frontal str... more 262 SU-PM Patients with impaired auditory comprehension activate the 'dorsal' temporo-frontal stream when listening to intelligible speech,

Research paper thumbnail of Pupil Dilation Reflects Emotional Arousal Via Poetic Language

Perceptual and Motor Skills

We investigated pupillary responses to the world’s shortest fixed verses, Japanese haiku as aesth... more We investigated pupillary responses to the world’s shortest fixed verses, Japanese haiku as aesthetic poetry (AP) and senryu as comic poetry (CP), in comparison with non-poetry control stimuli (NP) comprised of slogans that had the same rhythm patterns. Native Japanese speakers without literary training listened to these stimuli while we recorded their pupil diameters. We found that participants’ pupils were significantly dilated for CP compared to NP in an early time window. While AP also evoked larger dilations than NP, the latency for AP-related pupil dilation was relatively long. Thus, lay people experience quick and intense arousal in response to funny and humorous words, while aesthetic properties of words may also elicit intense but slower changes in listeners’ arousal levels, presumably because they evoke more implicit and subtle emotional effects. This study is the first to provide evidence that poetic language elicits human pupillary dilation. A better understanding of the...

Research paper thumbnail of Phosphatidylinositol-3 Kinase in Fission Yeast: A Possible Role in Stress Responses

Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, 1995

A DNA fragment coding for a part of a putative phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase was cloned from Schi... more A DNA fragment coding for a part of a putative phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase was cloned from Schizosaccharomyces pomhe by cross-hybridization with Saccharomyces cerevisiae VPS34 gene, a yeast homologue of mammalian PI-3 kinase. The clone contained an open reading frame of 797 amino acids but lacked the initiation codon, A TG. The predicted amino acid sequence was homologous to those of S. cerevisiae VPS34 and mammalian PI-3 kinase genes. Disruption of the gene resulted in extremely low levels of PI-3-P and higher levels of PI-4-P, supporting the idea that the gene codes for the PI-3 kinase of S. pomhe. The disruptants harbored large vacuoles and were sensitive to stresses such as high temperature or high concentration of monovalent and divalent cations.

Research paper thumbnail of Identifying Brain Regions Related to Word Prediction During Listening to Japanese Speech by Combining a LSTM Language Model and MEG

Recently, a neuroscientific approach has revealed that humans understand language while subconsci... more Recently, a neuroscientific approach has revealed that humans understand language while subconsciously predicting the next word from the preceding context. Most studies on human word prediction have investigated the correlations between brain activity while reading or listening to sentences on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the predictive difficulty of each word in a sentence calculated by the N-gram language model. However, because of its low temporal resolution, fMRI is not optimal for identifying the changes in brain activity that accompany language comprehension. In addition, the N-gram language model is a simple computational structure that does not account for the structure of the human brain. Furthermore, it is necessary for humans to retain information prior to the N-1 word in order to form a contextual understanding of a presented story. Therefore, in the present study, we measured brain activity using magnetoencephalography (MEG), which has a higher tempo...

Research paper thumbnail of Both parietal lobes are involved in drawing: a functional MRI study and implications for constructional apraxia

Cognitive Brain Research, 2003

In clinical studies, many researchers have reported that drawing can be disturbed by left or righ... more In clinical studies, many researchers have reported that drawing can be disturbed by left or right unilateral parietal lobe damage (constructional apraxia). There seem to be two possible predictions about the cerebral laterality for drawing. The first is that drawing requires both parietal lobes, therefore, a lesion to either side can disrupt drawing. The second is that individuals can differ in laterality: some have only right or left activations, and some have bilateral. To test these predictions, we investigated with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) the cerebral activation whilst 17 right-handed healthy subjects performed a drawing task. The experiment consisted of two conditions: (1). naming an object in a presented picture and drawing it by using right index finger (DRAWING & NAMING); (2). naming an object in a presented picture (NAMING). We considered the brain regions that had greater activity in the DRAWING&NAMING condition than in the NAMING condition were the neural substrates of drawing. Individual analysis revealed that all subjects showed parietal activation bilaterally. We interpret that the results support the first prediction that both parietal lobes are required for drawing. By calculating the laterality indices of the individual parietal activations, it was found that there were more left dominant subjects than right dominant subjects (left, 12; right, 5). The results are inconsistent with previous studies on the incidence of constructional apraxia. In addition, we found activation in regions that were not previously reported in the literature of constructional apraxia: they are the ventral premotor area and posterior part of inferior temporal sulcus.

Research paper thumbnail of Brain activation during ideomotor praxis: imitation and movements executed by verbal command

Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 2005

Background: Ideomotor apraxia is a disorder of both imitation movements and movements executed by... more Background: Ideomotor apraxia is a disorder of both imitation movements and movements executed by verbal command. Lesion studies have identified the left parietal lobe as the neural correlate for ideomotor praxis (IP), although there are opposing views. Objectives: To localise the neural substrates for IP using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Brain regions activated by both imitation and verbal command movements were tested against a simple self paced movement. Methods: Twenty two young, right handed, healthy subjects were examined. Functional and anatomical data were acquired. The experiment comprised three motor conditions (imitation, movements executed by verbal command, and finger bending/unbending) and a rest condition. All motor tasks were performed using the left hand. Eighteen drawings of left hand postures were presented for the imitation condition. Identical postures were instructed verbally for the verbal command condition. The finger bending/ unbending movement was self paced. Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal increases were compared during two kinds of IP (imitation and verbal command movements) and during finger bending/ unbending movements. Results: The depth of the posterior part of the left intraparietal sulcus and bilateral precunei were activated during both imitation and verbal command movements. The difference in BOLD signal between imitation and verbal command movements was localised in the dorsal and ventral occipital areas. BOLD signal differences for movements executed by verbal command against imitation were observed in the superior temporal areas. Conclusions: The depth of the posterior part of the left intraparietal sulcus and bilateral precunei are the neural substrates for IP.

Research paper thumbnail of Hand shape selection in pantomimed grasping: Interaction between the dorsal and the ventral visual streams and convergence on the ventral premotor area

Human Brain Mapping, 2011

In visually guided grasping, possible hand shapes are computed from the geometrical features of t... more In visually guided grasping, possible hand shapes are computed from the geometrical features of the object, while prior knowledge about the object and the goal of the action influence both the computation and the selection of the hand shape. We investigated the system dynamics of the human brain for the pantomiming of grasping with two aspects accentuated. One is object recognition, with the use of objects for daily use. The subjects mimed grasping movements appropriate for an object presented in a photograph either by precision or power grip. The other is the selection of grip hand shape. We manipulated the selection demands for the grip hand shape by having the subjects use the same or different grip type in the second presentation of the identical object. Effective connectivity analysis revealed that the increased selection demands enhance the interaction between the anterior intraparietal sulcus (AIP) and posterior inferior temporal gyrus (pITG), and drive the converging causal influences from the AIP, pITG, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to the ventral premotor area (PMv). These results suggest that the dorsal and ventral visual areas interact in the pantomiming of grasping, while the PMv integrates the neural information of different regions to select the hand posture. The present study proposes system dynamics in visually guided movement toward meaningful objects, but further research is needed to examine if the same dynamics is found also in real grasping.

Research paper thumbnail of Who was the agent? The neural correlates of reanalysis processes during sentence comprehension

Human Brain Mapping, 2011

Sentence comprehension is a complex process. Besides identifying the meaning of each word and pro... more Sentence comprehension is a complex process. Besides identifying the meaning of each word and processing the syntactic structure of a sentence, it requires the computation of thematic information, that is, information about who did what to whom. The present fMRI study investigated the neural basis for thematic reanalysis (reanalysis of the thematic roles initially assigned to noun phrases in a sentence) and its interplay with syntactic reanalysis (reanalysis of the underlying syntactic structure originally constructed for a sentence). Thematic reanalysis recruited a network consisting of Broca's area, that is, the left pars triangularis (LPT), and the left posterior superior temporal gyrus, whereas only LPT showed greater sensitivity to syntactic reanalysis. These data provide direct evidence for a functional neuroanatomical basis for two linguistically motivated reanalysis processes during sentence comprehension.

Research paper thumbnail of Is Broca's Area Crucial for Imitation?

Research paper thumbnail of Segregating the core computational faculty of human language from working memory

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2009

In contrast to simple structures in animal vocal behavior, hierarchical structures such as center... more In contrast to simple structures in animal vocal behavior, hierarchical structures such as center-embedded sentences manifest the core computational faculty of human language. Previous artificial grammar learning studies found that the left pars opercularis (LPO) subserves the processing of hierarchical structures. However, it is not clear whether this area is activated by the structural complexity per se or by the increased memory load entailed in processing hierarchical structures. To dissociate the effect of structural complexity from the effect of memory cost, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging study of German sentence processing with a 2-way factorial design tapping structural complexity (with/without hierarchical structure, i.e., center-embedding of clauses) and working memory load (long/short distance between syntactically dependent elements; i.e., subject nouns and their respective verbs). Functional imaging data revealed that the processes for structure an...

Research paper thumbnail of Cerebral Cortex doi:10.1093/cercor/bhs058 Processing Noncanonical Sentences in Broca’s Region: Reflections of Movement Distance and Type

Various noncanonical sentence constructions are derived from basic sentence structures by a phras... more Various noncanonical sentence constructions are derived from basic sentence structures by a phrase displacement called Movement. The moved phrase (filler) leaves a silent copy at the extracted position (gap) and is reactivated when the hearer/reader passes over the gap. Consequently, memory operations are assumed to occur to establish the filler--gap link. For languages that have a relatively free word order like German, a distinct linguistic operation called Scrambling is proposed. Although Movement and Scrambling are assumed to be different linguistic operations, they both involve memory prone filler--gap processes. To clarify whether filler--gap memory processes in Scrambling and Movement differ neuroanatomically, we designed a functional magnetic resonance imaging study and compared the effect of memory load parameterized by filler--gap distance in the 2 sentence types. Here, we show that processing of the 2 sentence types

Research paper thumbnail of Network dynamics of memory operations in language processing

Michiru Makuuchi1, Yosef Grodzinsky2, 3, Katrin Amunts4, 5, Andrea Santi2, Angela D. Friederici1,... more Michiru Makuuchi1, Yosef Grodzinsky2, 3, Katrin Amunts4, 5, Andrea Santi2, Angela D. Friederici1,6 1 Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences 2 Department of Linguistics, McGill University 3 Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University 4 Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University 5 INB-3, Medicine of the Research Center Juelich 6 Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, USA

Research paper thumbnail of When a sentence loses semantics: Selective involvement of a left anterior temporal subregion in semantic processing

Although the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL) has been associated with semantic processing, the ... more Although the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL) has been associated with semantic processing, the role of this region in syntactic structure building of sentences remains a subject of debate. Functional neuroimaging studies contrasting well‐formed sentences with word lists lacking syntactic structure have produced mixed results. The current functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined whether the left ATL is selectively involved in semantic processing or also plays a role in syntactic structure building by manipulating syntactic complexity and meaningfulness in a novel way. To deprive semantic/pragmatic information from a sentence, we replaced all content words with pronounceable meaningless placeholders. We conducted an experiment with a 2 × 2 factorial design with factors of SEMANTICS (natural sentences [NAT]; sentences with placeholders [SPH]) and SYNTAX (the basic Japanese Subject‐Object‐Verb [SOV] word order; a changed Object‐Subject‐Verb [OSV] word order). A main effect...

Research paper thumbnail of Graphomotor memory in Exner’s area enhances word learning in the blind

Handwriting is thought to impede vocabulary learning in sighted adults because the motor executio... more Handwriting is thought to impede vocabulary learning in sighted adults because the motor execution of writing interferes with efficient audiovisual processing during encoding. However, the motor memory of writing may facilitate adult word learning when visual sensory inputs are severely restricted. Using functional MRI, we show that late-blind participants, but not sighted participants, learned novel words by recruiting the left dorsal premotor cortex known as Exner’s writing area and its functional coupling with the left hippocampus. During later recall, the phonological and semantic contents of these words are represented in the activation patterns of the left hippocampus as well as in those of left frontotemporal language areas. These findings suggest that motor codes of handwriting help blind participants maintain word-form representations during learning and retrieval. We propose that such reliance on the motor system reflects a broad architecture of the cerebral language netwo...

Research paper thumbnail of Neural mechanisms for the processing of movement and scrambling constructions

Languages feature sentences that implement rather similar meanings through varied word orders. As... more Languages feature sentences that implement rather similar meanings through varied word orders. As the resulting representations are related, syntactic theory assumed the existence of a basic word-order, from which others are derived. Movement, an operation of central syntactic significance is assumed in order to capture such regularities (1, 2). Typically, the moved element ("filler") precedes the position from which it is extracted in the base ("gap"). In addition to standard linguistic evidence, there exists behavioral (3-5) and neurological (6-10) evidence for the filler-gap link a relation of central importance to sentence processing. Cross-linguistic differences complicate the picture. Languages like German, Japanese, and Hindi seem to allow more possible wordorders than English, for which an operation called scrambling (11) is invoked. It is similar to movement in that it maintains filler-gap relations, but is potentially different (12) as it is language sp...

Research paper thumbnail of Neural processing of degraded speech using speaker’s mouth movement

The 15th International Conference on Auditory-Visual Speech Processing

Research paper thumbnail of Mechanical Regulation Underlies Effects of Exercise on Serotonin-Induced Signaling in the Prefrontal Cortex Neurons

iScience

Mechanical forces are known to be involved in various biological processes. However, it remains u... more Mechanical forces are known to be involved in various biological processes. However, it remains unclear whether brain functions are mechanically regulated under physiological conditions. Here, we demonstrate that treadmill running and passive head motion (PHM), both of which produce mechanical impact on the head, have similar effects on the hallucinogenic 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) receptor subtype 2A (5-HT 2A) signaling in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of rodents. PHM generates interstitial fluid movement that is estimated to exert shear stress of a few pascals on cells in the PFC. Fluid shear stress of a relevant magnitude on cultured neuronal cells induces ligand-independent internalization of 5-HT 2A receptor, which is observed in mouse PFC neurons after treadmill running or PHM. Furthermore, inhibition of interstitial fluid movement by introducing polyethylene glycol hydrogel eliminates the effect of PHM on 5-HT 2A receptor signaling in the PFC. Our findings indicate that neuronal cell function can be physiologically regulated by mechanical forces in the brain.

Research paper thumbnail of Neuroimaging studies on drawing suggest a link between symbolic behavior to language: A potential hint to the Neanderthal language controversy

Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (Evolang12)

This paper is distributed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-ND license.